Tormoha (part 1)

Tormoha

Tormoha Canada. A remote, peaceful town, where the visitors are few, and the snow never stops coming. Cassie Clemens, a young, and heartbroken girl, looking to rebuild her life. Daniel, a hardworking, quiet, young man only looking to find someone. The combination of these things may seem to create a romantic setting. But everything is not what it seems in Tormoha. Things may turn out to be much darker, and much more disturbing.

Cassie Clemens grew up a city girl in New York. Her abusive parents died when she was 12, and foster parents took her in. While in High School, she met the boy of her dreams, Jim Harvey. They ended up going to college together, and even majored in the same subject as journalists. After completing college, Jim finally proposed to her. She accepted happily, and for once in her life seemed to have everything.


Three weeks after being engaged, Cassie’s world was suddenly changed forever. While traveling back from seeing his parents, Jim was killed in a car crash. Cassie had never felt such an emptiness. She wanted to be dead.


Chapter 1-Tormoha, Canada

Cassie’s car moved across the tightly packed snow. The temperature had dropped by 20 degrees in the past hour, and she felt like a pop-sickle. Her friend Mary sat in the seat next to her, scanning the map.
“I’m pretty sure you take a left here. I’m not sure though, I suck at reading these things.”
“Let me see it.” Demanded Cassie. She grabbed the map from her friend and turned it sideways.
“No, we take a right.” She said as she turned her wheels the other way and started of down the snowy hill.
“Look, Cassie if you don’t want to do this…”
“No, this is good for me. I’m glad you’re taking me here, I need this!”
“You just seem so tense.” Said Mary.
“Well that’s because I am tense.” Said Cassie sternly.

An awkward moment of silence.

“I really do appreciate you taking me out here Mary, I do need this. It’s just the thing to take my mind off of everything.”

“Besides!” said Mary “I’m sure you’ll meet some nice people up here!”


The windows fogged quickly, and they could now see their breath in the car.

“Damn, it’s so cold!” said Mary uncomfortably.
“At least the cabin has heating in it.”

Cassie was young, at the fresh age of twenty-four. She wasn’t tall, nor was she short. Her long, brown, wavy hair could have attracted any male she wanted. But she didn’t flaunt her hazel eyes and her sultry lips. She was contained, and defined, demanding, yet docile. Mary wasn’t quite her significant other, but she managed to always stay one step behind.

Cassie pulled the car up into the driveway of the cabin. The large log cabin looked inviting. Tall trees surrounded the back of the cabin, as well as the sides. The small windows stuck into the house, and were fogged beyond being able to see inside.  Cassie and Mary got out of the car, grabbed their bags and started for the front door. The sound of a timber wolf echoed in the distance. The sun had started to set, and the moon had begun to come up from behind the cabin. The moon was massive in size and made a halo around the edge of the trees. The girls walked up to the front door of the cabin and set their bags down.

“The owner told me they keep a key under one of these rocks.” Said Mary as she lifted the rocks up searching for the key.

“Aha!” she exclaimed as she grabbed the brass key from under one of the rocks.
She slid it into the door. The door slowly opened.
“That’s strange…” said Mary confused
“What’s wrong?” asked Cassie
“The door was already unlocked.” she replied          
“And look” said Cassie as she pointed to the roof “There’s smoke coming from the chimney.”

Mary opened the door all the way and stepped inside the cabin. It seemed small from the outside, but was large on the inside. Mary set their bags down by the side of the door and looked around. The cabin smelled of pine, and a fireplace sat next to the large stairs. A small couch was next to the fire, and a little TV stood on a table next to it. Across the foyer was a kitchen table, complete with chairs all made of wood. The kitchen was small, but had everything that Cassie would need. A large grizzly bear rug lay just in front of the stairs.  The cabin was furnished very nicely, and it felt as though someone was living there already.

“That’s really weird. I hope no one is staying here already.” Said Cassie as she walked over to the burning fire. A noise from the upstairs startled both of the girls. They screamed as a man stood at the top of the stairs.
“Whoa! Hey, calm down!” shouted the man from the top of the stairs. He started his way down.
“I’m Mr. Bradsbury. I believe we talked over the phone?”

“Oh...” sighed Mary in relief. “Yep, I remember.”
“This is my friend Cassie. She’s going to be staying up here for the next week or so.”

