California Schemin' - Kate George [38]
“Hammie! Wake up!”
I tried to push his arm off me, but he held me close.
“Hammie!”
“Go back to sleep,” he murmured. “I’m not ready to get up.”
“I’m not Paris. You need to wake up.”
“I know you’re not Paris. Go to sleep.”
“What are you doing clutching me if you know I’m not Paris?”
“Paris is not nearly this nice to sleep with. I’m not molesting you or anything. Can’t you just let me sleep? Fifteen more minutes.” His breathing got regular again.
Why can’t I just fall asleep like that?
I lay with Hammie’s arm around me thinking about Beau. Beau’s body temperature ran high. He got overheated if we slept too close together. We snuggled, but when Beau went to sleep he was normally covers off, sprawled over his side of the bed. He wouldn’t have been able to sleep spooned together like this.
I wondered if Beau was worried about me, if he’d even noticed I was missing yet. Probably Fogel had called Tom, and Tom would call Beau. So maybe he was worried. Maybe they were all roaming around the American River looking for me. Not Beau. Beau had his leg in a cast; it would be a long time before he could look for me.
I’d worked myself into despair when Moose finally came in and cut me free of Hammie.
“You should put the dress back on. You’ll feel out of place if you wear those jeans again. We need to get you to a laundry.”
I grabbed the dress and headed in to take a shower. Just as I reached the door I heard a thump and turned back to see Hammie on the floor.
“Time to get up,” Moose said to him.
Hammie took a swipe at Moose’s leg, but Moose just moved out of the way. I locked myself in the bathroom and let them sort it out for themselves.
Moose drove us south, out of the city. I don’t know why I’d expected us to go east, back toward the Foresthill Bridge, but I had. What was to the south? Stockton, Fresno and points beyond. I dozed in the back seat, which was at least more comfortable than trying to sleep with my legs tied together. Moose pulled off the freeway somewhere between Sacramento and Stockton. We motored along the frontage road for a while before we turned into a gated community.
It would be hard to escape from here, I thought as we drove through the iron gates flanked by high cement walls. Very attractive, but as good at keeping people out as they were at keeping them in. The houses were big and set well apart. The landscaping was tasteful and immaculate, if a little sterile for my taste.
“No individuality permitted,” I said aloud.
Hammie looked over at me.
“What?”
“It all looks the same,” I said, motioning out the window. “No one is allowed to be different.”
“What are you talking about? None of those houses look remotely alike. They were all individually designed to spec. Just because they are immaculately groomed doesn’t make them identical.”
My eyes scanned the houses looking for what Hammie saw in them. “Nope,” I said, “can’t see it. The houses are different styles, sure, but they’re all the same color. They all sit exactly twenty-five feet from the road. I’ll bet the same landscaper designed and grooms all of them. It’s cookie cutter living. I wouldn’t trade my house for any of these.”
“Your house is so old, I’m amazed it’s still standing. You don’t even lock it, but if you did, I still could have gotten in any of the windows.”
“I don’t normally have to worry about anyone coming in my windows, and the only people who come in through the door are friends and neighbors, except for you. So statistically, I’m justified in leaving my house open. Besides, my dogs keep strangers away. Usually. How did you get past my dogs?” I was appalled. This was the first moment I’d thought of them. Why hadn’t they kept Hammie out of the house?
“You didn’t poison them did you?” Panic was rising in my throat.
“No, I didn’t poison your dogs. I didn’t need to. I threw some hamburger into the yard, opened your door, and they ran right to it. They were still gulping it down when I brought you out.