A flashlight in the shadows.

chapter 38: sledding.

Neither one of us spoke at first. I found myself frozen in place, still hugging cc. She gripped me tighter at the sound of his voice. I looked down at her and bent down.
"Cc, I'm going to talk to him-"
"No! Stay with me," she pleaded. I shook my head,
"Dont worry, nothing is going to happen to you, just stay here, k?"
"But Sarah-"
"K?!" I asked again. She sniffled once and nodded.
"K."
"Good, stay in here." She sat on the bed with her dolls as I left the room. I stood at the top of the stairs, weighing the pros and cons. Pros; cc won't have to deal with him and he'll leave her alone. Con's; that's just it. The con is that he's unpredictable. But, I decided that the pros were worth the possible cons. After taking a long, deep breath, I walked down the steps and replied,
"Hello." He was standing by the doorway, hanging up his coat and setting his shoes by the door. He was wearing a light blue button up dress shirt with grey dress pants. His dark brunette hair was in messy curls from his long day. He turned to face me with a big grin.
"Hello, Sarah. Why're you here?" I sighed,
"I'm watching cc while your wife is visiting Bennett." He smiled as of this information brought extreme relief. He set his brief case on the coffee tableand turned to me.
"Well, did she say when she would be back?" I thought for a second.
"1:00, I think." He checked the clock on the wall and shrugged.
"It's 12:35. Did she already pay you?" I shook my head and replied,
"No, I'm not asking to be paid." He frowned and then smiled at me.
"Why not, might I ask?" I shrugged and looked out the window.
"Because Bennett is hurt. I didn't want to burden her." He sighed and nodded.
"Well, there must be some way to repay you." He stared at me and smiled. I felt a little weird, but I didn't show it. I shrugged again and shook my head.
"No, there's nothing I want." He chuckled at that and bit his lower lip. Then, he nodded,
"Are you hungry?" I shrugged and called up to cc,
"Cc, are you-"
"No, not cc. I asked if you were hungry." He interrupted. I stared at him with caution for a second. He simply laughed and said,
"I don't bite, I promise." I finally sighed and agreed. We walked into the kitchen together. He stood by the refrigerator and crossed his arms.
"So, cauliflower AU Gratin, or Roquefort and cucumber mousse?" I frowned and asked,
"What's Roquefort?" He smiled and pulled a package from the fridge.
"It's a blue-veined cheese. For this dish, I could also use bleu d'Auvergne or fourme d'Ambert. They come straight from France, since the cheese here is shit." I nodded and took the cheese from his hand. It felt...somehow fresher. I smiled.
"Ok, let's try the mousse." He smiled and nodded, gathering the other ingredients. It was a totally new experience. I'd never used powdered gelatin or a food processor before then. It was fascinating. When they were in their molds, I sighed and asked,
"How long till they're done?" He smiled.
"About 4 hours." I frowned,
"I can't wait for 4 hours!" He laughed and said,
"Well, how about this. I promised cc we could go sledding today. Why don't you come with us, and later we can all eat together, sound good?" This thought made me feel unsafe.
"I'm not sure-"
"Awe, c'mon! I think cc would be thrilled." He smiled at my face when I thought of cc. He knew I wanted her to be safe, and therefore would agree. I reluctantly nodded.
"Alright, but I need to tell my mom where I'm going." He nodded.
"But of course. Why don't you go do that while I get cc ready?" I nodded and went outside, walking to my house. When I walked in, Jane was gone, but Cassandra was sitting at the table, texting. She looked up and smiled.
"Hey, Sarah. What's up?" I sighed slowly and leaned on the table.
"Cassandra, I need you to listen, and listen good." She frowned and scooted closer.
"What's this about?"
"I'm doing something that might endanger me, and I need you to call the cops if I call you, ok?"
"What might endanger-"
"There's no time for questions, will you please do this?" She shrugged and nodded.
"It's the least I could do."
"No, Cassandra. You've done the least you can do my entire life, but this is one thing I am trusting you to do. Am I making a mistake?" She stared at me with a blank expression. After a second, she finally nodded and said,
"No, you're not." I nodded.
"Good, now I gotta go." I started out the door.
"Sarah!" I turned to face her.
"Yes?" She stood up, walked over and set her hands on my shoulders.
"What should I tell your father?" I sighed, then looked her in the eye.
"Tell him, I love him." And with that, I disappeared around the corner.
When I arrived back at their house, I saw cc and her step dad in the corner. He was buttoning up her coat and talking to her in a hushed voice. I cleared my throat. He turned slightly to see me and smiled.
"Hey, you can wait in the car, we'll be out in a minute." I shook my head and sighed,
"Oh, that's ok. Ill be patient." His eyes dimmed a little, but he nodded.
"Ok, we're almost done." Cc sighed and looked at me as if to say, 'thank you.' I smiled at her and stood by the doorway, waiting. He whispered one more thing to her before he kissed her cheek and picked her up, smiling and asking,
"So, who's ready for sledding?"
