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Sitting up, my head spinning, I tossed the blanket back and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. It only took a moment for the tears to well in my eyes as I wondered if Leo would ever be in this bed with me again.
God, I wanted him back.
I took in a deep breath, hoping to stave off the tears, before I stood and moved to the bathroom. Minutes later, I had gotten myself dressed and gone downstairs. It was later than usual, but not so late that I was late to opening the registration house.
If there was one silver lining in this whole mess of a situation, it was Whitney. Forcing myself to see something good in all that bad that was surrounding me, there was no doubt that our relationship had improved tremendously. And it wasn’t that our relationship was ever what I could have considered bad, but we’d lost touch for so long. It was nice to have it back. I only wish the reason for it had been different.
Whitney had been unbelievably supportive, staying at the registration house for me each day so that my guests would have someone there to help if they ran into any problems. She’d been a Godsend, and I was grateful she’dbeen able to step up for me the way she had.
I owed her a debt of gratitude. Although I thanked her every evening when I got back from the hospital, and every morning when she arrived before I left, I knew that once this was all over, I needed to do something special for her to show her how much I appreciated her.
Though I’d gotten more sleep last night than I had in days, I was still going to need some coffee to make it through the day.
So, I got to work on making it. And as I was standing in my kitchen, I looked out the window and allowed my mind to wander to Leo. It wasn’t as though that was difficult to do. He was a constant in my mind, with thoughts of him never very far from the forefront.
I continued to sit with regret about where things were between us, and I felt overwhelming sadness that there wasn’t anything I could do to fix it until he woke up.
I tried to think of things I could do to prove to him how sorry I was, beyond just giving him the words. I thought he deserved some kind of grand gesture, but I wasn’t sure just yet what it should be.
After moving across the kitchen to grab a mug, I returned to the coffeepot and poured a cup. Just as I was bringing the cup to my lips, movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention.
I shifted my body to gain a better vantage point of the activity center, and that’s when I realized Whitney was here. Since I woke up late and the reservation house was still locked up, she probably just decided to go for a walk on the property.
Feeling bad about all of her time that I’d been occupying, not wanting her to think I was taking advantage of her, I set my coffee mug down, threw on a pair of shoes, and walked outside to meet her.
“Hey, Whitney,” I greeted her once I was within a few feet of her.
She’d been looking up at the rock-climbing wall when I made my approach.
Whitney spun around and said, “Oh, hey, Hanna. The registration house was locked up, so I thought I’d come out here for a little bit, figuring that you might still be asleep after the last few days you’ve had. It looks like it’s about to rain any second now.”
I looked around, noting just how much the weather had changed in the last few minutes. The sun had been shining when I first woke up, and just like that, the skies were dark from the clouds that had rolled in.
“I didn’t even know they were calling for rain, but you’re right. It looks like it’s going to downpour,” I replied as leaned my back against the wall and looked up.
“Any news on Leo?” she asked.
Returning my attention to her briefly before I looked off to my right, I shook my head. “I haven’t heard anything, and there was still no change when I left last night.”
There was a moment of silence as she took that in. “Wow, so this really is going to be like the perfect storm,” she eventually said.
Confused, my brows pulled together. “What do you mean?”
“Well, if you just look over here,” she started as she took a few steps backward toward the edge of the rock wall. I started moving toward her. “You’ll see what I mean on the other side here.”
I followed her around to the back side of the wall, my eyes pointed up at the sky. “I don’t… what are you talking about?” I asked as I turned around.
But the second my body was facing hers, it happened.
Pain shot through my side, just above my hip. Stumbling back a few steps, my hands immediately went there, and they were instantly wet. Looking down, I saw the blood covering them.
Terror moved through me. Shifting my gaze to her hands, I saw Whitney holding a knife, a knife that had just been inside my body.
“Whitney,” I breathed, holding my hands over the spot where she’d stabbed me.
She narrowed her eyes at me and started moving in my direction. I retreated, wishing I’d gone in the opposite direction. Behind the wall, nobody would be able to see us.
At that moment, the sky, which had grown darker from the incoming storm, had lit up seconds before the loud crack of thunder sounded. Then, the skies opened up. I was drenched in no time at all—my clothing soaked as strands of my hair stuck to my face.
