Dez kicked his feet up on the wooden bench and relaxed beneath the shade of a large tree not far from the horse pasture. He opened the display of his camcorder and looked down at the small screen. A video of Carrie played.
The shot was zoomed in so that Carrie's blonde tresses reached the outer edges of the camcorder's screen. Her pretty face was creased with laughter.
"I'm telling you! Kangaroos are not to be messed with," Dez's voice rang in the video. He, as always, was recording the video.
Carrie nodded and her laughter settled down.
"Hey, Carrie, tell me something," Dez said off camera.
"Something," Carrie said seriously.
"No, I mean something true."
"Oh, okay. Something true."
"Oh Carrie. You're a hoot."
Carrie giggled and pointed at the camera. "I like that you use words like 'hoot.' Not many people say hoot."
"Being like not many people is sort of my specialty."
"Me too!" Carrie bounced, making her hair bounce too. "We should be special together!"
The image wobbled from the cameraman jumping up and down. "Really? You mean it!"
"No, Dezzy. I nice it!" The camera steadied. "You are my best friend!" Carrie declared.
Under the tree's shade, Dez pressed a button on the camcorder and the audio played back. "You are my best friend!" He hit the button again. "You are my best friend!"
Austin jogged up to Dez and sat down. "Who is that," Austin asked, leaning over Dez's shoulder to see the screen.
"Just a girl."
"She's cute. That your girlfriend?"
Dez shook his head. "No. We didn't really have a chance to get to know each other. Uh, she got into a different crowd."
"Huh, too bad."
"Yeah," Dez wiped his nose with the back of his hand, "too bad."
Austin stood up and said, "Hey, I wanted to know if you knew anything about floral arrangements. But now that I think about it, that's a pretty weird question. Sorry."
"What!" Dez said, hopping up and holding out his hands. "I love floral arrangements! My mom really got into bouquet designs a few summers ago. My sister refused to help her so mom made me be her assistant and I loved it."
"Awesome! Ally wants to try selling floral decorations because it is wedding season."
"The flowers in your garden will be perfect for that."
"Sick. I knew I had gardening skills! Ally is going to be so happy. Thanks, man."
Dez smiled wide and waved his hand. "Oh, it's nothing."
"Let's go get some breakfast," Austin said.
Ally smeared a spoonful of jelly across Austin's face and chuckled. She, Austin, and Dez sat at the kitchen island with their breakfast. Two French toast sticks stuck out of Dez's mouth while he clapped his hands and barked like a walrus.
"We really should stop goofing off. I would be so embarrassed if we were in public," Ally said while laughing.
"But we're not in public," Austin replied. He scooped oatmeal out of his bowl with his finger then dolloped it onto Ally's nose.
"And the finishing touch," Dez said as he stuck a spoon onto Ally's nose.
The group burst into laughter.
So, once again, Trish walked into a kitchen full of laughter. But she did not cheer and she did not laugh. She grabbed a bowl from beside the stove, lumped in a spoonful of oatmeal, and sat alone at the kitchen table. A blue bird fluttered out on the patio and Trish watched it from the French doors.
The group's laughter settled down and they ate quietly. Dez glanced at Trish from the corner of his eye and saw that she was still staring out the window. He remembered the last time he sat at a kitchen table, with a bowl of undesirable breakfast food, and stared out the window.
"You look like me," Dez said. He was now looking directly at Trish.
She moved her gaze from the blue bird to Dez's blue eyes. "Excuse me," she asked in a flat tone.
"The day we were attacked. That morning. I sat at my table and stared at your house through my window."
"Ew, what?" Trish replied. "Stalker much?"
"No, I was watching your dad," Dez explained.
"That's weirder, dude," Austin chimed in. Ally swatted her husband with her hand.
"I mean, I saw him leaving," Dez said quickly.
"Oh," Trish said. She stirred her oatmeal and looked down at the brown mush. "Did he look okay?"
"Um, yeah. He was in a hurry, but he was okay."
Trish made eye contact with Dez. "Thanks. I'm glad." She shifted her eyes to Ally and added harshly, "I care about him and the rest of my family." She eyed her oatmeal and said, "And yours, Freckles."
Dez sat motionless as he processed Trish being kind of nice to him. Ally remained silent, but smiled a little.
Austin scratched his head and whispered to his wife, "She has a pet name for him?"
"She's trying," Ally whispered back.
Austin still didn't get it, so he just shrugged and took the spoon off of Ally's nose.
Trish sat at the vanity and brushed her long, curly hair. Open compacts of foundation, eyeshadow, and lip gloss tubes cluttered the table, but Trish's face wasn't laden with makeup. Only pink gloss shined on her lips and light powder dusted her cheeks.
