For some reason, Eric lets me sleep in. He takes Violet to school and then comes home, waking me with his loud thudding against a treadmill. I glance at the clock and realize it is 11am. He should be at work. I guess he is skipping today.

I sit up in bed, rubbing my eyes. I am still mad at him. And I would come up to him right now and ask what he thinks he is doing- skipping work and all. But I allow myself to make assumptions, because they are probably correct. And I don't care. I just want to avoid him today.

I get up and walk over to the window, looking down at the main parking lot below the building. My car is back, but it's new. As if nothing has ever happened yesterday. The only difference I can pick out from this distance is how the white brilliance of it shines in the sun. That's how I know my car was scrapped, replaced by an exact copy. I roll my eyes. Typical.

"Hey," I hear him behind me.

An inevitable sigh escapes my mouth and I turn, giving him a small smirk, "Hello."

I'm guessing that the whole avoiding think isn't going to work out. I live with him.

He drapes his sweaty shirt over his shoulder and unscrews his plastic bottle. His chest rises up and down, glistening from the sweat. His breathing is uneven. I watch as he takes a gulp of his protein shake, or whatever that gross mixture in his bottle is supposed to be and fold my arms. I am not talking first.

He nods slightly, "You feeling okay?"

"Yes," I answer eagerly. He gives me a strange look, "Why are you not at work?"

He pauses before answering, driving me insane with how chilled he is, "I figured I'd stay with you today."

"In case I get attacked?"

His eyebrows drop, "Stop. Just… I couldn't leave you today."

I take a deep breath and approach the wardrobe, starting to pick out the outfit for the day. I settle with a pair of jeans and a baggy shirt. Anything to feel comfortable.

When I turn around, Eric is still standing there with his sweaty body and an almost-empty protein shake bottle.

"Well?" I ask, rather rudely. He raises his eyebrows as if not understanding what I am getting at, "Aren't you going to shower?"

SHSHSHSHSHSHSH

Halfway into breakfast, (if it counts as breakfast at almost noon), I decide to put down my glass of orange juice just a little bit too hard against the table, which makes Eric snap.

"Can you stop being so immature?"

I get riled up for no reason, "Immature?" My eyes glare daggers at him, but for some reason it makes him calmer.

"I know you're stressed, but I have done everything I could to- "

"What? No, you haven't!"

Eric frowns, chewing the last bit of food in his mouth as he leans back in his seat.

"There is a psychopath out there, trying to hurt- "

"Susan is not a psychopath- "

"You're protecting her again!" I get up, ignoring his voice as I walk out of the kitchen. Unbelievable. It is absolutely exhausting to argue with him but when he says shit like that, it's like I have no control over myself.

"Will you listen to me?" he grabs my arm and pushes me into the bedroom, shutting the door behind us. I raise my hands in defeat and go over to the window, putting a hand over my face.

The is a long pause before he starts talking. I hear him sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Why don't we go somewhere for a while?"

I turn to look at him, "What do you mean?"

He has his elbows on his knees, glancing up at me from time to time. I see the letter 'T' popping out on his wrist, "Violet is going on that school trip, remember?"

I sigh and nod, gesturing for him to continue.

"While she is away, we can use that time for our advantage. Go somewhere… take some time off. Get away from all of this."

"You mean go on holiday?"

Eric smiles slightly, shrugging, "If you put it like that."

I nod and stay silent for a moment, starting to potter around the room, watching my feet as I walk.

It would be nice to get away. And with Violet on her own "holiday", it would be sort of fitting.

"Look," Eric wraps his arms around me, bringing me back to reality, "Everything will be sorted. They will find her and take care of things here while we're away," it sounds like a promise, but I can't be sure, "Violet will be in a different state. Far away from here," he pauses, "I could even send someone with her."

I smile slightly, pressing my face against his chest. His grip on me tightens.

"I guess we could do that," my eyes close and I sigh, this time because everything feels normal, "On one condition."

"What?" Eric kisses my temple.

"I get to pick where we go."