Free Save My Soul by Elley Arden Page A

any.
    She was dressed for yoga.
    The house was dark as Maggie made her way to the deck with blanket in hand. She pushed outside, taking a gust of chilly wind to the face, and her skin pimpled. In the distance, water lapped at the rock walls bordering the property.
    The night stretched out before her, cool, calm, and endless. Dense cloud cover blocked the moon and stars. She smoothed the blanket in a sliver of light that started in the house and spilled onto the deck, running across the horizontal planks until it reached a privacy screen that Maggie now knew separated the main deck from the master suite. She remembered no curtains or blinds hid Jordon while he slept, and she had the overwhelming urge to behold the image.
    Flake.
She grimaced at the insult and sat in the middle of the blanket, forming a pretzel with her legs.
    A scraping noise stopped her mid-meditation. She froze, listening to the sound of footsteps creaking over the wood. When she looked in the direction of the noises, she saw nothing but emptiness.
    The rational explanation was Jordon on his side of the privacy screen, but her heart raced as though she expected something else. She stood and tiptoed across the planks until she reached the wall. “Jordon, is that you?”
    â€œNo. It’s a giant spider who’s waiting to attack.”
    For some reason, his words spoken through a raspy half-whisper left her feeling defenseless. She knew he attempted humor. She knew he wasn’t a spider about to pounce, and yet she gawked around her feet, as if she expected him to scurry under the crack. “You’re not funny.”
    Maggie agonized through his extended pause and contemplated walking away. The rolling sound of lake water mixed with her uneasiness.
    â€œWhat are you doing up this late?” He spoke a little louder, but not loud enough to chase the tingles from her skin.
    â€œWhat are
you
doing up this late?”
    He exhaled loudly. “There you go again, answering my question with a question. I hate that.”
    His words were strong and his tone exasperated, but for some reason she smiled. “Sorry. I couldn’t sleep.”
    â€œNeither could I.”
    She wished he would speak in his full voice. The vulnerability in his whisper made her stomach do silly things. Pushing the heel of her hand to her belly button, she scrambled for something to say. “Well, since neither one of us can sleep, I suppose we could not sleep together.”
    More silence. She expected it, grimacing the minute the collection of harmless words crossed her lips.
    Jordon made a rough sound, not a laugh, something else entirely, something that made her wonder about the sounds he made in bed.
    â€œMaggie, if I was a big bad spider that wouldn’t leave you alone, what would you say to me?”
    With inappropriate thoughts filling her head, she took a step closer to the wall and pressed her palms to the splintered wood. Her dry mouth hovered above a crack in the shadowy planks. “I would say, ‘I like you. I do. You’re a beautiful, powerful creature, but you frighten me, and I’m worried one of us will get hurt if you keep coming around.” He made the noise again, and she crumbled, collapsing against the barrier between them. “Please, stay away. We’ll both be a lot … happier.’”
    She scanned the boards at her feet as she waited for his reply.
    â€œDo most spiders listen?”
    â€œThey do.” She was filled with a sadness she didn’t understand. The dark sky wrapped around her, and instead of offering a cloak of comfort, it weighed oppressively.
    â€œHow’d you do it, Maggie?”
    â€œDo what?”
    â€œGet Carlos to stop crying and start eating?”
    A little heaviness lifted as a cleaner image materialized — Carlos beaming over a pile of folded laundry. “We still have far to go, but the recent progress has been simple. I spent time with him. People need to feel