Page 117 of Whispers and Wildfire

“Tired is code for awful.”

With a slight shake of his head, he rolled his eyes. “Tired or not, you’re beautiful.”

“That’s better.” I tilted my chin up, and he kissed me again. “Fine, I’ll miss you tonight.”

The corners of his lips turned up as he took a step toward the door. “I know.”

He left, and after forwarding the phone to voicemail, I gathered up my things and headed home.

I spent the afternoon too tired and headachy to do much. Taking a nap was an option, but a risky one. It might make my insomnia worse. The last thing I needed was to sleep too hard and wake up dehydrated with no idea what day it was, only to stare at the ceiling all night.

Been there.

But it wasn’t just fatigue that was bothering me. I had a hard time sitting still and found myself wandering around the house, peeking out the windows. My shoulders were tense, and no matter how many deep breaths I took, my heart kept beating too fast.

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I was scared. I’d been scared since we heard about the abductions.

It made me angry. I didn’t want to be afraid again. I hatedfeeling weak and helpless. What had happened to me had been traumatic. I’d come to terms with that. It was okay to experience alarm when I heard about a similar incident or when something reminded me of my abduction. But it had been two days, and I was still so jumpy. Every little noise set me on edge, especially when I was alone.

I glanced at the clock. A little after seven. I’d been driving myself crazy for hours. What I really wanted was Luke, but he was busy. I didn’t want to lean on him too much anyway. We were giving things a real try, but we’d only just begun. I didn’t want to be the needy girlfriend who couldn’t be alone.

Instead, I called Sharla to see what she and Nathan were up to.

“Hey,” she answered. “What’s going on?”

I could hear background noise, like she was in a car. “Nothing much. Just wondering what you guys are doing. Hot date tonight?”

“Actually, yes.” Her voice sounded almost giddy. “Your parents took the kids for the weekend. Nathan surprised me with a trip to the coast. We’re on our way to a cabin in Jetty Beach.”

“Aw, how sweet is that?”

“I know, I’m so excited. I haven’t been to the beach in so long. Plus, the forecast is amazing. Low seventies and breezy all weekend.”

“That sounds like heaven.”

“It will be. How are you? Are you doing all right?”

“Why does everyone keep asking me that? You can’t even see the dark circles under my eyes.”

“Dark circles are the worst. I have a great concealer if you want to try it.”

“Send me a link.”

“I will. But… are you?”

“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be? Are you worried about the Luke thing? I know you weren’t around when Luke and Idated, but I can assure you it was an absolute train wreck. I’m surprised no one is staging an intervention now that people know we’re dating again.”

“That’s just you being dramatic, right?”

“More or less.”

“Thought so. No, haven’t you heard about the women who were abducted? It’s all over town.”

“Oh, that. Yes, I heard.”

“I just wondered if it might be bothering you. You know, since it was so close.”

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I closed my eyes for a moment. “It’s not bothering me.”

---