Cassie and Mr. Bradsbury exchanged hands. He grabbed their luggage and took it up the stairs. Mr. Bradbury appeared to be in his early 60’s with gray hair. He was the owner of the cabin and sold it for rent every now an then.
“If you follow me I’ll take you to your room.” The girls followed Mr. Bradsbury up the stairs and into a small bedroom with a loft above it.
“I’ll let ya’ll decide where you want to sleep, and just call me when your ready to check out.”
“This is a beautiful home you have” said Mary
“The bathroom is right here,” he continued abruptly “and there’s another one right downstairs next to the kitchen. Are you familiar with the area?”
“Not at all.” Cassie replied.
“Well the drug store is about 12 miles up the road that way.” He pointed in a direction. “And theirs a farmers market about 8 miles over in that direction. He pointed another way. I left a list on the counter downstairs with some people’s names and addresses if you need any help finding your way around.
“Thanks for all your help.” said Cassie once more in attempt to send him on his way. 
Mr. Bradbury took off down the stairs and out the front door. The girls unpacked their luggage into the drawers by their beds.
“I guess we should head up to the farmers market either tonight or tomorrow. We barely have enough food left for tonight’s meal.”
“Mary, why can’t you stay longer?” asked Cassie with a sudden change of topic.
“Cassie...I have to get back to my work. I’ve already taken half my week off for this. Besides, I think a little bit of time to yourself is all you need. Cassie it’s been three months and you need to start thinking about new activities, or hobbies, meeting new people! You have your whole life ahead of you and this shouldn’t slow you down.”

Cassie didn’t reply, but nodded her head sullenly in agreement. Her face became red and she held her head back to catch the tears.

“Look Cassie, I know it still hurts, but we’re going to make it through this together.”

Cassie smiled vaguely then started up into the loft. She felt along the wall for a light switch, until a string hit her in the face She grabbed it and yanked it. The lights suddenly came on then blew out again.

“Oh well…” said Cassie. “It’s not like we we’re going to sleep up here or anything.”
“What’s up there?” asked Mary from below.  “ I don’t know I couldn’t see.


        **********

The next morning, after driving for half an hour or so, the girls finally found the market place. With just half an hour before closing, the girls grabbed what they could and paid.

“You’re new around here, huh?” Said a fat woman at the counter bagging their tomatoes.
“We just rented a cabin for the week.” Replied Mary.
“It’s cold out here, ya?” said the woman.
“Very” was Mary’s only reply.
The woman stared at the two girls for a moment.
“Ya’ll staying in the McCoy cabin?”
The girls looked at each other strangely.
“It’s the only cabin we have for rent up here.” The woman said as she handed the girls their tomatoes.
“Well then I guess so. We didn’t know it had a name.” said Cassie.
The fat woman looked off into the distance as though she were deep in thought.
“Oh ya, back in ’89 Mr. Bradsbury built that cabin for his wife. She died of cancer just before he finished building it.”
“That’s so sad” said Mary sympathetically, even though she really didn’t care at all.
The woman continued staring off into the distance. The snow began falling again, and Cassie began to see the small flakes pilling one by one on the fat woman’s nose.  There was an awkward silence for at least another three seconds. Cassie and Mary looked at one another.
“But then Mr. Bradsbury fixed the old place up and started renting it out.” She said as she snapped back into reality. She smiled to the young women as she handed them their change. Mary awkwardly smiled back and threw the change into her coat pocket.

The girls jumped back in the car and began to drive back.
“I’m freezing my ass off right now! We don’t even have any wood for the fire place!” said Cassie frustratingly.

“I think I saw a firewood stand on the way here. We’ll pick up some on the way back, ya?” she said in a Canadian accent, poking fun of the fat woman earlier. They both shared a laugh.


“Mary…”started Cassie, changing the subject once again.

There was a long silence as Cassie thought over what she was going to say.

“I really appreciate this whole trip, but it’s just so different here! And I’m going to be alone, what if a bear breaks into the cabin?”
“Cassie…that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard you say. Stop worrying about it, you’ll have a good time. You can catch up on your journaling too.”

Cassie looked out the window, feeling like a jerk for turning down May’s trip so quickly.

“Look. There’s the wood shop.” Said Mary as she pointed out a little booth on the side of the road.

