But I couldn’t doom her to a life with me, either. She deserved better.
That’s what I told myself, but I knew it was more than that. That offer she’d made me in Marten Valley...she wanted to know me, know why I was out here on my own. If we stayed together, sooner or later she’d get me to open up.
I couldn’t let that happen. She thought I was a hero. I couldn’t take the look of disappointment and disgust on her face when she found out the truth.
This is better, I told myself.
Better for who?
“It’s the only way,” I said out loud.
She bit her lip, looked away and nodded. “But how do we do it? How do we get a new ID and everything?”
“We need to go see Jacques.”
30
Bethany
CAL STOOD UP and motioned for me to get up, too. He pushed both chairs and the table down to the other end of the room. Then he knelt down, took out a knife and started gently prying at one of the floorboards.
I stood there numbly watching him. He wasn’t coming with me. I’d known he wouldn’t but a little part of me had held out hope. The worst part was that I could see he wanted to: he’d tried to hide it but I’d seen the way he had to fight himself. He wanted to, but he wouldn’t let himself be with me. He was still keeping me at a distance and soon, he was going to separate us forever.
I wasn’t ready for how that felt. When you’re sharing every waking moment with someone, two weeks can feel like two months. It wasn’t just the sexual tension, that thick heaviness in the air that made every look loaded, that made us freeze each time we accidentally brushed fingertips as we passed a dish or folded a blanket.
I’d gotten closer to him than I had with anyone, despite the mysteries of his past. He’d taught me a new way of life and I’d gradually gotten him to talk, even if it wasn’t about himself. We were changing each other.
And now I was going to leave. And I’d never see him or Rufus again.
The floorboard came loose and Cal put it aside. Instantly, Rufus trotted over and immediately decided that the hole was the most interesting thing ever, and stuck his head down into it. I had to put my arms around him and haul him back so that Cal could reach down and pull out what was hidden in the dark space: a dented metal lockbox.
When he opened it up, it was full of tight wads of bills. I stared at it, open-mouthed. “Where did you get that?”
“Selling animal hides. I only hunt what I need to eat, but the hide would just go to waste if I didn’t sell it.”
I picked up a wad of bills. Rufus sniffed them, then gave a snort, disappointed that the treasure was boring human things, and trotted off for a nap. I examined the bills, then did some rough math in my head. “But there must be twenty thousand here!”
“‘Bout eighteen, I think. About three thousand a year, for six years.”
I stared at him. “This is all the money you’ve earned, the whole time you’ve been here?! What about what you spend, in town?”
He shrugged. “Things like coffee, matches...that barely makes a dent. A few hundred dollars a year.” He frowned regretfully “Had to get a new coffee pot, last year because I couldn’t fix the leak. That cost me a bit.”
While he counted the money, I eyed one of the patches on his shirt. He’d been brought up make-do-and-mend. He spent virtually nothing. In fact, that trip to town, buying me all those clothes...that had probably cost him more than he’d spend in a whole year, but he hadn’t hesitated.
“Closer to nineteen,” he announced, putting the money back in the lockbox. “Should be enough to buy you a new identity.”
My jaw dropped. “Wha—No! No, you can’t spend all that on me!”
“I don’t need it.” He put the floorboard back and gave it a thump with his fist to lock it into place. Then he stood and offered me his hand. “Let’s go see Jacques.”
“Cal, I can’t. It’s too much!”
“You said yourself,” he said firmly. “It’s the only way.”
His jaw was set. He wasn’t changing his mind. And Canada was my only hope, and his plan for getting there sounded a lot better than mine. But why did it have to involve clearing him out of his life savings...and worse, leaving him behind?
“When it’s all over, when I’m settled, I swear, I’ll pay you back,” I told him.
He looked away as if the promise weakened him for a second. “I know,” he said. Then he offered me his hand again.
If I did this, it set me on a path...one that ended with me saying goodbye forever. But I didn’t have a choice. If I stayed here, Cal and Rufus were in danger.