“You’re hyperventilating. I need you to hold this over your mouth and take several deep breaths,” Griffin said firmly and calmly.
When I didn’t move, he held the bag in front of my mouth for me, and I finally curled my hand around it. A few minutes later, I managed to get enough air in my lungs that the lightheaded and dizzy feeling began to recede.
“Shay is on her way back. I caught her before she got on the highway. She’s coming to pick you up,” Griffin explained when I lowered the bag to my lap.
“Is Alex okay?”
Griffin nodded as I stared at him. He was a handsome guy, but there was no spark, which was convenient because he was a good friend, and I didn’t want to ruin it.
“Shay says he’s going to be okay. Something to do with an explosion. I’m sorry I don’t have more details.”
I reached in my pocket for my phone, coming up empty. “Can you go get my purse?”
Without a word, Griffin turned away, pushing through the door into the back hallway. A moment later, he returned and handed me my phone. “I took the liberty of taking it out of your purse. Hope that’s okay.”
I mumbled my thanks as I pulled up the screen. I saw the missed calls from Shay and then turned on the notifications for Alex’s number. I watched silently as a row of texts populated.
“Did you freaking block his number?” Griffin asked.
When I looked up, I didn’t realize I was crying until he turned and snagged a cocktail napkin off the stack on the bar. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he said.
I blew my nose and wiped tears away from my eyes with the balled up napkin. “I didn’t block him, but I silenced the notifications from his number. I’m an idiot.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Griffin said dryly. “Actually, you’re not an idiot, Delilah. You’re fucking smart as hell. But you’re not really all about hope and love and shit like that.”
Just then, I heard Shay’s voice as she came through the door in the front. “There you are! Come on,” she said, gesturing for me to follow her.
Standing from the chair, I barely registered Griffin going back into the hallway again. “Where are we going?” I asked because I honestly didn’t know.
“To the airport,” Shay said as if I should’ve known this.
Griffin reappeared, handing me my purse and jacket. “Go.”
“I’m going to the airport?”
Shay nodded firmly. “That’s right. Holly got you the ticket. She thinks Alex will want to see you when he wakes up.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Delilah
I had to give it to Shay; she was navigating the narrow mountain road that led out of Stolen Hearts Valley to the highway like a champ, smoothly keeping the vehicle on track despite the fast-moving pace. I hadn’t thought very much about it and had simply followed her into the truck. I’d learned in the last hour that Shay could be pretty bossy. She insisted we go by my house to get some things. She also told me it was silly for me to bring my car unless I wanted to pay for parking at the airport. I didn’t, so I took her suggestion.
I had nothing more than a single backpack with clothes and toiletries stuffed hastily in it.
“How in the world did you end up talking to Holly?” I finally asked.
“Because Remy called me. He told me he was giving her my number. I’ve met her before when we’ve been out to visit Remy and Rachel. Holly got you a ticket and told me it was already waiting for you at the counter. She sent the email confirmation to me, so I’ll just forward it to you once I’m not driving,” she explained.
Shay must’ve sensed my wide-eyed stare at her because she looked to the side as she turned her blinker on to slow and take the exit onto the highway. “What?” she asked, her tone casual.
As if we weren’t just chatting about the fact that the sister of the guy I’d tried to dump had just up and bought me a plane ticket to Alaska. And I was so freaked out by what was going on I hadn’t even hesitated to jump in the truck and just go.
“What do you mean what?” I countered.
Shay looked back toward the highway, and I saw the curve of a smile on her cheek. “Holly seems to think you and Alex mean a lot to each other. Knowing Holly the way I do, I know she likes you, and I know she thinks Alex will want you there.”
“What do you mean?” I asked quickly.
“I mean Holly is kind of a crazy, overprotective sister. There is absolutely no way she would get this ticket if she didn’t think Alex wanted to see you and if she didn’t like you.”
Shay had already assured me after we left the bar that Alex was going to be okay, but I found myself asking yet again, “Are you sure he’s going to be okay?”
I’d been feeling half sick and anxious to the point of being shaky ever since she had shown up at the bar to steal me away.
“Here.” She lifted her phone out of the cupholder where it was resting in the console. “There’s no password. Holly’s number is my last phone call. Why don’t you call her now?”
Holding the phone in my hand, I resisted the urge to toss it away as if it was on fire. I did want to call Holly, but I was afraid, afraid of so much.
“What are you afraid of?” Shay gave voice to my own internal question.
I set the phone down, leaning forward and dropping my face into my hands. Taking a deep breath, I let it out, feeling the air filter through my fingers. I finally lifted my head. “I don’t know. I haven’t even talked to Alex in a few weeks. I broke things off because I thought—” I stopped abruptly, shaking my head. “I don’t know what I thought.”
Shay kept her eyes ahead as she replied, “You know, Delilah, you’ve always been intensely independent. I used to envy that about you.”
“You did?” I was genuinely shocked because I found it hard to imagine there could be anything about myself to envy.
“I really did. You forget I had a shitty relationship before I got out of it. I used to think if I’d been like you, or maybe Jade—you two remind me of each other—that I never would’ve ended up there.”
Shay was referring to an abusive relationship she’d been in for a few years during and after college. We all knew about it because it was all over the news when her ex got arrested for assault, and then later for a DUI when two passengers were killed in the accident.
“You’re pretty strong, if you ask me. Stronger than me. You got through that and look how great things are now,” I said.
She cast me a quick look before bringing her eyes immediately back to the road ahead. “Things are good now, but it wasn’t easy to get there. Everyone’s life is different, the details especially. But I’ll say this, Alex seems like a great guy. People who I know and trust vouch for him. I saw you two together. It’s obvious you like him. There’s no reward without risk. I know that’s a cliché, but sometimes clichés become clichés because they’re true.”
I waited in the airport for my flight to be called. I couldn’t stop worrying about Alex and obsessively checking my phone. I didn’t even know if he’d gotten my text yet.