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is
slightly heightened at this strange, aloof man, this dangerous man.
He goes to the door and opens it, but her next sentence halts him.
He doesn’t turn around to look at her, though.
    “Where are you going?” she asks and
approaches him.
    “To work,” he answers. Then he peers over his
shoulder at her. “Don’t wait up, witch.”
    Paige is left standing there staring hard at
that door. Simon returns shortly with her new mattress. He tries to
place it in her own corner which would be closer to Cory than him.
She insists he put it right directly beside his own bed on the
floor. That spot suits her just fine until she can get rid of that
creep who has gone “to work.”

Chapter Three
    Reagan

    “Why didn’t you want Cory to come?” Reagan
asks her husband who sits beside her in the back seat of SUV.
    “He’s not ready to be around the people in
town yet, honey,” he explains gently.
    John takes her hand in his and rubs his thumb
gently over her knuckles. Kelly is driving while Derek rides
shotgun, and they are discussing the local political situation.
Grandpa sits on her other side in the back seat smoking his pipe,
of which he thankfully blows the gray plumes out the open
window.
    “What do you mean? He got a shower,” she
quips.
    John chuckles and replies, “Yes, that
would’ve helped immeasurably. But he just needs to settle down a
little first.”
    “Get some rest and settle in?”
    Grandpa says, “No, honey. John means settle down
that demon inside of him. He’s not there yet. It may have helped
him to be alone for a while, but he’s still restless. Didn’t you
see it in his eyes?”
    “I don’t know,” she admits with a shrug. “I
guess so.”
    “We need to give him some time, babe,” John
tells her. “If things get heated in town, he’s not likely to have
much patience with pettiness and local politics. He has a short
fuse right now.”
    Reagan doesn’t comment further. They are
probably right. She’s sure as hell not good at reading people, not
like John.
    “With the problems in town, the missing thugs
still out there, and everyone going into fall harvest panic mode,
it’s better to just keep him at home for a few days at least. Maybe
a few weeks,” John says and kisses the top of her head. “He’s a
little too intense. He needs some decompression time.”
    Derek must’ve picked up on some of their
conversation and comments, “Yeah, it’s a big enough pain in the ass
in town right now. We don’t need to unleash Cory on them,
especially not on Mr. Hernandez.”
    “It would make the meetings shorter,” Reagan
suggests and gets a lot of male laughter in return.
    Everyone nods or agrees out loud with
Derek. Jay Hernandez has supposedly taken a vote within his small
district, and they are announcing their decision tonight at the
town meeting. This situation with the people in town is becoming
frustrating for Reagan. She’d like to tell them to just go to Hell
and fend for themselves. The McClane family doesn’t really need to
be involved with the town people. They’d lived for over a year on
the farm in total seclusion with the exception
of their two neighbors and Condo Paul’s small
community. Unfortunately, she also knows that none of the people
there, and more importantly, none of the children would have
medical care if her family went back into seclusion. That part
would not sit well on her conscience. Without her little Jacob in
her life, she’s not sure how she’d go on. Even though she hadn’t
wanted to be a mother, he’d been tossed into her lap. He’s the best
thing that’s ever happened to her. But she doesn’t have a single
relative that lives in town. She just doesn’t want to see any of
them die from sickness or injury. She blames John for that. Before
he’d stumbled into her life, she was content to stay a hermit for
the rest of her days. Now she feels an obligation, just like her
grandfather does, to the people in their community.
    When they arrive