At the crack of dawn, I slipped out of bed and peeked out the window. Perfect—just enough daylight to see the clouds. Wrapping a small throw around my shoulders, I stole out into the cool morning air and headed to one of my favorite places in the world. Lost in memories of fishing off the dock with Justice, the creak of wooden boards startled me.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare ya.” Justice sat down beside me.
Dropping my hand from my heart, I turned my attention back to the sunrise casting a glow on the water. “Guess I was daydreaming. Lots of good memories in this place.”
“Yeah.” He followed my gaze to the calm water, and we sat quietly until he broke the silence a few minutes later. “I brought a gallon of milk and some cereal. Hungry?”
“Not yet, but thanks.” I looked toward the cabin. “Everyone else is still sleeping.”
“You wanna go for a walk? I finally finished that trail. It circles along the lake and goes all the way back to the barn.”
“Yeah, I’m dyin’ to see Daisy and the new filly.”
Justice grimaced. “She’s not exactly new anymore.”
“Mm, I guess not.” I’d forgotten how long I’d been gone, and how long it had been since I’d been to Justice’s house before that. But I refused to let past regrets ruin my day. “Let me put this stuff in the fridge and get my tennis shoes and some…clothes.” I was suddenly embarrassed at my thigh-length jersey t-shirt.
“Sure,” he said, looking away, and offered me the grocery sack.
Using the sack as a cover-up, I backed away, then turned and scurried back to the cabin. After I put the milk in the fridge, I pulled on a tank top, my old ragged jeans, and tennis shoes, then returned to the dock. Looking up at the cloudy sky, I stretched out my goosebump-covered arms and smiled. “Thunderstorm today?”
“They’re not callin’ for anything until later,” Justice said.
I rubbed my hands together like a mad scientist. “I love a good Texas thunderstorm.”
“I know you do.” He grinned.
Walking along the trail, Justice filled me in about what had been going on in Dahlia since I’d left: who was dating, breaking up, who was going to college—all the things that helped me forget how much my life had changed.
“What about you? Aren’t you supposed to be starting college soon?”
“Yeah, slight change of plans. Since Dad got sent to Alabama and Mom had to go to Kentucky to be with Gram, I need to stay here and take care of the farm.” He shrugged his shoulders. “It’s okay, though; it’s given me a chance to save up some more money. I’ve been working for one of Dad’s friend’s construction companies since he left.”
“I thought your grandma was doing better after that last round of chemo.”
“She was for a while, but the cancer came back.”
I reached for my locket. “Mm, sorry to hear that.” I understood more about cancer than I ever wanted.
He gave me a sideways glance. “Enough about me. What have you been up to?”
He wasn’t going to let me off the hook, so I filled him in on our ‘trip.’ I purposely skipped everything that led up to our departure, sticking only to what happened after our arrival in Vegas.
He bit his bottom lip. “So…Sin City was boring?”
“Yeah, pretty much.” I added a few highlights and told him all about Charlie and how hard it was to leave him. Then, in an attempt to stay away from the subject I most wanted to avoid, I started telling him about my possible biological father. Before I had a chance to finish, we reached the top of a hill and something distracted me. “Hey, Mr. Weatherman, I believe you were mistaken about that forecast.”
“Nah.”
I inhaled deeply. “Smell that?” The scent of rain was unmistakable—it smelled like heaven.
He gazed at the sky. “I think you might be right.”
“You think?” I pointed toward the west, where a hazy mist could be seen for miles in the distance. A vivid wall of gray divided where it was raining and where it wasn’t. Captivated by the natural wonder and how it crept toward us in a straight, even line, I planted my feet firmly.
“It’s getting closer.” Justice tried to bring me out of my hypnotic state. “We’d better get movin’.”
“Why?”
“Did you hear that rumble? Thunder.”
Maybe, but I chose to ignore it and focus only on the beautiful rushing sound of rain colliding with the earth. “But I love to watch the rain coming.”
“Well, we can love it from indoors.” Justice tugged at my arm.
“Do you really think we can beat it?” I asked.
He stood up straighter. “I probably could, but I don’t know about you.”
“Are you kidding me? You might have longer legs, but you’re clumsy.”
“No, I’m not. That’s you.”
“Yes, you are, see?” I pushed him off balance so I could get a head start.
