BonnieSunlight flickered and danced through the pine boughs, and birds sang squeaky melodies as Bonnie walked along the gravel path to the cafeteria building. The long thin grass was still wet from the night’s rain, and everything smelled of wet pine and fresh dirt. She took a deep breath in and immediately felt like she was where she was supposed to be.The path to the cafeteria flat and easy to walk, but with a view of the Rocky Mountains that took her breath away. The mountains were so much bigger and grander than she had imagined. It was so different from New Jersey that it felt like she’d stepped through a magic mirror and into a world of myth. A friendly little squirrel chattered at her from the top of a bright green pine tree as she walked past. She was fairly certain if she burst into song, the squirrel would sing the melody with her just like in a princess movie.She turned a corner to find the large building that housed the cafeteria and kitchen. The big wooden structure st
Bonnie“Mia?” Bonnie called out, jogging across the pale green grass. It wasn’t a lawn to Bonnie’s eyes, but it was a patch of grass, although it had a lot of weeds too. It was bare in some spots and lush in others with long stems peeking out wherever the mower had missed them. It looked wild and rustic.Bonnie’s feet hurt from standing in the kitchen all day. The sun was just coming to touch the mountains and disappear for the evening. It was still early, but she was ready to take a shower and head straight to bed. Washing dishes was hard work.“Hi, Bonnie,” Mia greeted her, turning from the path. She had her daughter tucked into a baby carrier attached to her chest. The tiny baby girl was snuggled up against her mother’s chest fast asleep. “Dylan says that your car’s fixed for now. It was something to do with the engine, but I don’t remember what he said it was. It’s just a temporary fix though. He says he needs to get a new part to make it actually work right.”“How much do I owe h
Bonnie“You go take a break for a bit,” Chef told Bonnie, patting her on the shoulder. “You got all the dishes done. Dinner will be soon enough, and it's going to be a doozy.”Bonnie's arms were tired. Her feet were tired. She'd washed dishes all morning, all afternoon, and was preparing herself to wash dinner dishes again this evening. It was hard, but it was worth the room and board.“That sounds great. Thanks,” Bonnie replied, putting her drying towel up on a rack. “What's for dinner?”“Tacos,” Chef informed her. “My secret recipe for the salsa.”“I'm already looking forward to it,” Bonnie said. “I mean, the meal. Not the dishes.”Chef laughed. “Go take a break. You've earned it.”Bonnie thanked her and took off her apron. She stepped out into the warm summer mountains sunshine. The scent of pine was almost overwhelming, but it was dry and pleasant. There was no humidity up here, even after all the rain.She walked past the garage, sad to see that Dylan wasn't in it working. She'd
BonnieBonnie fell effortlessly into the rhythm of the camp. By day four of working in the kitchen, she was joking with Chef and already knew all the names of the horses in the barn. She worked her tail off washing dishes and making request meals for the camp kids. Anything Chef asked her to do she did as quickly and efficiently as possible.She felt safe here. There wasn’t a whisper of her former life. She secretly started to wish that the part for the dish-washing machine would keep getting delayed. She didn’t want to leave this place.Bonnie picked up another bowl and quickly scrubbed, rinsed, and placed it on the drying rack. Only fifty more bowls to go for lunch, she thought.She paused and saw Dylan walk past the window with a gaggle of children at his heels. He never seemed to be far from her during the day. She wanted to imagine that it was on purpose, but it was far more likely that he just liked being in the garage or out with the camp kids.The kitchen doors opened, and Mia
BonnieOnce the dish-washing machine was fixed and loaded with dishes, there wasn’t much left for Bonnie to do in the kitchen. She helped with putting the food from lunch away and sweeping the floors before she left. Chef had her promise to stop in and say hello on a regular basis, but then promptly shooed her out of the kitchen to go explore the camp.Chef had mentioned multiple times how nice the camp pool was after a hard day’s work. Now that her background check had cleared, Bonnie felt like she could go to the pool and not be afraid of interacting with the campers. Up until today, she didn’t want to go where she wasn’t allowed, but with the job offer, the camp opened up to her.She put on her favorite one-piece swimsuit, a pair of sweatpants, and a light jacket and began to wander the ranch looking for the famed pool.She found the barn where Laura was teaching some of the older kids how to groom horses. She waved, but since she wasn’t dressed for working with animals, continued
DylanTyson took the seat next to Elena and happily dug into his grilled cheese sandwich. The boy ate like he was starving, and given the way he’d been swimming, Dylan wasn’t surprised. The boy gave him a grin and a wave before concentrating on his meal.“You did great with him,” Bonnie said as the two of them headed toward the kitchen to get their own dinner. Her sweatpants had the distinct wet outline of her swimsuit on her ass and chest. He was having a hard time not staring at those beautiful wet spots.She had made sure Tyson had changed into dry pajamas before coming to dinner, but neither Dylan nor Bonnie had changed out of their wet swimsuits yet. They wanted to get Tyson to dinner first. Dylan was trying not to enjoy the fact that it made Bonnie’s assets very apparent in spite of her concealing sweats.“Thanks,” he replied, navigating around a table full of kids. “You’re the one who did most of the work. I’m impressed.”She chuckled. “A lot of these kids have come from tough
