Page 149 of Healing Eleanor

“No. We’ve been calling for hours. His dad said he told him, but when we went to Nik’s house to check on him, he wasn’t there. My parents have been calling nonstop, and he still isn’t answering.” A fresh sob tears from her throat. “We’ve checked everywhere we can think of and nothing.”

I’m already swinging my legs out of bed, searching the floor for my walking boot. My ankle aches as I tighten the straps, but adrenaline burns hotter than pain. “I’ll help look.”

“No,” Lily protests quickly. “You’re in no shape to be out searching. I just wanted to know if he’d reached out to you.”

I grab my purse, my pajama top bunching beside it. “Well, I’m going whether you think I’m in shape or not. I have to at least try.” My voice turns into a whisper. “I can’t just sit here, Lily.”

“Okay.” Lily’s voice cracks with desperation. “Please be careful. And let me know if you find him… please.”

“I will,” I promise softly, and hang up.

I order a taxi with trembling hands, relief flooding me when one is only five minutes away. I grab my keys and step into the night. Snow crunches thick beneath my boot, the cold stinging sharp as a knife. But my mind is too full and my heart too urgent to feel anything but the need to find him.

The taxi’s headlights cut through the storm, and I climb in, exhaling as the heater wraps me in warmth.

“Where to?” the driver asks, his tone patient.

I pause, pulse hammering in my throat. Where would Nik go? I try to think, to reason, but my thoughts tangle like threads knotted too tightly to pull apart.

Then, quietly, something settles deep in my chest. Not reason. Not memory… just a pull, like something is guiding me.

I give the driver the address before I can question it.

He nods, shifts into gear, and the city blurs past as we speed into the night.

Twenty minutes later, the taxi stops in front of Hollingford Ballet Company. The building is dark, with only a few streetlights that throw a pale glow over the snow.

I thank the driver, pay him, and climb out as quickly as I can. The wind hits me and the cab vanishes into the night. Hollingford is eerie at this hour. There aren’t any cars, people, or sunlight. Only my breath, puffing out in white clouds, and the soft crunch of snow beneath my boot.

I walk my way toward the garden behind the building. After endless, treacherous minutes of slogging through the snow, I see him.

His head is bent, elbows on his knees. Snow dusts his coat, and he’s fumbling with a twig.

I fish my phone from my purse and text Lily.

Me: Found him.

I send it and slip the phone away, already walking toward him. My phone buzzes, but I ignore it. The only person I want to comfort right now is Nik.

As I get closer, my boot crunches louder in the snow. The ache in my ankle throbs, and I know I shouldn’t be walking on it, especially in these conditions. But nothing else matters to me right now.

Nik’s head snaps up and his gaze locks onto mine. He doesn’t move. His eyes are bloodshot and tear-streaked, a crease forming between his brows as I approach. “Do you really have no self-preservation skills?” he asks, voice rough.

I swallow, more nervous than I have been in weeks. “No,” I say, trying to laugh it off.

He doesn’t answer. He bends his head back down and continues to fumble with the twig.

I sit down on the stone bench beside him after brushing off the snow and the ache in my ankle eases a little.

He remains silent, and for a moment I wonder if I’m foolish for coming. But I know I won’t leave. Nik has been there for me in the thick of my mess, and I want to be here for him, too, however awkward and painful it might be.

We sit in silence, the wind our only companion. The temperature keeps dropping, and I curse myself for not changing before I left. My light pink pajama set, striped in white with neat little buttons, is fine beside a heater, but useless in the snow.

I cross my arms tighter, shivering.

Nik’s glance slides to me. “You really shouldn’t be out here. Not with your ankle the way it is.” He chastises softly.

“I didn’t want you to be alone,” I say through chattering teeth.