It was just a small shack, with shelves on the outside full of wood. A man was behind the shack cutting wood into pieces. The girls admired him from a distance then pulled up next to the shack.
“Look at him!” said Mary approvingly as she stepped out of the car.
“We’re just here for firewood.” Cassie said as she looked sternly at Mary.
They walked up to the front of the stand as the man walked around to the front. He was strong built and had dark brown hair. He was wearing jeans and a plaid shirt and was wearing gloves. He whipped the sweat from his brow and pulled his gloves off as he neared the counter.
“Can I get you some firewood?” said the man.
“I’m Cassie.” she extended her hand out to the man. He grabbed it firmly.
“Nice meeting you Cassie”.  He then looked at Mary.
“I’m Mary.” She said as she reached her hand out as well.
“I’m renting a cabin up the road and just needed some firewood to get me through the week.”
“Then you came to the right place!” he said with a smile. “In fact you’ve come to the only place. I’m Daniel.” He said.
“Well Daniel” said Mary “I can’t imagine you’d get too many customers around here.”
“You’d be surprised. Most people that live around her don’t have any heating systems. We like to live fairly simple up here in Tormoha.”
Cassie smiled and leaned over the counter to look at the wood. Daniel leaned down and grabbed a handful of wood.
“A dozen or so of these should get you through the weekend.” Said Daniel as he began to pile more into his arms.
“Ya’ll must be staying in the McCoy cabin?” asked Daniel as he continued piling wood.
“Cassie is. I’m leaving later on tonight.” Said Mary.
Daniel walked around to their car and popped the trunk. He began loading the wood into the back.
“Well if you need anything” he started, “Just stop by anytime.”
Cassie smiled at him and nodded.
“I noticed you don’t have an accent?” said Cassie as she closed the trunk of the car.
“Uh, no. I moved up here with my dad a few years ago. We kind of…like the simple life.”
“Well you can’t get much simpler than this!” said Mary. She laughed to herself, hoping he would laugh too, but he didn’t. Losing interest, Mary climbed into the front seat of the car.
“Well I may stop by later this weekend to grab some wood.” Cassie said as she made her way towards the car.
“Heads up.” Said Daniel. “We’ve got some heavy snow coming our way tomorrow.”


Cassie was alone. Mary had left around 7:30, and it was getting late. But being in Canada, the sun was still out at 9:00. Cassie looked out the window at the sun bleeding through the trees. It’s red glow cast an ominous wave across the snow. She could see large clouds building up overhead.
She walked back to the couch and turned on the television. There was no signal, only white fuzz. She threw herself up form the couch and opened up a small cabinet beside the TV. There were a few books and some VHS tapes.
“Who the hell keeps this shit anymore?” she said shuffling through the tapes.
She stood up and moved over to the fire. She pulled out the poker and pushed the logs around. Sparks flew up from the fire and into the room. She sighed to herself and began pacing the room. Mary was right. Tormoha was about as simple as you could get. Cassie decided it was about time to catch up on her journaling. She had been given time off of work, and she had decided to go back. She pulled her laptop out of her backpack, and with no surprise to her at all, it had no bars. And neither did the town. She was alone for good now, without any booze.

