Hidden Fates (Hidden Heroes #4)

Chapter 4

Reese didn’t see much of Garrett over the next week. He left for work earlier in the morning than he usually did and came home later. He dropped by one evening with a bag of groceries, and they exchanged a few text messages one day while he was on a lunch break. Other than that, she was pretty much on her own.

She liked it that way for the most part, but after their conversation last week on the dock, she found herself thinking about him even more than she had before, and dare she say, even missing him. It was silly really. Garrett had his own life and friends, and it was time she moved on with her life, too.

The first thing she needed to do was get in touch with her old landlord to see if he had saved any of her old art work when her lease ran out on her studio. She didn’t have any false hope that Russell had continued to pay for the space, but maybe Phil had hoped she would come back for her stuff some day and saved it for her in some storage space or something.

She’d been wanting to call him for months now, as soon as she’d gotten out of Desert Cove, but she worried Russell might have gotten to him. Phil wasn’t a bad guy, but she’d seen him cower in front of Russell’s badge, and if her step brother threatened Phil in any way, he would certainly protect his own hyde before sparing hers. She considered not reaching out to Phil and letting all her works go to waste, but there were some really good pieces in her collection, and she had just gotten an email that morning from a small private high school asking to schedule an interview for the art teacher position she’d inquired about last week.

The thought of being in front of rowdy teenagers scared the living daylights out of Reese, but the pay was decent, and it would get her back into art again. Maybe if she worked for a year, she could save up enough to quit by summer and get her own studio like she had in Sedona. It felt more like a pipe dream at the moment, but it was something to hold on to while she tried to get her life back on track.

Since her resume lacked any recent work experience, presenting the interviewer at the high school with some of her best art might actually speak for itself and land her the job. Otherwise, she wasn’t sure if she even had a chance.

Picking up the disposable cell phone Garrett had gotten her, she dialed Phil’s number from memory. She’d called it plenty of times before since he was one of those landlords who let things break and fall apart before attempting to call someone in to fix them.

“Yeah?” Phil answered on the second ring. “Who’s this?”

Reese almost laughed. The man hadn’t changed at all. Still as grumpy and abrupt as she remembered. “Phil, hi. It’s Reese. Reese Graham,” she said, hoping he remembered her.

“Well, she’s alive. Sorry, Honey, I had to give your space away when you stopped making payments and disappeared on me.”

“I know.” She didn’t actually know, but she had assumed as much. “I was just wondering if you kept any of my art, or did you get rid of it?”

Phil chuckled. “Get rid of it? Are you kidding me? Your brother came by and picked it up. I have no idea what he did with it, but I was under strict instructions not to let anyone touch it until he got it.”

All the hope that had built up within her suddenly vaporized, leaving a void so deep, she could barely draw breath. “Russell took it?” She asked, hoping she’d heard him wrong.

“Yeah. I can give him a call if you want, let him know you’re looking for it.”

“No,” she said, a little too harshly. “I mean, I’ll call him myself. Thanks, Phil.” She ended the call and sank into the couch. There was no way she was ever getting her artwork back, not without facing Russell. And if he ever found her, chances are he would send her right back to that mental hospital, or worse. She had no idea how her own step brother could do that to her. One minute he was coming to visit, and the next he was admitting her into a hospital that kept her heavily drugged with medicines she didn’t need. If it hadn’t been for that woman who somehow heard her cries, Reese wasn’t sure if she would’ve ever gotten out of that place.

The worst part was, she couldn’t for the life of her remember that woman’s name, or if she’d even given it. She never saw her face either. Just heard her voice, though it came and went so quickly, Reese doubted she’d recognize it even if she heard it again. She’d spent so many nights thinking about that strange conversation, and Reese still wasn’t sure if it had even been real, or a figment of her imagination brought on by the drugs they made her take. But Reese never told anyone about her, both out of a fear of actually sounding crazy, and because if there was a woman out there who could do what she did, that woman deserved her privacy.

Staring at the email from the school, Reese couldn’t help the feeling of defeat washing over her. If she didn’t have a way of showing them what she could do, there was no doubt in her mind that she didn’t stand a chance of getting that job.

Her phone dinged with an incoming text message from Garrett. Reese opened it and smiled at the image of a cute orange tabby cat wearing a black top hat and oversized sunglasses. She gave it a thumbs up and set the phone aside.

Then suddenly Reese had an idea. She opened a new browser tab and searched the name of the gallery where her last show was supposed to have been.

The gallery owner had requested photos of all the pieces she’d been planning on showing. If she still had them… Reese dialed her almost frantically.

It rang three times, and just when Reese was about to hang up, someone picked up and a feminine voice answered, “Southwest Art Gallery, how may I help you?”

“Hi,” Reese said, trying to push down her excitement. “Is Malia there?”

“One moment. May I ask who’s calling?”

“Tell her it’s T. Reese.” Reese had always gone by that name for her art.

“Hold, please.” The line went quiet and Reese sat on the edge of the couch, bouncing her knee, waiting, hoping against all odds that her abrupt disappearance hadn’t angered the other woman enough to make her delete the images from her email.

“This is Malia. Is that really you, T. Reese?”

Reese sighed. “Yes. It’s me.”

Malia gasped. “Oh, I’m so happy to hear from you. When your brother told us that you were sick and had to be institutionalized, I was so worried. I told him to let me know when you got better, but I never heard from him again. How are you doing now?”

Reese swallowed. She hadn’t been sick then, and the more she found out what Russell had done to get away with what he’d done to her, the angrier she got. “I’m fine,” Reese managed to say. “I wanted to ask if you by any chance still have the images of my art that I emailed you?”

“Oh, of course. I never gave up hope that you’d get healthy again and we’d be able to go through with that amazing show of yours.”

Tears welled in Reese’s eyes at Malia’s words. “Thank you.” Reese said softly. “Would you mind forwarding the images to me? I can give you my new email address.”

“Oh, Sweetie, tell me you didn’t lose your art in the process?” Malia asked, so much concern filling her voice.

“It’s complicated,” Reese answered. “But having the images would really help me out a lot. Would you mind?”

“Of course not,” Malia said. “What’s your new email address? I’ll send them right over to you.”

“Thanks,” Reese said, and gave her the new email address.

“Does this mean you’d be up to scheduling your show now that you’re all better?”

Reese wanted to say yes more than anything, but there was simply no way she could return home without Russell finding out. “No. I’m sorry. I had to move out of the area, and I won’t be able to come back for a while. I’m so sorry to have left you in such a lurch, Malia.”

“Don’t be silly. Your health is the most important thing. You’re so talented. I really hope we get to work together again sometime.”

“I hope so too, and thank you.” Reese ended the call and Malia’s email popped up in her inbox with over twenty images attached just seconds later. The woman was a true lifesaver.

Reese clicked on the email from the high school, and replied with her availability for an interview next week. Maybe things were finally looking up. For the first time in a long time, she actually felt a flicker of hope, but it brought with it a tinge of sadness.

Her time with Garrett was coming to an end.