Echoes

Part 11

My scream was met instantly by Giselle's cries, and I vaguely realized I had woken her up. My heart, which had jumped into my throat, began to slow down somewhat as I processed the sight before me. There was a young woman at my window, and now that I had a closer look at her vehicle I could see that it was a blue SUV, not a black one. I had the swiftly setting sun to thank for that misperception. I rolled down my window just enough to hear what she had to say.

         "Sorry, ma'am, didn't mean to scare you," she said. "It's just that your trunk is open and I saw some newborn stuff hanging out and the baby on board sign, so I thought I'd warn you before you lost anything."

         "Oh really?" I asked. "Thank you."

         "No problem," she said.

         "Would you mind shutting it for me?" I asked. "I'm not keen on getting out of the car at the moment.

         "No, I totally understand," she said. "Us women, we can never be too careful. Yeah, I'll shut it for you."

         "Thanks," I said with a nod.

         "Yeah, no problem, sorry for scaring you."

         And with that, the woman walked off. I heard my trunk slam shut and watched her get into her car. She drove off slowly and offered me a wave as she passed, which I returned. I inhaled deeply and turned back to look at Giselle. She had already calmed down and was smiling at me.

         "Sorry baby," I said. "Mommy's jumpy."

         I knew in my heart that there was no way that the black SUV I had seen before was the blue SUV that the woman I'd just spoken to had been driving. Her windows hadn't been tinted and her vehicle didn't quite look like the black one. So someone had certainly been following me with an eerie precision. But I didn't want to think about that. Instead, I told myself that narcotic painkillers were probably still floating around in my system, even if I hadn't had any in over three days, and that my recent motherhood had sharpened my senses and made me hypersensitive to danger.

The sun had been setting and I was paranoid. The black SUV had really been blue all along, and the seemingly malicious stalking that had been going on had merely been an attempt to get my attention and warn me about a serious issue with my car. Satisfied with the explanation I had given myself, I continued home without incident. Asher was waiting for me when I got there along with a welcome home cake he'd baked me. I hadn't been this happy to see him since I was pregnant. The last thing I felt like doing after the turbulent ride home was wait for him alone in a huge house after dark.

***

"So she's staying awake a little longer?"

         I had been doing some last-minute baby proofing when Zoe called a week later. I had answered, of course, and now she was asking me questions about Giselle as I installed various appliance locks, more outlet covers, and the like. Asher had insisted I let him do it, but I had refused. I wanted him to spend his time with our daughter, not helping me out with tasks that I could handle myself.

         "Yeah, a little bit," I answered. "She's napped thirty to forty-five minutes less this week than she did two weeks ago."

         "That's cool, I can't wait till I'm back home to see her," Zoe said. "Only a few more days."

         "Thanks again for taking the semester off," I said. "You didn't have to."

         "I wanted to," she reminded me. "I'm gonna call you back though, I need to take a couple of boxes out to the car."