        ********* 
         The winds blew hard against the side of the house. Snow smashed violently against the side of the cabin as she drew herself up on the couch in a blanket. She starred at the paper in her hands blankly. She flicked her pencil back and forth between her fingers. There was nothing to write on. The only light illuminating the room came from a small lamp in the kitchen. She froze as she heard a small noise coming from the front door. She leaned forward away from the window to listen to the sound. It sounded like an animal trying to scratch it’s way in. She moved quietly to the front door and looked out the window to see if she could see what it was. The windows were completely white with snow. The scratching continued, and creepy thoughts popped into her head as the noise continued. She reached for the brass doorknob, then hesitated. If it was an animal, it would stop soon.
          She backed away from the door and sat back on the couch, her eyes still beaming at the door. After a few seconds, the scratching stopped, and she was left in silence once again. Cassie sat motionless on the couch. She knew she should be doing work,; writing something just to get her mind back on track for work. But her mind drew a black. As she gazed into the flames in the furnace, her eyelids slowly drew to a close. Her mind was finally at rest. Being alone in the cabin didn’t bother Cassie. She was used to being alone, and actually found it comforting. Cassie was a nervous wreck, and she always had been. Jim Harvey had been everything to her. Mary had been the second greatest thing to ever happen to Cassie, but not even she could fill the gap that had been torn open by his death.
      Cassie slowly opened her eyes. The lamp from beside her was out, and the fire had fallen to a slow flicker. Cassie reached over and turned the knob on the lamp, but it didn’t turn on. She walked to the kitchen and flipped the light switch, but nothing happened. The power had obviously gone out while she was asleep. The house was dark, and Cassie began to feel uncomfortable. There was a strange silence in the room.
         Cassie went into the foyer and opened a cabinet. She rummaged through the shelves looking for a flashlight, but found two candlesticks instead. As she pulled them from the shelf, she caught sight of two small books.
“Finally” she thought to herself “Something to do” Cassie pulled the two books from their ten year resting place and put them under her arms. She walked back to the furnace and lightly grazed the wick of the candle over the flame. She placed the two candlesticks on the table in front of her. Her vision became blurry as she starred into the flames, bouncing back and forth. Just as she was about to begin reading one of the books, the same scratching noise started up again at the door.
She rose from the couch and wrapped her blanket tight around her shoulders. As she neared the window, she saw that the snow had let down. The windows were less fogged and a small glow of light was visible through the glass. She brought her face to the glass and peered out, but there was nothing on the other side. The scratching continued. She moved swiftly back to the couch and brought her feet up close to her body. She flipped on the TV and starred at snow for at least a minute, not daring to look at the door. After realizing that she had been staring at interference for the last sixty seconds, she flipped through the channels. They were all the same though, just as before. She reached her hand for the book again, but was started by a loud banging on the door. She jumped swiftly to her feet, but stood only by the couch. After the second knock, this time less violent, she walked towards the door. After peering through the glass once more, she saw that it was Daniel. He was holding a gun. She hesitated for a moment and backed up from the window, but it was too late. His eyes met hers through the window. He gave her a small nod then tapped on the door lightly with his rifle.
  She hesitated once more then went for the doorknob. She slowly cracked the door. And when seeing his kind expression, opened the door completely.
    “You scared me.” Said Cassie as she gestured for him to come inside. He stepped inside and pulled off his large coat. “I should have” he said, “You shouldn’t be too easy to trust people around here.” Cassie flinched when she heard this. Daniel noticed her concern then quickly added, “I only meant for you to be cautious. There may be bears out here.”
    “But I should be safe inside.” She said questioningly
    “But you should be safe inside.” He reassured “I was down abbots road and I saw that your lights were out. I figured the storm blew out the line around here so I thought I would make sure you could handle everything. They just added a generator to the McCoy cabin a few months ago. It should be out in the shed behind the house if you need it”
    Daniel was wearing the same plaid shirt from before, his black hair matted from the hat he was holding in his hands. He leaned his rifle against the doorframe, and watched as Cassie’s eyes followed the gun.
    “I was on my way back from hunting.” He said “Elk come out during the storms. It’s nice to get away from the house every now and then. Away from my dad.”
      She nodded, though she wasn’t interested in his stories. She was busy watching his fists grip his hat tightly. “Can I offer you something to drink?” she asked in an attempt to calm his nerves.
      “What do you have?” he asked
      “Actually nothing.” Was her reply “I guess I have water but that’s about it. They didn’t have any cocoa at the market.”
      “Maybe I can show you that generator?” he asked. She nodded in agreement and followed him behind the house. The snow was beginning to melt. And the sun was at a position to where she couldn’t tell if it was morning or night.
      “I fell asleep.” She said, “I thought I could get some work done on my computer but I was too tired. And I had no service.”
      “Up at the mill you can get some good service.” Said Daniel. “Not sure if you can get inside anymore though.”
As she neared the shed, she misplaced her foot on an icy bed of grass and fell backwards. Daniel grabbed her arms and pulled her upright before she fell. Cassie was speechless; the fall had taken her completely off guard. 
        “See. You always have to be careful around here.”
        “You warned me about bears.” She replied slyly “ not ice.”
She reached for the door handle on the shed, but the ice had laid a glossy covering over it.
          “The ice tends to freeze these doors shut sometimes.” He said.  He pulled out a small hunting knife from his side and scrapped at the doorknob. The ice began to chip off chunk by chunk. The noise of the knife scrapping against the handle filled Cassie’s ears. He turned the handle, and pushed the door open. It was dark and musty inside. An axe was hanging above the doorway, and a few propane tanks were along the back wall.  Daniel stepped inside first and showed Cassie how to use the generator. She flipped the switch upward three times, until a loud buzzing noise sounded from the house.

