Immaculate

Boathouse

Part Fifty

Mr Blackbourne's POV

I sent Silas on and stepped away from the bathroom door shutting it behind me. I stopped as I heard the lock slid into place and then I wait, listening. I can hear the shower going and for a few seconds I wonder if I was wrong; but then I hear it shut off and my eyes close in disappointment.

I step away from the door and a shaft of anger sliced through me. She lied again. I had honestly thought that Sang was incapable of lying, but she had lied twice and nearly deceived me twice.

I went through the main door and slammed it behind me in frustration.

I felt helpless, she made me feel helpless. I could have unlocked the door, gone in there and demanded she tell me; but that would just strip away any trust we did have in her. If she told me about it, I could help her fix it, but my hands were tied until she did. And it frustrated and annoyed me.

I stopped on the top step and saw them all looking at me. Sean stepped forward and I indicated my head at him and then walked off around the side of the lodge and down towards the water's edge.

"What's up?" he asked as he drew level with me. I turned to face him, folding my arms across my chest.

"She just lied to me again. Told me she was going to have a shower. She locked the door, waited a few seconds and then switched the water off. She was no more going to have a shower then I'm running for president!" I stated calmly, but I was anything but inside.

"Did you expect her to tell you then?" he asked me and I snorted at him.

"No, yes, I don't know. I hoped! I made it abundantly clear to her this morning in the bedroom that if she had a problem, no matter how small, she could come to me. I even asked her outright and she still said nothing."

Dr Green folded his arms and looked out over the calm waters of the lake.

"Maybe she doesn't see it as a problem to be fixed," he said carefully. "Like people with phobias, maybe she sees it as being there and there's nothing to be done for it, except work around it. Bit like people who are frightened of spiders, they don't actively try to fix it, they just work around it."

"Yeah, except smacking a shower with a book isn't going to get rid of the problem," I said dryly, but he had a point.

"It doesn't get rid of the problem with people who are scared of spiders, it just gets rid of that one; doesn't help them cope better with the next one that comes along," he said and I sighed. Sometimes his logic was twisted but it was almost always sound and now was no different.

"Don't take this personally, Owen, it's not you she's lying too, not really. She's lying to herself and until something happens that makes her confront it head on, there's nothing we can do. You were right last night, we have to wait her out."

I nodded and he put his hand on my shoulder.

"Let's enjoy this week, no matter what happens. How often do we get to do this?"

I snorted and slid my hands into my jean pockets and nodded at him.

"Not often enough," I said and we started to walk back to the others.

"Exactly. Now, tell me, what was our Greek god up to with her? He looked decidedly uncomfortable when he came out."

I laughed and shook my head.

"I think he was putting that silver tongued charm of his to use, he was stood behind her whispering in her ear," I told him. "He had stopped when I got there, North had got there first, but judging by her face whatever he was saying was having an interesting effect on her."