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When my hand connects with something unexpected near the very bottom of my bag, I freeze.
What the…
Kassara.
I pull out the bracelet. I can’t see in the dark, but I know that’s what it is. I feel along the smooth base, the long straps I once wore every day. I remember her mentioning it, telling me I should bring it just in case, but I’d turned it down. I no longer have the matching one, so it seemed pointless. There’s no other explanation for why it’s here, though. She had to have dropped it into my bag, as a final safety measure.
My chest swells with newfound hope. She might’ve just saved my life, but it’s a long shot.
My phone is in the car and theoretically should be within range, but there’s a good chance he’s turned it off by now, or at the very least turned the Bluetooth off, which renders this bracelet utterly useless.
Still, it’s something.
I remember when Declan gave it to me, when he had to go away and take care of his dying mother for a month a few years ago. Though we’d been together—stable and happy—for years and should’ve, by normal standards, been exhausted with each other, the idea of him being gone for an extended amount of time was hard on me.
When he’d brought the bracelets home, they seemed silly. A child’s toy. For teenage couples who were away at different colleges or couldn’t stand to be apart for a class. Still, I’d taken it and even learned Morse code like he wanted.
Every single letter.
Oh, how I’d thought it was stupid.
I was angry with him.We have phones. You can text me. How does this make things any better?
When we’re busy, when we’re missing each other, playing phone tag… When you have a million things to do and no time to chat, you can say I love you with a few taps of your finger. Or just one tap to let me know you’re thinking of me. And I’ll tap back.And he had, right then. His finger touched the screen of his bracelet, and seconds later, my bracelet vibrated, its screen going from black to bright white for the length of time his finger rested on the screen.To let you know I’m thinking of you, too.
They turned out to be one of the best gifts he’d ever given me. Even after he returned, the bracelets had remained a fixture in our lives. We’d used them when things were busy at work for him or when I traveled for conferences. I grew so used to feeling the vibrations on my wrist, I still felt them several months after he was gone.
Now, he might just save me after all.
I press the button to turn it on, and the bracelet lights up, filling the small trunk with white light.
Holding my breath, I think over the letters I need to use. I want to give her his name, to tell her where I am, and that I’m in danger. To describe the car. But even one of those would be too many letters, and it will all get garbled.
It hits me all at once. The only real option I have. I already sent her Chris’s first name. I just need to give her a last name now. Lifting my finger above the bracelet’s screen, I begin to type:
P-I-E-R-C-E
I pause, waiting for a response. When none comes, I tap out his name again.
P-I-E-R-C-E
I press my finger down on the screen, the signal that once had been ours.
Then, I type the name one more time.
P-I-E-R-C-E
I wait in painful silence for the bracelet to light up, to know my message has been sent and received, but there is nothing. Most likely, the other bracelet is still packed away and forgotten about. Most likely, I’m sending these letters to no one.
But if Kassara knows she slipped the bracelet into my purse… I have to believe there’s a chance. I have to believe she’d know to find it and turn it on.
I type the name one last time:
P-I-E-R-C-E
Then the car stops.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE
