Everything feels wrong.
The edges of my vision darken, closing in like a tunnel. My eyelids flutter, each blink slow and heavy, taking effort I don’t have. Cold seeps through my clothes, the icy ground penetrating fabric and skin. When did I get so cold? Why am I so damp?
My teeth grit against the pain pulsing through my skull. Each breath is a struggle. My whole body trembles, shock and fear tangled in every nerve.
Someone’s shouting. Far away. Getting closer. Louder now.
“—okay? Sir? Can you hear me?”
I try to respond but my throat won’t cooperate. My chest tightens. The trembling gets worse.
Then nothing.
thirty-four
. . .
Natalie
The knockon my door startles me.
I’m still in my pajamas on the couch, working on notes Rebecca asked for on a potential second season ofSpellbound. Just preliminary thoughts, character arcs we could explore, nothing formal.
Except I can’t focus. My pen hovers over the notebook, the same sentence half-finished for the past twenty minutes. My mind keeps drifting back to Jake and what I’m going to say when I finally call him. To the speech I’ve been rehearsing in my head.
I’m sorry. I was scared. I love you. Please give me another chance.
The words are right there, pressing against my ribs, demanding to be spoken. I just need to be brave enough to pick up the phone. To admit I was wrong. To tell him what I should have said a week ago when he was on one knee in front of me with his heart completely exposed.
Today. I’ll call him today.
My heart skips at the thought, nerves and anticipation tangling together in my chest. I set the pen down, my fingers trembling slightly.
The baby’s been kicking all morning, restless. I press my hand to the spot where her foot keeps jabbing my ribs.
“I know, I know,” I mutter. “You’re running out of room.”
The knock comes again. More insistent.
I wrap the blanket around me in an effort to disguise the fact that I’ve not gotten ready for the day yet and heave myself off the couch. Everything takes twice as long when you hit nine months.
Blair and Wyatt are standing on my doorstep.
“Hey,” I say, surprised. “What are you guys doing here?”
Blair’s face is pale. Wyatt’s jaw is tight, his hands shoved in his pockets.
“Can we come in?” Blair asks.
“Yeah, of course.” I step aside, and something cold starts to creep up my spine. “Is everything okay? Is it the house? Do you need to do repairs, or…are you selling it?”
The panic hits me all at once. I can’t move right now. I’m almost nine months pregnant, I don’t have time to find a new place and pack and?—
“It’s not the house,” Wyatt says.
They’re both just standing in my living room now, and neither of them is moving to sit down. Blair’s hands are twisted together. Wyatt won’t meet my eyes.
“Okay, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”