“I wish I could thank you somehow.” She said as she walked up to the front of the door.
“ It’s fine” he said. “How much longer are you here for?”
“Possibly the week” she said as she turned it over in her head
“Fine then.” He said. “Would you mind if I stopped by later this week?”
She tossed his words over in her head and after a moment answered “yes”
“Yes, you do mind, or yes I can come over?” he asked with a grin
“Yes…to the first one.” She replied
His grin quickly flashed away, and his face blushed bright red. Cassie felt horrible.
“It’s just that I need to be alone for a while. Things have been kind of hectic lately and I need some time to just…”
“I understand” he said. “It’s alright.”
               
********

Cassie Jumped into her car. She had done nothing all afternoon and planned on getting some work done. She remembered that Daniel had told her the mill was a good place to get service. Her car was covered with snow and she had to scrape the ice covering off with a stick.  After she jumped in, and her fingers adjusted to the cold, she cranked the car. A blast of cold air hit her across the face. The engine was too cold, so she flipped off the air. After four or five cranks, the car came to a slow rumble and she drove off.
    The mill was large and foreboding. It’s massive wooden structure cast a large shadow over Cassie’s car as she pulled in. It was a fairly plain building, made of raw oak, which was now rotting away. The dark brown mill stuck out in the snow like a soar thumb, and behind it was a large signal tower. As she came out of her car, she opened her laptop. There was no service. “It’s probably better inside.” She said to herself. She moved across the icy path, watching her steps closely, and opened the large steel doors. The mill smelled of sulfur and mothballs, and there were no lights inside, except for the small amounts that poured in through the walls. Stretched along the walls were large bags filled with clothes. On the other side of the mill were small tables, each with an iron sewing machine. As she walked along the mill, the floorboards creaked and wavered beneath her feet. She could hear running water moving from under the floor. There were a few pictures hanging on the wall that caught her attention. She walked over to them then stopped when she heard footsteps. The large steel door closed loudly behind her. Cassie brought her laptop up close to her chest and she backed out of the light.
      “Who’s in here?” asked a familiar voice. She stepped out of the light when she realized who was speaking. “It’s me…Cassie.”
“What in god’s name are ya doing way out here?” said Mr. Bradsbury
“I was told that I could get some service up here, so I thought I would get some work done. Am I not supposed to be in here?”
“It’s just dangerous that’s all. They closed this old place after a few simple accidents here and there.” He said as he walked towards her. “You’re power must have been out up at the McCoy place?”
“I got it back up.” she replied, “Daniel helped me, the man that works at the wood shop.”  “Yes, I know Daniel.” He said. “And he helped you, ya?”
Cassie nodded her head.
“You’re looking at the old town photos huh?” he said as he gestured towards the pictures she was standing next to.
“Uh, ya.” She said as she turned to look at them.
“That was back in ‘94.” He said as he pointed to one of the old black and white photos at the end.”
“1894?” she asked
“Yup, back in ’94 the town was just starting out. There were about a hundred and fifty of them. Most of them came from Ireland, and I’m not entirely sure when this mill was built, but I would assume somewhere around the time these photos were taken. And this of course…” he said as he pointed to a picture on the end “was taken right after the storm of ‘96”
“The storm of ’96?” she asked as she sat down at one of the small tables.
“Blew out half the town. Dozens of family’s were locked inside from the snow, and anyone caught outside was left for dead. Quite a few people were killed actually.”
Cassie looked interestingly at the photo of the small group of people in the picture.
“Well I’ll let you get back to your work. Be careful in here now, the support’s kind of loose.” He turned and left her alone in the mill.
      As the steel door closed behind her, she was startled by the vibration of her cell phone. She looked down at her phone to see that she had four missed calls, one from her boss, and three from Mary.