He caught up with me in two strides and glanced over. “It’s on, Daniels.”
We raced through a row of trees and down a small hill, peeking over our shoulders every few seconds at the tempest gaining on us. Laughing so hard we could barely run, I stopped when we reached a clearing on higher ground and grabbed Justice’s arm. Knowing it was impossible to get to the barn before the rain came, he gave in and turned to wait with me.
Stretching my arms out, palms up, I threw my head back and smiled at the sky as I let the rain catch me. Whirling around, the cool water rushed over me, each drop like liquid gold caressing my skin. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt so vibrant, so alive, and so free.
I held my arms out to Justice and pleaded with my eyes. He glanced one last time at the rolling storm clouds behind us, and a smile grew across his lips as he took my hands, lacing his fingers in mine. We were two kids again, dancing in the rain.
A faraway flash of lightening followed by a boom of thunder got my attention, but it didn’t change my behavior.
Justice made an attempt to shout over the beating rain. “Let’s get outta here!” He pointed in the distance as more flashes of lightning rocked the darkening sky, then motioned for me to follow him.
I didn’t budge. The feeling of freedom coursed through my veins like mentholated ice, and I was already addicted. My worst fear was if I stopped, if I let this feeling end, I’d never get it back. The lightning seemed like the smaller risk.
Realizing I wasn’t following him, Justice came back for me. Even though the rain fell in thick sheets over his face, I could still see his eyes as he held his hand out to me. “Come on. Lightning—danger!”
Unable or unwilling to move, I stood there with my feet firmly planted, smiling at him. Shaking his head, he scooped me up, threw me over his shoulder, and took off for the barn. When we got inside the barn, he set me down and we both tried to catch our breath. He ruffled his wet hair. “Do I need to lock you in one of the stalls so you won’t escape?”
My heart was still racing from my thunderstorm high. “That was the most alive I’ve felt in a long time.”
He looked at me as if scolding a small child. “No thanks to you offering yourself up as a human lightning rod.”
Water droplets hung like tiny crystals on the ends of Justice’s dark waves, and I secretly noticed how his t-shirt clung to every dent in his chest and stomach. “You always did love a good thunderstorm,” he said, wiping his forehead with his arm. He grabbed an old barn jacket off a hook and offered it to me.
I shook my head—I had no intentions of wiping away the magic feeling of rain. Like a trickling waterfall, it continued to trail from my hair, down my face, neck, and down the exposed skin on my chest. Justice let the jacket drop onto a nearby hay bale, then stepped into me, reaching out to push a wet strand of hair out of my face. My heart beat as fast as a hummingbird’s wings when his hand lingered near my jaw. Blood pulsed beneath my skin, raising my body temperature despite the cool raindrops. Staring up into his intense green eyes, I swallowed, and my lips parted slightly.
As if realizing what he was doing, his hand dropped to my shoulder and brought me in for a hug. “I’m so glad you’re home.”
I returned his embrace, trying to disguise the trembling in my arms, and enjoying the way my body fit perfectly to his. “Me, too.”
He kissed the top of my hair, and I smiled. It was a familiar show of affection from him, and it was more than I could ever have hoped for.
After a couple of minutes basking in Justice’s warm glow, he pulled away from me. “Oh, wow,” he said, checking his watch. “I didn’t realize it was getting so late. I’ve gotta get to work.”
“What about the storm?”
He started toward his house and motioned for me to follow. “Storm’s passin’ through. But we’ve got some inside work in one of the houses, anyway.”
I hoped my disappointment didn’t show.
“Come on, I’m gonna change into dry clothes real quick, then I’ll drive you back to the cabin.”
“That’s okay, I’ll walk.” I waved my hand at him. “Walking in the rain is the best.”
He smiled and then pointed at me. “Hey, you got lucky the storm interrupted our talk today. I work ten hours every day this week and have plans I can’t change tonight, so we’ll pick up where we left off tomorrow night.”
Oh, goody—a scheduled confession. My answer was a fake smile.