A knock on the door made her stop brushing. "Come in, I guess," Trish called out.
Ally opened the door and peeked in. "Have you seen my mascara?" Ally asked.
Trish searched the table and lifted a black tube. "Sorry, borrowed a few things. Thought I might test out a few looks."
Ally walked in and took the tube. She leaned in to look in the mirror as she applied a few streaks of mascara. "No prob. Help yourself. This stuff is fantastic, though. I sweat a lot when I'm working outside, so I need a heavy-duty mascara."
Ally handed Trish the tube then stood up straight.
"Cool," Trish responded, not really knowing what else to say.
Ally nodded, "Cool."
The caretaker headed for the door but Trish called out for her. "Ally!"
Ally turned back to her.
Trish twirled her hair and shrugged. "I mean, Ally," she said in a more chill tone.
"So you do know my name?" Ally teased.
Trish shrugged. "It's one of my tests."
"I'm not sure I want to know what that means."
"It's a Marino High School thing."
"I don't think I'd like your high school very much."
Trish moved to the bed and sat on it with her legs folded.
"Speaking of high school, how old are you, exactly?"
Ally kicked off her shoes, sat on the bed, and mirrored Trish's position. "Eighteen."
"So, you're a senior? Like me."
"Actually, I graduated early."
"Oh, last semester?"
Ally tilted her head. "More like two years ago."
"You graduated high school at sixteen? What, are you some sort of weirdo genius?"
Ally chuckled and shook her head. "No, I just really love to learn. I was so enthusiastic about school; I had taken enough credits to graduate early, though that wasn't my plan. More like a blessing I wasn't aware of yet."
"Yeah, cause school is such a blessing," Trish said sarcastically. "We are two very different girls, Ally."
Ally raised her shoulders. "Who knows? Opposites attract."
"I've seen your crazy-hot husband, so I'll take your word on attraction."
Ally wagged her finger at Trish. "Don't be flirting with my husband, Trish."
Trish raised her palms in surrender. "I won't…anymore." She picked at a thread on the blanket. "I'm still confused, though. You're a genius, some sort of Mozart prodigy, and you're decent looking."
"Gee, thanks."
"Why are you playing Farmer Sue in the boonies? I mean, you could be a scientist or a famous piano player. Why are you," Trish waved her arms around the room, "here?"
Ally frowned. She lay across the bed and propped her head up with her fist. "You sound like my mother," Ally said in a low tone.
"Then it's déjà vu because you pulled off Maria Del a Rosa when you freaked on me twice yesterday."
"I got married," Ally said simply and shrugged.
"I don't follow."
"I made a choice. Austin's parents owned this huge house and the inn and all this land, and when they died, Austin inherited everything."
"Still not following."
"A seventeen-year-old kid can't financially run an estate. So, I did some research and applied the location for a government hide out as part of the witness protection program. The property was selected but two conditions needed to be met: Austin had to wait until he was eighteen to receive his first assignment and he needed a partner. Marriage is one of the oldest and most stable forms of partnership."
Trish frowned. "That sounds stupid."
Ally sat up and swung her legs over the bed. "Marriage reflects stability, which puts the people we take care of at ease, theoretically. You and Dez are our first assignment. But studies show that married couples handle stressful environments better and couples process sensitive information as a team more efficiently than two people who just work together. I couldn't let him do it alone."
"I disagree. I was married for an entire plane ride and it was awful," Trish replied. Her stomach rumbled. "I'm still kind of fuzzy on the farm life details, but I'm starving."
Ally stood up and smiled. "We have plenty of time to talk about 'farm life.' Come on, I'll make you lunch."
Trish stood wedged between her wardrobe and the bedroom window. The night air tried its best to be cool, but the humidity over powered it. Trish fanned herself angrily.
Austin had insisted the temperature outside was low enough to warrant natural cooling instead of air conditioning. But her frizzy hair disagreed. It was pulled back into a messy bun with curls escaping and sticking to the sides of her sweaty face.
"This is misery," Trish groaned.
Stars, fireflies, and lights from the barn broke up the darkness that covered the land outside her window. She started to count the bugs that pulsed yellow light.
"One. Two. Not a firefly. Three. Four. Five. I miss my cellphone. Six. Seven..." Trish trailed off when she noticed a bright ball of light in the distance. It moved closer and closer until Trish could see the thin outline of a figure carrying the ball of light.
She stumbled away from the window and fell on the floor. Memories of the dense forest and lady hunter pounded against her skull.
"Ally," Trish choked out.
No one came in the room.
Trish crawled back to the window and peeked around the wardrobe.
The light was closer now. And she could see the hooded intruder coming straight for the house.