    After Cassie had worked for over an hour, she noticed the cracks of light had moved across the floor. She knew it was getting dark. She closed her laptop and made her way out of the mill. As she fondled for her keys beside her car door, she noticed something eerie out of the corner of her eye. She froze for a moment, still starring at her keys, then quickly looked at her car. There was an old man sitting in the drivers seat. She threw her hand over her mouth to keep herself from screaming. The man’s face was pale white. His eyebrows were glossed over with frost, and his eyes were glazed, as though the moisture had been frozen. His lips were cracked and flaking, and his brown teeth stood out against his blue cheeks. A few strands of loose hair fell down over his head. Cassie backed away towards the mill, her hand still clasped tightly over her mouth. She didn’t know what to do. 911 wouldn’t get her the police, Mr. Bradsbury had left, and she definitely couldn’t get in her car. The body lay motionless in the front seat of her car. Maybe he was in trouble. She thought. Maybe he was lost in the snow and found his way to her car. The body quickly turned his head and locked eyes on Cassie. She screamed and ran to the door at the mill, grasping the handle. She flipped out her cell phone and tried dialing Mary’s number. Her frozen fingers quivered as she tried to punch in the numbers. She missed the six and started over. She hit a four and started over again. Her heart was racing, and she jerked her head violently towards the car as the front door swung open. She almost darted into the mill when she realized that the body was missing. She stood motionless still at the door and stared at the car. The body had simply vanished. A truck suddenly pulled up close behind her car. It was Daniel. He jumped from his truck and ran towards her.
“What’s happened?” he said looking deeply into her eyes.
“How did you know I was here?” she asked, almost forgetting about the body. He paused, being caught off guard by her question. He stood dazzled for a second then responded.
“I heard you scream.” He said. “What’s wrong?”
“No, you knew I was here.” She said defensively. “How?”
It was silent for a moment and he looked at her awkwardly.
“I was only driving by when I heard you screaming. There aren’t many roads out here.”  He said in a shaky voice. She looked into his eyes and then finally accepting his explanation said “There was a man in my car. He looked…he looked dead.” She was shaking from head to toe and Daniel could see that she was still frightened by it. “Is he still inside?” he asked
“No. At least I don’t think so. Check the back.” She said demandingly like a child. He was still comprehending what she had seen when she pointed towards the car and said “Check the backseat!”  He moved almost immediately to her car and looked into the back. “Nothing:” he said. “There’s nothing.”
“He was in there.” She said. “His face was white like a ghost and he looked frostbitten.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed when she said this. “Sometimes the cold can mess with your mind. You’re just not used to it.” He said comfortingly. “What happened to your hand?” he asked motioning to the blood dripping from her fingertips.
“I must have cut it on the damn metal door” she said. “I guess I didn’t even realize it was cut”. Small drips of blood fell to the ground from the door handle. The snow melted instantly when the warm blood hit the snow.
“Come over here, I’ll fix it up.” he said as he opened the back of his truck. She walked over to the side and waited as he pulled out a small wooden box filled with scissors knives and gauze. “You’ve done this before.” She said as he wrapped the gauze tightly around her hand.
“Hunting is a dangerous job.” He said with a smile. “You should be fine. Just try not to use it too much.” She moved her wrist back and forth, making sure the gauze was tight enough. She sat down on the edge of his truck and closed her eyes. “This hasn’t been too relaxing” she said with a sigh. “How do you make it out here?”
“I guess you just get used to it.” He said as he placed the wood box back in its place. He turned towards her and rested his elbows on the back of the truck. They looked at each other for a few seconds then Cassie started up again. “Thanks for coming to help out. I guess I keep forgetting that it’s a small town. Back in New York it would have been no coincidence. I mean…You showing up and everything. It’s not like you were following me or anything. I mean I didn’t think that you were, I’m just saying that if you were in New York and you showed up the way you did, It would have been a miracle that you knew where I was.”
He listened and smiled back.
“I’m just sounding…paranoid.” She said smiling back
He laughed with her, and she laughed too, even though she assumed he was laughing at her.  She bit her bottom lip as they stood together in the snow. She felt strange, and didn’t like it. “Well I need to get back.” she said as she moved back towards her car. Before she got in he called out to her. “Do you want to eat?” She cocked her head when she heard this. “I mean with me…tonight.” He finished
She looked at him with a hallow face. Her expression told him neither yes nor no. She flashed him a small smile that faded quickly. She drummed her fingers lightly against the car door then nodded her head slightly. “I would like that.” She said