The Quite Ridge

Chapter 10: Sadie

The office felt smaller after that. Nothing had changed. Same desk. Same board. Same quiet hum from outside drifting through the walls. But it didn’t feel the same walking in as it had yesterday. I set my bag down, moving behind the desk like I knew what I was doing, like my body could follow the routine even if my head hadn’t caught up yet.

“Morning,” Maddie said, glancing up.

“Morning.”

She studied me for a second longer than she had yesterday, like she was trying to decide something, then went back to what she was doing.

“You look tired.”

“Didn’t sleep great,” I said.

“That’ll do it,” she said. “You’ll crash tonight.”

I nodded, hoping she was right.

The calls started not long after, just like before. One after another, filling the space, giving me something to focus on that wasn’t the feeling still sitting under my skin from the parking lot. It shouldn’t have mattered. It did. I caught myself thinking about it more than once. The way he didn’t rush it. The way he didn’t fill the silence. The way he stepped back first. Like he already knew where the line was. I forced my attention back to the call in front of me.

“Yeah, we can get someone out there tomorrow,” I said, writing it down. “Morning works. Perfect.”

I hung up, adding it to the board, keeping everything neat, controlled. Something I could manage. Maddie filled the space like she always did, talking between calls, moving around the office, making everything feel lighter than it should have.

“You’ll start recognizing names after a while,” she said. “Regulars, repeat jobs. It all kind of blends together.”

“I can see that,” I said.

She glanced over at me.

“You’re doing good though. Way better than I did my first week.”

I almost smiled.

“I doubt that.”

“I’m serious,” she said. “I was a mess. You’re calm.”

That almost made me laugh. If only she knew.

My phone buzzed. I froze. The sound hit the same way it had yesterday, sharp enough to cut through everything else in the room. Maddie didn’t react this time. Didn’t even look up. That made it easier. And worse. Slowly, I picked it up.

Unknown number.

My stomach dropped. I stared at it for a second, my thumb hovering over the screen, my pulse already picking up before I even opened it. I shouldn’t. I knew that. I opened it anyway.

You were always stubborn.

My chest tightened, my fingers curling slightly around the phone. No. No, he didn’t know where I was. He couldn’t.

Another message came through.

Still think you can hide?

Everything in me went cold.

“Hey,” Maddie said, breaking through it. “You good?”

I looked up too fast.

“Yeah.”

My voice came out steady. Too steady. She watched me for a second, then nodded.

“Okay.”

She didn’t push. I flipped the phone over, setting it face down on the desk, my hand resting on top of it without thinking, like I could keep it quiet, like I could keep it from happening again. But the feeling didn’t go away. It stayed. Under everything. And no matter how normal the room looked, I knew something wasn’t right.