AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That it belonged there.
With Caleb and Evelyn.
And he was forcing me away.
Putting up those walls we’d finally knocked down.
Cutting me with those shards of glass I’d been tiptoeing through, and now I was afraid I was going to bleed out.
His words had hurt, but I knew they were lies. I knew something was wrong. Terribly wrong. That whatever had taken him away in that work truck had destroyed the little belief we’d begun to build.
I sniffled as I approached the end of the drive, the sign claiming Hutchins Ranch taunting me where it was inverted in my rearview mirror. I came to a stop, looking both ways before I turned left and accelerated onto the paved two-lane road.
A disorder blustered through, everything so heavy, weighted, and I couldn’t shake the sensation that my spirit was being dragged back in the direction of Caleb and Evelyn.
The engine chugged, like Maybe felt it, too.
That disorder galloped and raced as I came up on a hill and saw the red and blue lights flashing on a white SUV that approached in the distance.
Unease festered and swelled the closer we came until I pulled over to the shoulder and it buzzed by at high speed, Sheriff painted on the side, Ezra Sutton at the wheel.
Fear clamored through my senses.
Oh God, what was happening?
Every part of me begged to go back. To be there for them. To be a part of whatever they were going through.
But how could I stay when he was pushing me away?
When he was leaving and taking Evelyn with him?
When he’d shunned every promise I had made him?
A cry erupted from my throat, and I struggled to focus on driving, on putting distance between me and the only place I wanted to be.
By some miracle I made it into town, and I choked over a sob when I realized I didn’t even know where I was going.
I ended up in front of Time River Market & Café. I found a spot in the front, killed the engine, tossed open the door, and slid out onto unsteady feet.
Floating through the misery as I fumbled through the entrance.
Beth was behind the register in the gift shop.
She flew around the counter and toward me as I stumbled in.
“Oh, God, Paisley, are you okay? What happened?” When I couldn’t speak, she wrapped me in her arms and hugged me to her chest. “Dakota is back at her place. Why don’t we head over there?”
I could only nod, and she tossed out some instructions to one of the other employees before she curled an arm around my waist and led me back outside.
We wound around the building to the gate that led to the house at the back of the property. It was two stories and attached to the far side of the restaurant, and there was a big fenced in yard where Kayden could play.
Beth unlatched the gate and led me the rest of the way to the stoop. The front door was open, the screen door keeping the bugs out. I could hear her singing a silly song to Kayden inside.
Beth rapped her knuckles at the metal frame. “Dakota! It’s Beth and Paisley!”
In a flash, she was there, smiling through the mesh. But the smile melted off her face the second she saw me, and she flicked the lock and held open the screen door.
“Oh my God, Paisley, what’s going on?”
I went right into her arms, sagging against her as she hugged me tight.
She just held me there while I sobbed.
While I sobbed and sobbed.
For a little girl who had stolen every part of my heart, and the man who had crushed it in his hands.
“They’re leaving tomorrow.” I choked it into her chest.
“What do you mean?”
“Caleb and Evelyn are moving away tomorrow.” Pain slashed and sheared at saying it aloud. “They’re leaving me, Dakota. They’re leaving me behind.”
It was a heaving tumble of words, soaked in this misery I couldn’t escape.
“Shh,” she whispered at my head. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay,” I wept, unable to keep it together. “It’s not okay. Not when I love them this much. It hurts. Oh God, it hurts.”
Beth rubbed my back, shushed me, too. “It might not be okay right now, but it will be.”
“What did he say?” Dakota asked, still holding me up.
“Nothing except that they were moving out of state, and that he doesn’t need me anymore. But it’s a lie, it’s a lie. He needs me. They need me.”
Just as much as I needed them.
I was completely numb by the time I wandered up the walkway to my grandfather’s little house. A place he’d invited me into, had promised was my home for as long as I needed it, a place I loved.
The problem was, it no longer felt like where I belonged.
Where I belonged was thirty miles down a deserted road, likely where they were packing their things so Caleb could run again.