BonnieBonnie changed her shirt twice and put on more mascara than usual. She was nervous.This felt like a date. Only, it totally wasn’t. At least she didn’t think it was. They were simply going out to a restaurant because the ranch didn’t have any food. That was it. He was being a good co-worker. There was nothing romantic about it.Even though she wanted there to be.Either way, she was nervous now. It felt enough like a date to make her stomach queasy, and her legs want to move around.She made sure her hair looked nice enough and that her mascara wasn’t leaving raccoon circles under her eyes. She didn’t really have enough time to get truly dolled up, so she hoped this would do. She had her favorite pale blue t-shirt that gave her just a little bit of cleavage and her best jeans that she knew made her ass look good.She nodded to herself in the small mirror and headed out to meet Dylan.She found him leaning up against a cherry red sports car, looking for all the world like someth
BonnieHe held the restaurant door open for Bonnie like a gentleman. She smiled as she passed him, looking around as she entered. Inside, the restaurant was rustic and adorable. Everything appeared to be made of wood, and there was a friendly warmth to the restaurant. While it didn’t look like much on the outside, the delicious smell of food inside was enough to make her mouth water.Dylan waved to the bartender and grabbed a pair of menus from the hostess stand before guiding Bonnie to an empty table. She figured he had to be a regular here. There were several full tables, but still plenty of space for the dinner crowd to come in.“I highly recommend the green chili burger,” Dylan said, handing her a menu once she was seated in her booth. “It’s fantastic. Just the right amount of spicy.”She grinned and perused the menu. Her stomach rumbled. She was hungry after swimming. Everything on the menu looked good, but she was going to go with his personal recommendation.“Green chili burger
Bonnie~Four months later~Bonnie smoothed the front of her skirt. There wasn’t a wrinkle to be found on the soft gray fabric, but she smoothed it anyway. It helped calm her nerves.“We’re up,” a lawyer told her. The man carried himself with such ease in the courthouse. He knew where to go, where to stand, how to dress. The lawyer knew the name of the security at the front entrance even. He was comfortable. Confident.Bonnie was not.“It’ll be fine,” Dylan whispered, taking her hand in his. He gave her a gentle squeeze. She nodded. She was afraid if she opened her mouth, she’d throw up. That would definitely be worse than a wrinkled skirt.Dylan held her hand as they walked into the courtroom. She was glad he was there. She was glad that Dylan was with her for this. They’d started this as a couple. It was best they finished it as a couple.The carpet was some sort of gray-green mixture. Two wooden tables sat before the judge. A stern looking woman looked out over her tall wooden bench
BonnieThe next week was a blur of police officers, questions, security upgrades, and lawyers. Bonnie was overwhelmed by it all, especially after just being kidnapped and locked in a trunk.But, through it all Dylan was there.He was there when the security team found the two of them walking up to the house.He was there when the police caught her kidnapper trying to get onto the highway with two flat tires.He was there when she had to tell the police what happened and explain the bruises.He held her hand when the lawyers came to explain what was happening next.He promised her he would always be there.And she believed him.Every night, she slept in his bed. He was there when the nightmares of being trapped in the trunk again would wake her. He would hold her and whisper calming words into her ear. He saved her every night, just as he had saved her from the trunk of that car.A week after the incident, things finally seemed to settle back to normal. Well, as normal as things could
DylanDylan was worried. He’d seen Bonnie walk to the barn, but then she didn’t come back. He was waiting for her to come back so he could show her the updated car. He finally had it all fixed and ready for her. He’d basically put in a new engine, and he wanted to surprise her with it.But he couldn’t find her.He called her phone and smiled when he heard her ringtone from inside the barn.“There you are,” he said, coming inside and looking in one of the horse stalls.Except she wasn’t there. He found her phone tucked in a saddlebag. It was only because the ringer was perpetually stuck on the loudest setting that he even found it.Anxiety tumbled in his belly. There was something very wrong about this. Bonnie always had her phone. It was part of her escape plan if the Trio ever came here. She needed it. It was as much a part of her as her hand or her head.Tension crept into his jaw.He grabbed his phone and called security.“This is Dylan Abbott. Bonnie Kincaid is missing,” he announ
