Home to You: Sweet Second Chances by Taylor Hart

Author:Taylor Hart [Hart, Taylor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ArchStone Ink
Published: 2024-09-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Ella

After work, I ate a bowl of soup. It was my staple these days. Mercy kept commenting that I needed to gain more weight, but food just wasn’t that important to me. Plus, I really loved to be sleek as I ran. Running felt good; it worked out all the stress in my life.

The days were getting warmer, and I didn’t even have to use the heater tonight. I just soaked in the evening sunset from the deck.

Of course, thoughts of Noah invaded my mind. He was only two houses down. Crazy. It was hard to believe I’d managed to push thoughts of him away for the past eight years. Now it was like the dam had broken and all I could do was think about him.

Why was he staying the whole summer? He was helping his parents, but was there another reason? What if he’d started dating someone?

I dismissed the idea. He’d grabbed my hand twice: first at the hospital, then outside of his house when Clint had approached. Ever since, I’d thought about how good his hand felt in mine. Once, we’d been comfortable connecting like that. Now it felt awkward and also tingly and exciting.

I didn’t know how long I was out there, but suddenly I was tired. I stood, ready to head to bed. It had been a long day, and I hadn’t been sleeping well. I looked at the clock. It was almost ten o’clock. Was I old for going to bed so early? Who cared? After working long nursing shifts over the years, I had decided not to make a big deal out of when I went to bed. Self-care was too important.

I snuggled beneath the covers. Being back in Refuge Falls was the best thing for me. I was finally able to relax and be grateful that I was away from the past.

But was I really? Noah’s face came into my mind again.

No. I didn’t want to think about him or dream about him.

I pulled up my app for white noise. It didn’t matter if I was at the hospital or anywhere else; with white noise running in the background, I could fall asleep quickly. Turning on my side, I pressed a pillow lightly over the top half of my face. I liked feeling protected.

For a while, I tried to regulate my breathing, and relax. I thought about clouds and did a counting exercise. I tossed and turned, trying and failing to keep my thoughts from drifting back to Noah.

Then I heard it—the sound of a door opening. I sat up in bed. Something jostled, like someone had stumbled into it, and then I heard a curse.

Fear pressed against my heart. “Who’s there?” I called out, jumping out of bed and rummaging beneath it. I’d found a shotgun the other day while going through my grandparents’ things. Of course, it wasn’t loaded, but my grandmother had always told us that just pumping a shotgun would scare someone away. I had brought it into the bedroom, just in case.

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