Page 99 of Together Is Where We Belong

“You okay, Carolina?” the officer asked as he finished freeing me.

“As okay as I can be,” I replied and slid my way across the bed. The moment my feet touched the floor, I stood and felt dizzy. I braced myself on the side of the bed as my head cleared. The moment I could see straight again and felt well enough to walk, I ran to the door.

Pushing past the deputies that guarded the door of the cabin, I stepped out onto the porch and ran across it and down the steps.

Leo stood at the bottom of the steps with his back to me, his head bent down to his chest, with his hands on his hips.

“Leo,” I yelled as I ran toward him, desperately needing the comfort and safety of his arms around me.

He jerked around at the sound of my voice, his face filled with relief at the sight of me walking down the steps toward him.

Our bodies collided, and I wrapped my arms around his neck just as he wrapped his around my waist.

The moment I was in his embrace I allowed myself to break down.

“Thank you for finding me,” I sobbed into Leo’s chest.

twenty-eight

Leo

Ifelt like I’d aged ten years in the past twenty-four hours. For the three hours after Carolina had gone missing, I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

I didn’t want to let her out of my sight. I stayed with her the whole time she was checked out at the hospital. I held her hand as she gave her statement to the officers.

When we got home last night, I stayed with her on the couch, her head rested on my chest as she slept. I couldn’t fall asleep no matter how hard I’d tried. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her lying on the bed in that cabin, and thought about what could’ve happened if we hadn’t gotten to her in time.

I told Gentry that I wouldn’t be in today and he gave me the rest of the week off so I could be with Carolina. I didn’t think I’d need that much time off, but he insisted.

Carolina had been quiet all morning. She sat on the couch with a cup of tea in her hand and stared off into the distance as Luke, Carolina’s dad, and I helped him build his Lego sets.

The house had been busy with my brothers, sister, and Carolina’s parents coming by to check on her.

She smiled at everyone and assured them that she was fine, but I knew differently. The look in her eyes told me all I needed to know. They looked vacant, like she was here, but really somewhere else. I hated that he’d gotten to her. I hated that she had to experience the fear of not knowing if someone would get to her in time to save her.

“You want to stay the night with Grandma and Grandpa tonight?” Carolina’s dad asked Luke.

“No,” Carolina said from the couch, and all of us turned to face her. She stared down at Luke with so much fear in her eyes.

“But, Mom, we need to work on the castle. It’s been forever, and it’s almost finished,” Luke said in a huff.

“I want you here with me, sweet boy,” she said as her lip trembled before she stopped it with a bite of her teeth.

I needed to broach this topic carefully. The danger was physically gone now, but the aftermath was still fresh, and I knew that Carolina didn’t want to let him out of her sight because she was scared.

I nodded to the door when I glanced at her dad. He nodded that he understood.

“Let’s go see if your nana has some more cookies,” her dad suggested as he pushed himself up from the coffee table that was covered in Legos.

Luke perked up a bit at the mention of cookies and got up quickly and ran out of the room, and her dad trailed slowly behind.

When they were out of earshot, I let out a heavy sigh as I stood and walked over to the couch and sat beside her.

“It’s okay, Carolina. Luke will be safe with your parents. You look like you could use some more rest. Why don’t you let him go so you can relax tonight?” I asked softly, as I cautiously put my hand on her thigh. She flinched beneath my touch, and it took everything in me to keep from revealing how much that bothered me.

She looked away from me and hid her face behind her long brown hair, her hand covering her mouth before I heard her sob behind it.

“Hey,” I whispered as I slid closer. I put my arm on the back of the couch behind her, and used the other to move her legs into my lap as I tried to turn her to face me. She tensed her body for a second, before she gave in and turned toward me. With her back up against the arm of the couch, she covered her face with her hands and broke down even more.