Chapter 2: Secrets Behind Closed Doors

Logan Callahan came again to the lady’s room.

By the soft glow of a bedside lamp, the two of them sat close, voices low and intimate, whispering for a long time. The room thrummed with their secrets, the old oak floors creaked as the house settled—a sound as familiar as the distant whir of passing trucks on the highway.

The lady’s cheeks flushed as she got up to wash. I could hear the quiet splash of water, the rustle of her silk robe as she moved.

As always, before leaving, she flicked off every light. The house dropped into that hush you only get after midnight—just the wind rattling the windowpanes and the distant tick of the grandfather clock in the hallway.

After about fifteen minutes,

I pushed open the door and entered.

The room was dark and quiet, lit only by a faint nightlight. The shadows from the heavy drapes stretched long across the carpet.

Logan looked up and smiled. “What took you so long?”

He reached out and pulled me into his arms, then suddenly frowned. “Why are you so cold?”

“I lingered outside for a while, admiring the snow,” I answered softly.

In truth, I’d been standing outside the door in a single thin t-shirt, waiting for the moment I’d be called in to take the lady’s place. The Idaho winter wind bit through my t-shirt, raising goosebumps all over. The silence out there felt heavier than anything inside.

Another night of restless tossing.

Before dawn, I tiptoed out.

The lady was waiting for me in the guest room. She sat on the edge of the twin bed, her back rigid, arms crossed over her lap.

Ignoring the ache in my back, I knelt and repeated everything Logan had whispered the night before. I recited his words like a confession, my voice barely more than a whisper.

She caught sight of the bruises peeking above my collar and her eyes went hard as river stones. The silence in the room pressed in, thick with things unspoken.

She quietly lay down beside Logan.

He suddenly opened his eyes, twirling a lock of her hair. “Did you sneak off to meet a boyfriend behind my back?”

His tone was teasing.

The lady blushed and playfully hit him with her fists. The two of them laughed together, the sound echoing down the hallway.

I silently withdrew, closing the door behind me so gently not even the latch clicked.