BonnieIt was hot and hard to breathe. Her head hurt like hell.Bonnie woke and struggled to remove the cloth from her face. She pulled at the dark fabric, finding that her hands were tied together in front of her and she was in a small enclosed space. She managed to get the pillowcase, or what she assumed was a pillowcase, off her head.Then she had to work on not panicking.Bonnie wasn't a fan of tight spaces. She wasn't exactly claustrophobic, but she didn't enjoy spelunking or being buried in a pillow fort. She liked being able to breathe and to stretch out without touching anything.She couldn't do either of those things.Panic clawed up from her stomach and gripped at her throat. She wanted to scream. She wanted to kick and thrash and fight for her freedom, but she knew that it wouldn't do any good. So, she closed her eyes, counted backward from ten and focused on her breathing.It was an exercise she did with her autistic kids when they got overwhelmed. It worked. Her chest loo
BonnieBonnie couldn’t sit still. She jumped at every sound. She saw shadows around every corner, and she heard every squeak, step, and breath of every person walking down the hall.She was a mess.Four days. Four days since they’d left New Orleans. She’d been jumping and living on little to no sleep for four days. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the man with the scar on his cheek. He would grin and then lunge for her.She’d wake up screaming and afraid to go back to sleep. Not even Dylan could get her to relax.She’d called Detective Patton, but he said there was nothing he could do. They didn’t have any reports coming into the station about the Trio. It was still business as usual. As far as the police knew, the Trio was still looking for her and didn’t know where she was.So, today, she sat outside watching the horses and trying to stay calm. She felt better by the horses. Anytime anyone approached, they would lift their heads to see who it was. They were better at spotting
BonnieBonnie was sad to leave. She loved this house. She loved PawPaw's hospitality. She loved how Dylan shared his childhood with her and the way he smiled at everything. She was happy here. She felt almost as safe here as she did at the ranch.But, she wanted to get home. They were still too close to the city for her to feel comfortable. Dylan had made sure there was plenty of security, and while they did blend into the background, she could always tell that they were there. She saw them out of the corner of her eye and would startle until she realized they were security and not intruders.“Thank you so much for having us,” Bonnie told PawPaw as the limousine drove up to get them. “I hope you'll come out and visit us sometime soon.”PawPaw wrapped her up in a big bear hug and squeezed. “I'd love that. You know you're invited out here for Thanksgiving, right?”“I wouldn't miss it for the world,” she assured him. PawPaw grinned before turning to Dylan.“This one's a keeper,” PawPaw t
BonnieBonnie woke up the next morning to the smell of freshly brewed coffee. She was perfectly comfortable and didn’t want to move. At the same time, though, the idea of coffee sounded pretty amazing.After a while, she finally opened her eyes. The sun was pouring in through the bedroom window, brightly illuminating the room.It must be late morning, she thought. That’s weird. I never sleep in. Am I actually feeling relaxed for once, that my mind let me catch some much-needed sleep? If no, then this vacation is already the best thing I’ve done for myself in years.She glanced over to the opposite side of the bed where Dylan had slept that night. He wasn’t there, though. However, there was something in his place.Bonnie kicked off the covers and reached over to the other side of the bed. Folded neatly on top of the blanket was a beautiful sundress. She picked it up and let it unfold in front of her.The blue fabric was soft and light- perfect for a day out in the New Orleans’ heat. Th
BonnieBonnie tiptoed down the hallway to Dylan’s room. She felt like a teenager again, sneaking past her parents to meet the love of her life. Only this time, she really was with the love of her life.“You know he can’t hear you,” Dylan said, opening up the door to his room. “That door is solid, plus he sleeps with a white noise machine on. Nothing wakes him up.”“Don’t spoil my fun,” she replied. “I’m being sneaky.”He chuckled and together they went into his room. Where Bonnie’s room was delicate and feminine, Dylan’s was masculine and nautical. It had the same French doors leading out to a balcony, and the bathroom was similar, but it was much more male. It suited him.“This was always my room as a kid,” Dylan explained. For a moment he looked small and innocent before returning to the powerful man Bonnie knew.“You ever think you’d bring a girl up here?” she asked, looking around. She went to the French doors and opened them up. The magnolia-scented breeze was heavenly if a littl
BonnieBonnie descended the beautiful grand staircase and felt as regal as Scarlett O'Hara meeting Rhett Butler. Dylan waited for her at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes on her as she came down, step by step. He wore dark dress pants and a dark gray dress shirt that showed off his shoulders and trim waist. He looked good enough to eat.“Wow,” he said as held out his hand for her. “You look beyond amazing.”She grinned. “You have good taste,” she told him. “Thank you for the dress.”“My pleasure,” he replied, holding out his arm. “This way to dinner.”She rested her hand on his forearm as they walked. She could get used to this, she decided. She could get used to an elegant life with him. They stepped outside and into what Bonnie would classify as the backyard, but it was less backyard and more magical fairy garden.A small stone fountain gurgled in the center with neat paving stones leading off into different paths. The scent of magnolias was thick on the humid air, and the hum of i