Slowly, I got to my feet, holding on to furniture and the walls until I got to the washroom. My face was ashen in the reflection in the mirror, a bruise already forming high on my cheek by my hairline. My skin was chafed where I’d fallen forward on my hands. My knees ached—my entire body ached. I felt as if I had been hit by a truck. With shaking hands, I wiped away my ruined makeup and stared at myself in the glass, reality crashing around me.
Everything Noah had said to me, every fear he had expressed, hit me.
He was right.
I couldn’t do this anymore.
I pulled over to the side of the road, gripping the steering wheel tightly. Tears threatened, and I felt the waves of panic starting to build again.
Anxiously, I pushed open the door, gasping for air. The sun was setting, dipping low in the sky as I gazed around in desperation. The store should be here.
Right here.
I was sure I had followed the roads correctly. Three lefts and two rights off the highway and The Harvest Table should be here.
I bit down so hard on my lip I tasted blood. I pushed back my hair, grimacing when my fingers touched the bruise on my cheek. I could feel the tremors starting, and, frightened, I grabbed my phone off the seat, hitting Noah’s icon.
I was met with silence again, the call not going through. I had tried him before leaving the office, but the calls had gone straight through to voice mail. In my flight out of the office, I’d left my Bluetooth device so I couldn’t call him from the road. I hadn’t left a message earlier, knowing if he heard my voice, he would freak out.
It had taken every little bit of strength I had left to calm down enough to drive. I needed to get to Noah, to talk to him. He would help me. I fought down the terror that kept rippling under my skin, determined to get to him.
Except I couldn’t find him.
To the left and right were fields, the crops swaying in the dying light. Nothing looked familiar; nothing gave me a clue.
And I had no signal, the bars on my phone barely registering.
I walked around the car, leaning against the trunk, trying to fight the fog that was filling my head. Was it three rights and then two lefts? Had I gone in the wrong direction?
My heart started hammering in my chest, and with a whimper, I slipped down the metal onto the hard ground, drawing my legs tight to my chest. My head was too heavy to hold up, and I let it fall to my knees as the tears came, hot and thick.
Noah—I needed Noah.
Lost in my panic, I didn’t hear the sound of an approaching vehicle or the sounds of hurried footsteps and worried voices around me. I knew someone was talking to me, but I couldn’t reply. I couldn’t even lift my head. There were more sounds; tires squealing, the sounds of rocks flying and running feet. Then I felt it.
Noah.
That strange connection I had to him flickered and grew stronger. Noah was close.
The gentle touch of his arms surrounding me and his warm voice—the voice I was desperate to hear—broke through my haze. I was lifted from the dirt, the cold metal of my trunk under my legs, and I felt my hand pressed against something solid, warm, and comforting.
“Dani, baby. Feel me…feel my breathing. Breathe with me. You can do this.” His mouth touched my forehead. “I’m here, Sprout. I need you to listen to me.”
“No…Noah,” I panted.
“I’m right here. Now, breathe, baby. Slow…just slow, deep breaths. With me. You’re safe, do you hear me? I’m right here.”
His presence allowed the crippling panic to ease off. I concentrated on the feeling of his chest moving—in and out, measured and calm, and after a few moments, I could feel air moving in my lungs again.
Noah cupped my face in his large hands. “Open your eyes, Dani.”
With a shaky sigh, my lids fluttered open, and I blinked, trying to clear away the tears. Noah’s concerned face swam into focus, his eyes dark with worry, a frown marring his handsome face.
“You…you found me,” I whispered, my throat feeling ravaged and dry.
“Callie did—she was on her way back to the store when she saw you. She radioed me.”
“I couldn’t…I couldn’t find the store. My phone…didn’t…no signal.”
He pushed back my hair, frowning when he felt the broken skin, but he didn’t say anything. “You were almost there, sweetheart. Two more bends in the road, and you would have found me.”
I let out a shuddering breath. I had been so close.
Noah pulled me back against his chest, wrapping me in his arms. I could hear his heart, strong and steady under my ear, and I leaned heavily into his warmth.