Page 312 of Nobody's Girl

“I think he picked us up on his radar. I’m pretty sure there’ll be people here shortly to look for us,” Eden tells them.

“Go upstairs and get dressed. We’ll take care of anyone who shows up here,” Laura tells us.

I take off up the stairs. Eden follows me, going into the guest room quickly and shutting the door behind us. “I’m so sorry, Alyssa,” he tells me.

I turn to look at him. “Why are you saying that to me? It’s not your fault.”

He paces the room. “I’m the one who wanted to go flying around. I don’t know what I was thinking about. I should’ve thought about how this area is bound to be covered with air security since it’s so close to the state capital.”

“It still isn’t your fault,” I say. “You can’t possibly think of every little thing which could happen.”

I put my clothes back on, then look out the window. The party has ended. Only the people who are cleaning it all up are still outside. I feel terrible about messing up the party. I hope Laura and Kyle are not too disappointed.

“Okay, I’m dressed. Let’s go downstairs,” Eden says.

I take his hand and go with him downstairs, Laura’s sitting on the sofa by herself. “Where’s Kyle?” Eden asks her.

“He’s outside,” she says. “That jet isn’t letting up. It’s pretty obvious whoever is driving that thing saw you two disappear around here. What happened, exactly?”

I sit down next to her and Eden goes outside with Kyle. “We just went for a little stroll in the sky. We were having a good time, flying by the river. Then the jet found us. Eden thinks we came up on its radar.”

“That makes sense,” Laura says.

“We found a clearing to land in and I thought we were pretty much home free. I was wrong. A couple of trucks came and found us, like right away. They had dogs with them. Once they let them loose, we had no choice but to get back out of there. The jet caught up with us again and here we are,” I tell her.

She puts her arm around my shoulders. “Dang, Ally, that sucks. I guess it’s safe to assume they’ll be looking around here pretty soon. Thank goodness we have that gate at the entrance. They can’t just roll up here.”

I sink into her side. “I’m sorry we screwed up your party.”

“To be honest, Al,” she says. “I was really tired anyway.”

I laugh a little. “So am I, Laura. I could fall asleep right now.”

She props her head on mine. “I think I could too,” she mumbles as we both drift off.

“What?” I mumble as I feel myself being lifted up.

“Shhh,” I hear.

I move my head to look up. Kyle is carrying me up the stairs. “What are you doing?” I ask him groggily.

“Just stay asleep, Ally,” he says quietly.

“Where’s my husband?” I ask.

“He ran to town,” he says. “Now just sleep. He’ll be back soon.”

He opens the door to the guest room, then takes me to the bed, laying me down. I feel him take my sandals off, then turn to my side, pulling my legs up.

“Thank you, Kyle,” I tell him.

He pulls the blanket up over me, then leans down to kiss me on the top of the head. “Goodnight, Alyssa. I love you,” he says.

I smile. “Goodnight, Kyle. I love you too,” I tell him, then fall back asleep.

CHAPTER 61

ALYSSA