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“I didn’t want to disturb you,” she says as she finally lets go. “Were you scared? It must have been terrifying.”
“It wasn’t so bad,” I lie. It was horrible. Just thinking about it brings me right back to that hopeless feeling. I thought I was going to die.
I wandered around the forest for a while, but when it became clear that I wouldn’t be able to find the way out on my own, I hunkered down and waited. For what, I didn’t know, but I didn’t know what else to do.
I spent the first hour feeling sorry for myself, but then something inside me snapped. I decided I was done being pathetic. I was done waiting for things to happen to me. I was done failing at life and doing nothing to change it.
I made a vow to myself that if I got out of that forest, then I would step it up. I would be the person I’ve always wanted to be. I would go for things and be bold and adventurous and not let anything stop me.
I take a deep breath as that drive and determination come flooding back. I can’t let this feeling fade. I can’t let it drift away and go back to the status quo. I have to take it and use it as a springboard for change. I have to remember how I felt last night.
That determination and drive faded a few hours later as the cold seeped deep into my bones. I was shivering so much that it hurt. I thought I would die of hypothermia, that I would die before I saw the sun rising, but then that wet incredible dog came bounding over.
At first, I thought it was some kind of hungry beast about to finish me off, but then I heard Noah’s voice. I can still remember it perfectly.
“It’s okay. You’re okay now. You’re safe.”
He sounded like an angel. He looked like one too.
I hadn’t felt warmth in hours and a part of me didn’t think I’d ever feel it again. I forgot what it felt like, as if it was some distant memory barely accessible. But when that beautiful man picked me up and cradled me to his muscular chest, I felt warmth penetrating every inch of me. It radiated throughout my body and I knew I would be okay.
I also knew that nothing would ever be the same again, because as he carried me to safety, I fell in love with him.
“That park ranger,” my mother says with a swallow. “He didn’t want to let you go.”
“He didn’t?”
Some parts are so clear, but others are a little fuzzy. I kind of remember him carrying me into the stables. The horses were looking at me. My friends and family were there.
The doctor wanted to look me over, but Noah didn’t want to put me down. I didn’t help the matter by clinging to his big sexy arm.
My father finally asked him in a firm voice and he surrendered me over. The doctor kicked everyone out but my parents and that was the last time I saw him.
“He stayed outside the whole time with that adorable dog beside him,” my mother explains. “Even when I told him that you were fine, he didn’t want to leave. I told him to go home and get some sleep. I told him that his dog looked hungry and that we would call him later, and he finally left, but it took a lot of convincing. He really didn’t want to. Do you know that guy?”
“Well… No. I guess I don’t.”
“He seemed quite taken with you.”
I perk up. “He did?”
She nods as she stares off into space like she’s lost in a daydream. “He was so handsome. He was cradling you to his chest and he wasn’t wearing a shirt. I was a little jealous.”
“Mom!”
She laughs. “What? I’m still a woman, you know! I always had a thing for park rangers.”
I close my eyes and shake my head. I guess my mother and I share the same fetish for hot park rangers. Great. I didn’t need to know that.
I need to change the subject before I learn more disturbing details that I won’t be able to forget.
“Is the horse still lost? Is anyone looking for him?”
Thunderbolt may be an out of control asshole, but I don’t want him to get hurt. The poor thing only ran because he got scared.
“He came back before you did,” Mom says. “Just strolled back into the stables like nothing happened.”
“Your dad wanted to punch him.”
