Ha, the last time she’d forced coffee down her throat, she’d felt sick for the next four hours. Yes, she disliked it that much.
Maybe Noah’s living room couch was too soft?
Or maybe, she needed to stop blaming everything else and just work.
Focus, Addie.
Her phone rang.
Thank God.
The relief quickly evaporated though when she saw who it was.
Her mother. Possibly both her parents.
Crap.
She’d called this morning to let them know what had happened.Butshe’d intentionally done it at a ridiculously early time, knowing her mother’s phone would be on silent so that she could very cowardly leave a voice message.
She set the phone to her ear. “Hey, Mom.”
“Are you okay?” Her mother’s words were sharp and rushed.
“I’m absolutely fine.”
“How the hell did the rope break?” her father growled.
“Um, someone actually put battery acid on it.” She wrinkled her nose at what was about to come.
Her mother gasped, but it was her father who yelled, “What?”
“But I’m fine,” she rushed to add. “And Buck only broke his wrist and got a concussion.”
Only? Not only. It was awful.
“Who’s Buck?” her mother asked, almost sounding like she was crying.
“The other guy who was climbing. His rope snapped and he fell. I grabbed the wall before my rope completely broke, and Noah climbed up to save me.”
There was a long silence, and yeah, she knew she was leaving a lot of gaps.
“Addison Marie March.” She cringed at her father full-naming her. “What is going on over there?”
She wanted to lie…but she didn’t. “I’ve received a few…texts.”
“Texts?” her mother asked, sounding confused.
“Someone’s been messaging me from an unknown number, telling me to leave Amber Ridge or else.”
“Come home.” Her father’s response was immediate. It was also hard and unyielding. It was the former Marine in him who was used to people following his orders. “We didn’t want you to move out anyway.”
“Your father’s right,” her mother added. “It’s too dangerous.”
There was such a big part of her that wanted to make her parents happy. She loved them so much that she almost needed to give them what they wanted. But with this, she just couldn’t. “I’m not coming home. I’m sorry. I like it here. I enjoy my job. And there’s someone I care about.”
“You’re dating someone?” her mother asked.
“Yes.” Or at least, she was pretty sure that was what they were doing. Living in Noah’s house, sleeping with him…that was dating.
