Page 97 of Fight Or Flight

“She went to see you,” Chelsea said.

“She did?” he asked. Chelsea smiled and nodded.

“I haven’t been home all day. I must have missed her. Maybe I can still catch up to her,” he said, turning to go back to his Jeep.

“No,” Chelsea said. “She didn’t go to your house. She went to your pond.”

Ethan stopped and turned, his brain refusing to absorb her words. “My pond?”

“Yeah, she said you’re usually out there on Saturdays. She left about twenty minutes ago.”

“To my pond? My pond?”

Chelsea nodded.

“She went to your pond!” Ben yelled. “Can’t he hear us, Mama?”

Ethan turned without another word and walked off the porch. He was in a daze as he walked through the clearing of trees and into the forest toward his pond. He was still unsure whether Chelsea knew where Natalie was. She’d sworn up and down that she’d never go to the pond. It all sounded like a lie. But just in case she was there in sandals, bitten, or hitting the snakes with her stick, he kicked up his pace to a jog. When he made it to the spot where the trees opened to a clearing, the pond came into view. He scanned the area but didn’t see her.

Too good to be true.

He walked closer, slower now, and that’s when he finally saw her.

The tall grasses that were swaying in the light breeze shrouded her. She was sitting on the ground right at the water’s edge with her back to him and her soft hair shining in the sunlight. Every thought and worry fell from his mind. He walked closer until sheflinched and spun around, meeting his eyes. He froze in place, as if even a flicker of movement would scare her off like a doe. Make her run again.

But she didn’t run. She smiled.

She stood from the ground, her eyes not leaving his. The setting sun streaked the sky with purple and backlit her, creating a bright glow around the edges of her hair. He wondered if he was hallucinating.

“Hi, Ethan.”

It wasn’t until he heard her voice that his brain allowed him to accept she was really there, standing in front of him.

“Hi.”

Her smile grew, and she used her hand to gesture at the pond. “It’s really beautiful here. The flowers and the grasses. I should have—”

“I love you.”

Her eyes went wide, and her lips parted. But he didn’t care.

“I should’ve told you the morning you let Mi out of his cage. I knew then.”

She stood in shock for a long moment. Then she smiled.

“I don’t know why you’re here, or how long you’re staying, but I wanted you to know that before you disappear on me again.”

Her smile grew, and it gave him a glimmer of hope.

“I’m sorry I left the way I did.”

Ethan’s shoulders relaxed. “I don’t know when you plan to leave again, but I want you to know that I think you should stay here, with me, forever.”

Natalie smiled. “Actually, I’m leaving on Monday.”

Ethan shook his head. “Don’t go.”

Her smile grew, and it set his emotions spinning. He wanted to scream. He opened his mouth to say more, but she spoke, cutting him off.

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