Leaning against the wide doorway of the barn, watching Justice and Hank race out into the rain, I ached for the way things used to be. I wanted to tell Justice good-bye and feel sure that I’d see him tomorrow. I wanted to be the only other person he’d allow to ride his horse. I wanted it to be just the two of us again…
When Justice rushed out of his house, I waved goodbye and watched him drive away. Since the lightning had stopped, I started back to the cabin. As I followed the tree-lined driveway, I made sure I took time to walk through every mud puddle and appreciate every drop of the dwindling rain on my skin. I wanted the memory of this day to last forever.
By the time I reached the end of the quarter-mile drive, the sun had come out. I stopped to admire a rainbow that stretched over the lake like a giant canopy. It amazed me that two vastly different things like a bold storm and the bright sun could come together and produce such beauty. It also made me realize what I wanted more than anything else. I wanted a second chance.
In order to make that a reality, I had to face the reason I was here—the reason I had risked everything to come back to Dahlia. I had to find the girl that Logan assaulted. I had to find her and beg her to tell me her story, and then have her agree to stand behind me in a courtroom. It was a long shot, but it was the only one I had.
Before I put my foot on the first of the cabin steps, an idea hit me. I needed a computer. Since I couldn’t just pop in at the local library and use the Internet, I did the next best thing—I headed back to Justice’s house. After giving Hank a few minutes of playtime, I did what I had done a zillion times before. I went around the side of the house to his bedroom window and found my ticket to entry—a sliver of metal tucked snugly in a loose piece of siding below his window, kept there in case we ever got locked out.
Back when we were neighbors, we’d sneak out after dark and meet in the adjoining fields behind our houses. We’d lay under our favorite tree and count stars and talk about our dreams way into the night. And if Jack was on one of his drinking binges or I simply didn’t want to go home, I’d spend the night at Justice’s house. He always kept a cot stuffed under his bed along with a storage container of my own set of sheets, blankets, and a pillow.
With more enthusiasm than I should have had, I rattled the metal piece under the lock, pushed the window up, and climbed in. After turning the computer on and waiting for it to dial up, I took a look around my old refuge. Forcing myself to stay focused, I went to Google and typed in Rachel Banard, then crossed my fingers while the computer chugged away. When I found a name that had a Dahlia, Texas address listed, my heart rate increased. My excitement was short-lived after the only address listed for her was the same one that my sister had e-mailed me previously. Jamie said Rachel had moved, but where? The old information probably wouldn’t do me any good, but I printed it out along with a map and stuck them in my back pocket.
I was about to log off when my fingers took charge and typed in Carl MaKade. My palms were sweaty as I scrolled carefully through each page of listings. When Taylor Police Department, Texas came up, I clicked on it and waited. There it was, plain as day: the address of my father’s police department, only forty-eight miles away. I knew how to get to Taylor, Texas—I’d passed through there before on the way to horse shows—so finding his home address in a small, trusting town wouldn’t be that difficult. Hopefully.
After I printed out the information, I stuffed it in my pocket along with Rachel’s info. I was in the process of turning off the computer when I heard Justice’s truck. Crap. What was he doing home? Remembering it wasn’t easy to shut a window behind oneself, I shut it from the inside and started for the back door. Crap, crap! The front door creaked open, so I went back to the window, opened it, and swung myself out. I’m sure it looked very Spider-man-esque—except for the one problem. I smacked my foot on the glass. Hard.
In no time, Justice was leaning out his window, grinning at me as I lay on my butt on the ground below. “Could’ve used the front door, ya know. It was unlocked.”
“Right.” Heat rose to my cheeks as I sat up.
“Find what you needed?”
“No…actually, I didn’t. I was…going to borrow some shampoo.” I grabbed my hair. “But you only had the manly smelling kind, so…”
He shook his head and grinned my favorite uneven dimple grin.
“I thought you had to work.” I skillfully changed the subject.
“Forgot my wallet, and I need gas.”
“Bummer.”
“Yeah.” He pressed his lips together. “Almost as much as you falling out my window and landing in the mud.”
I looked at the mud on my hands and pushed myself up off the ground. “Almost.”
“Well, I gotta run. I’ll swing by the drugstore and pick up some shampoo for you on my way home. What kind would you like—industrial strength?”
I fake-smiled. “Surprise me.”
“Try to be more careful next time—or at least until I get back.”
“No worries,” I said as I wiped at the mud on the back of my jeans. I could hear him laughing behind me as I headed toward the cabin.
Dammit, had I turned his computer off?