"I am!" She giggled. I smiled and got in the front seat while he buckled her in. Once she was secured he got in himself and started driving. I sighed,
"So, where are we going sledding?" He smiled and said,
"Frankfurt hill." I nodded.
"Ok." That's good. Frankfurt hill was a huge hill right in the middle of town. There were definitely a few people there. Cc smiled at the sight of other children when we pulled up to the foot of the hill. I helped her get the pink sled out of the back of the car and giggled as she ran up to the top of the hill. Her step dad handed me a purple o e and grabbed a green one for himself.
"My wife uses that one whenever we go sledding, but I don't think she'll mind if you use it." He smiled. We walked to the top together. I almost slipped, but he grabbed my hand before I could hit the ground and hoisted me back up. I sighed and grabbed the sled.
"Thanks." He nodded,
"Yeah, no problem." When we reached the top, I realized how high it was. It didn't look so high from the bottom, but it did at the top. I sat cross legged on the sled and used my arms to push myself over the edge. Once I went down, snow spewed from both sides of the sled, some going in my face. It accelerated down the hill and skidded to a stop at the bottom. Cc ran over to me giggling.
"Are you ok Sarah?" I laughed and nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She took my hand in hers and tugged me after her.
"Will you please push me?" I sighed and nodded.
"Sure, it'll take me a few seconds to get up there, you go ahead and meet me."
"Ok!" She ran up in front of me. After going down a few more times, I decided to take a break. There's only so many times you can go up and down a hill before you need to take a breather, know what I'm saying? Plus, I am like, the most out of shape person ever. I sat on a bench at the bottokm of the hill. Her step dad came over and sat next to me, sighing.
"I don't remember sledding being this physically demanding." I giggled.
"Me neither." He smiled and sighed.
"Well, how's your day today?" I frowned and shrugged,
"This is about it, so far." He chuckled a little and shrugged,
"Alright, how was it yesterday, then?" I stared down at the snow and sniffled a little.
"Um...not too good." He scooted closer to me and asked,
"What happened?" I sighed.
"Well...a lot happened. But the worst part was Bennett almost dying." He nodded and sighed.
"I just don't know what got into him. What could've made him want to kill himself..." He trailed off, looking at the snow. I bit my lip and sighed.
"I know why." He frowned and turned to face me.
"You do? Tell me?" I thought about it for a moment before saying,
"He asked me to go to prom with him, I got upset, and said some things I probably shouldn't have." He frowned and shrugged.
"That's no reason to try and kill yourself. I mean, you probably got a date months ago-"
"No, I didn't." I interrupted. He paused and looked at me, almost terrified.
"What?! You don't have a date for prom? I refuse to believe that." I rolled my eyes.
"Believe it, because it's true."
"Why not?!" He asked, staring at me. Thinking of a quick thing to say, I said,
"I don't know how to dance." He tilted his head.
"You can't dance?" I shook my head. He smirked and stood up, holding out a hand for me to take. I stared at it.
"Cmon, I'll teach you."
"Oh, that's ok Mr. Webber-"
"No, I insist." He took my hand and helped me up. He set my hand on his shoulder and took the other one in his hand. It reminded me of the way isaac held me the night before. Not very nice. We swayed in a little circle. He twirled me once and then pulled me back in. He smiled,
"You're pretty good for a girl who can't dance." I blushed and shrugged.
"Ok, I'm not comfortable with dancing." He nodded.
"Ok, that I can believe." Cc came over to us and tugged on her step dad's coat. He looked down and smiled.
"Yes cc?"
"Can we go?" He frowned and bent down to her.
"Why sweetheart?" She rubbed her arm.
"B-because I'm cold." He smiled and nodded.
"Ok,let's go, then. If you don't mind, Sarah." He looked up at me. I shook my head and said,
"No, that's fine."
"Ok then." He lifted her up and we went back to the car. I stuffed the sleds in the trunk and buckled up front again. When cc was all ready, we started down the street towards the house. I sighed,
"What time is it?" He checked the watch on his wrist and said,
"It is...wow, 2:30. How time does fly. Another 30 minutes and the mousse should be set." We came to a stoplight up the road. He stopped the car and sighed.
"Can I ask you something?" I shrugged,
"Sure."
"Does Bennett ever talk about me?" My heart skipped a beat, but I bit my lip and shook my head.
"No." He smiled and looked at me.
"You sure?" I nodded slowly. He chuckled and sighed.
"Sarah?"
"Yes?"
"You're a terrible liar, come now, what does he say?" My mind raced in all directions.
"He tells me...you changed after you married his mom."
"How so?" I shrugged.
"Dont know. All he said was that you changed." He looked at me for a minute. Then, he smiled and nodded.
"I believe you." I looked forward at the light. It was green. I pointed and said,
"Um, the light turned green." He looked up at it and smiled.
"So it has," he started the car and we drove to their house.

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Hope it wasn't terrible and please enjoy the next one, bye! :P