CHAPTER 8
PUZZLE PIECES
Stepping into the living room, Caddie looked back for one last time. She was hoping Evan came back to give her a proper goodbye. But her thoughts were ahead of her again –and she hated the fact that a stranger made her think that way.
Closing the door behind her, Caddie immediately went to her room. She neatly folded Evan’s jacket and placed it on top of the bedside table. She threw herself unto the bed, expecting to immediately fall asleep. But Caddie’s thoughts continued to make her feel uncomfortable. She tossed and turned, looking for the perfect position. She decided to lay flat on her back and stared at the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck on the ceiling.
Will I see you again? Caddie whispered to herself as the memory of breathing the cold evening air, with Evan standing close to her, flooded Caddie’s senses.
She closed her eyes and for the first time that night, she strongly began to hope for something that seemed so far away.
“Why am I bothered!” she exclaimed.
The door opened and Mrs. Cromwell rushed in.
“Caddie, what’s wrong?” she said, sitting beside her daughter.
“Nothing mom.”
“I’m listening.” Mrs. Cromwell reiterated, trying to force her daughter to talk about her problem.”
Finally, Caddie began to explain “I…I… There is this…”
Caddie’s explanation was interrupted as Mrs. Cromwell’s voice echoed across the room.
“Ms. Caddie Hazel Cromwell!”
Wondering why her mother began to shout at her, Caddie kept her mouth shut.
“You went out of this house without a jacket? Or even gloves? How many times have I told you…?” Mrs. Cromwell moved towards the light switch.
Sensing her mother’s movement, and remembering Evan’s jacket on the bedside table, Caddie held her mother’s arm. Exhaling a sigh, Caddie avoided the beginning of a lengthy sermon. “Mom, I had no idea that the weather will be that bad. Don’t worry about me. I was alert enough to lead my feet to the new café…” Caddie’s voice slowed down as she said the word café.
Fortunately, Caddie’s mother was focused on her daughter not being sick, that she hasn’t noticed the shift in speed of Caddie’s reply. “Thank goodness you didn’t panic. You have to be prepared all the time dear. The weather today is getting more and more unpredictable.”
“I’m sorry Mom. It won’t happen again. Promise.”
Hearing the volume of unspoken worry in her mother’s sigh, Caddie rested her head on her mother’s lap.
Mrs. Cromwell brushed her daughter’s hair as she asked her if she had eaten her dinner already. She chuckled as she felt Caddie place her hand on her stomach.
“I’ll go downstairs and prepare food. What would you like? Salad or cookies and milk?”
After a moment of thinking, Caddie removed her weight on her mother’s lap and replied with a hint of pretty-pretty-please in her voice. “Can’t I have both?”
Mrs. Cromwell rubbed Caddie’s arm. “Okay then.” She stood and motioned towards the door.
Hearing her mother’s footsteps on the staircase leading to the first floor, Caddie moved towards the light switch, and turned it on. She fixed one of her pillows against the bed’s headrest and leaned. She had to solve her current problem –well, besides hunger that is.
