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“I . . . Mom . . . I’m expecting a call. Or I’m hoping to get a call. It’s . . . ” I struggled to suppress a sob.

“What happened?” She immediately went into protective mode.

Where should I start? Where should I stop? But at that moment, it didn’t matter. I needed to talk to someone. “I told you I met someone, right?”

“Yes?”

“He’s a snowboard instructor here and didn’t come back from a ski safari yesterday. A road was buried and he could be under the vehicles that were hit by the rocks.” I could hardly control the tremor in my voice.

“But it’s not certain yet?” my mom wanted to know.

I shook my head. “No. We have to wait. The network there isn’t great either, and . . . ”

“Is he important to you?” she asked tentatively.

As if she could see me, I nodded. “Yes. Very much. Mom, I never thought anyone would sweep me off my feet like this. Captivate me completely and accept me for who I am. He means everything to me.”

“Oh, honey!” she said, her good mood now gone. “Stay calm for now. I know it’s easier said than done. But you can’t give up hope. I’m going to hang up now so he can reach you. If you hear anything, text me, okay?”

“Okay.” I bit my lip desperately.

“And when the excitement has died down, I want to know everything about him, okay?”

“Okay,” I said again.

I stared at my phone for a long time after we had ended the call.

The minutes crawled by and turned into hours. Slowly, I had to get ready for my shift.

I couldn’t decide whether it was a blessing or a curse that I had to work.

I worked the afternoon shift as if in a trance. I kept my phone with me at all times, constantly checking to see if I had missed a vibration or a ring.

As I was putting my things away, I didn’t react at first when my phone rang. The glow of Shane’s name on my display was utterly unreal. As if I were imagining it.

“Shane?” I called into the phone. Before he could say a word, I repeated myself. “Shane?”

“Hey,” muttered a tired voice from the speaker. “It’s so good to hear your voice.”

“Are you okay?” I continued to shout. My colleagues peered at me expectantly.

“Have you heard about the rockfall? We’re fine. We were stuck and couldn’t get any further. No cell service. The rescue workers were busy recovering the accident victims first. But we’re unharmed. Sleep deprived. And frayed nerves. Other than that, we have everything we need.”

I swallowed hard. “We can live with that, right?”

Shane laughed on the other end. “Yes. Hey. Do you think you could let the others know? We’ll be there in about two hours, and my phone is full of messages from Adriel and George and the hotel and . . . ”

“Sure. No problem!” I interrupted him. “I’ll do it right away. Drive carefully. And make sure you get home safely.”

“Will do.” Shane laughed softly. “I’d do anything to be with you right now.”

“I’ll be here when you arrive.”

I exhaled deeply as we ended the call. Shane was safe.

I looked around frantically and into the faces of the lunch shift. “Shane is fine. And . . . ” My gaze fell on our dishwasher. I bit my lower lip. “Madeleine, can I leave the rest of my station with you? I’ll owe you. Honestly. I’ll take two Saturday evening shifts for you. I just need to quickly . . . ”

Madeleine came to meet me. “Go. You’re useless today, anyway.”