Page 25 of Rescued By Midnight

That was normal.

Life with Brayden? It was normal enough for the Community where members of Seven Blessed Days lived.

But it wasn’t my normal.

“Hey, where’s your mind going?” Landon asks.

I exhale a short laugh. “Everywhere. Nowhere. I was thinking about the things we did, before I got married.”

He nods, pursing his lips together. It’s hard to see his full expression, thanks to the short beard he wears, but I get the feeling his mood has taken a dive.

I shouldn’t have brought up the past, because it creates opportunity for a conversation about what went wrong. Is he going to ask me why I cut things off with him and Cody? It was hard enough at the time; I don’t want to relive it.

But he doesn’t pry. He simply says, “I’ve missed our brunches at Pancake Pete’s.”

“Those were the best.” The three of us would stuff ourselves and talk about anything and everything. I frequently blushed, because having two handsome men ask me questions about myself was sometimes a lot to handle. Their attention, the way they would focus on me and only me, was overwhelming at times.

I blush now, remembering.

Landon gives me a little smile. He never commented on my pink cheeks, but Cody always did. Which would, of course, make me blush more.

We soon get past San Esteban and onto the quieter portion of the freeway, leading to the foothills. Few people come out here. The landscape is bleak, all brown and yellow grass that is only green from January to March. My happy brunch memories fade into low-grade panic.

“Wonderland.” Lincoln’s voice is low. “I’ll turn around now and take you back to San Esteban if you really don’t want to do this.”

I nod, the movement short. “I know you would.”

“It can’t be easy, not being in charge of where you go. Should we get you a car?”

“A car?” I laugh. “Landon, don’t be ridiculous. If you don’t want to drive me around, I can order a ride.”

“No, that isn’t it at all.” He gives me a long look. “I’ll drive you wherever you want to go. But maybe you’d like more freedom, is all I’m saying. When’s the last time you could just up and decide to go somewhere, without having to arrange several things in advance?”

Before I met Brayden. I don’t say it, but I’m sure Landon can guess.

We don’t talk much for the rest of the drive, each of us lost in our own thoughts, I suppose. I sneak looks at Landon’s profile. There’s something about the way a lock of his short brown hair falls in the center of his forehead. I want to stroke it and smooth it to the side, then maybe press a kiss to it.

He’s just as breathtakingly handsome as he was when I first met him five years ago.

I still feel as awkward and unworthy of his attention as I did back then. Only this time, it’s worse because I’m “impure.” Then again, I don’t think he or Cody would have expectations of purity, not if they were in love with, and going to marry, the same woman.

“There’s Cody.” Landon points at another SUV ahead, an identical one to his. I wonder if they ever accidentally grab the wrong keys. Maybe it wouldn’t matter, since the cars and the house are all the same.

We pull up to the shoulder where Cody has parked. The hills are close, trees in the distance.

“Is this where those guys found me?” I ask.

“We’re pretty close.” Landon turns off the car and faces me. “Do you remember any of that?”

Two men, probably in their sixties or seventies. Shouting at each other to call 9-1-1. Two heavily-booted feet slowly approaching me. I struggled to get up because I thought, at first, it was Abe in his heavy boots. I thought he was taking me back to the cabin.

But I was so weak, I could barely make my fingers twitch.

“You alive, girlie?” the man asked.

Landon is waiting for my answer.

“I remember some of it,” I tell him. “They brought me a blanket from their truck, tried to get me warm. They were so kind, like they really cared.”