“Midnight Key was exactly what I needed, time away to think.”
And meet and lose the love of my life in four days.
“So it helped you forget about Daniel?”
Who?I suppressed a chuckle. “Yeah. I’m so refreshed now. Ready to tackle the world.” I felt tears in my eyes again.
“That was the goal,” he said. “Sometimes all we need is a change of scenery.”
Or a life-changing love.
“Yup.” I sniffled.
“You got a cold or something?”
“No.”
“Where are you now?”
“At the station waiting for my train. I’m so ready to be home.”
“Cool. Well, all right. I just wanted to make sure you were alive and well since you dropped off the face of the Earth.”
“That was the point, though, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah.” He laughed. “For sure.”
“I’ll call you once I’m settled. Thank you again for giving me one of the best weeks of my life.”
“Wow. That good, huh?”
I felt myself nodding.Thatgood.
That great.
That earth-shatteringly amazing.
“It was,” I assured him.
“Anytime you want to go back, just let me know.”
“Thank you,” I said. Though I knew already that would be too painful. I’d never want to be there again without Tate.
After I hung up, guilt washed over me for not coming clean. Maybe someday I’d tell Taylor exactly how important this trip had been. But this wasn’t the time. I wasn’t ready.
When I turned again to look at the big board, a notification flashed on the digital screen indicating that my train was delayed.
Crap.
The station was oddly desolate. Annoyed that I couldn’t just be home and in my bed, I decided to get myself a treat. After I got a snack from the vending machine, I took it over to a bench, plopping my bag down next to me.
As I took the first bite of the protein bar, I closed my eyes and sighed. Trying to meditate, I kept my eyes closed until the moment I felt it—a whoosh of some sort whipped by me. I opened my eyes to find a man running away—with my bag!
I jumped up. “Help! Help!” I screamed as I ran after him. “He’s got my bag!”
I tripped and fell, scraping my knee on the pavement. That gave him just enough of an edge to open some distance between us.
As I looked up, he ran across the train tracks and jumped a fence.
