Reduced to Ruin

Chapter 13

Dinner came all too quickly, but I wanted to be left alone after the morning's events.

"Knock, knock," James said, as he opened my door and entered. "You hungry?"

"Not particularly, no."

He sat down on my bed. "That was certainly an exciting morning, wasn't it?"

Silence.

"It's okay. You did well, aside from the little needle incident."

Silence.

"Really, it's okay. Plenty of people have aichmophobia."

"Ick-what?"

"Aichmophobia. It's the fear of needles."

"Oh. . . So, am I in trouble again?"

"No, not at all. I'm sure it was pretty scary for you, even without the needle. We'll work on that later. So, what did you think of the doc?"

I shrugged. What was I supposed to think? All I could think of was here was another man, a doctor no less, that knew I was kidnapped and didn't report it.

"He's been a big mentor for us, and I hope you take the time to get to know him in the future. He's a very wise and brilliant man."

"Can I ask you something?" I ventured. "How is it that Dr. Manning, Tyler, and Dan all know I'm here? I mean . . . how are they in on this, too?"

"Ah, good question. I figured you'd ask that sometime. I guess you can say we are all connected with the same common goal."

"Which is?" I asked.

"Love. Happiness. Family. That's all," he said, simply. "Come on. It's time to eat."

My curiosity was piqued. His "answer" didn't answer a thing. And I wanted to ask a million more questions.

He held out his hand to help me up. Instinctively, I put my hand in his and scooted off the bed. The minute I did it, I wondered what the hell I was thinking. But it was like the "thank you"—it came out before I could stop it.

I released my grip once I was up, but James held on to my hand. Not tightly, but gently and warmly. Before I could pull away, we were in the kitchen. He released my hand to help with dinner and gave me a smile.

What just happened? I felt a pit in my stomach.

"Corrine, can you set the table, please?"

"What?" I said, brought back to the moment. I felt like I had never set a table before.

"Set the table. The plates and things are there on the counter."

I gathered the necessities, weaving in and out of the kitchen, careful not to make any physical contact. I had reached my quota already for the day.

We were having Asian chicken salad, which I had never had before. After the blessing and holding of hands, James served both of us. We had wine again. I was surprised he let me drink two nights in a row—but very happily surprised. Anything to help me forget.

"This is really good," I offered.

"Thank you. My mom gave me this recipe."

You have a mother? I thought you were spawned.

We ate in silence for a while. I was getting used to the quiet awkwardness. It was actually better than James's attempts at meaningful conversation.