“Thanks a lot, Dakota.” To say Josh was angry with his sister was putting it lightly. “I had just gotten through to Hailee that I’d be there for her, and you basically went and told her to end it with me and never look back.”
“That’s not what I said, Josh.”
“That’s what she apparently heard.” The fury he was feeling thrummed through his veins. He knew his sister was trying to protect him, but he didn’t need protection. He was a grown man who’d navigated through life just fine.
“I’m sorry.” Dakota didn’t sound very sorry.
“What else aren’t you telling me?” Josh asked.
“Nothing. I told you everything.”
“I can tell you’re hiding something, Dakota. I’m sure it can’t get much worse.”
“Josh, I told you I feel horrible about what I said to her. Don’t make it worse.”
“How do you think I feel?”
Panic was rising by the second as he thought about not getting to set things right with Hailee.
Dakota let out a deep breath over the phone.
“Spill it,” Josh said. He was in no mood for this back-and-forth game.
“Hailee and her therapist have arranged an intervention for her parents.”
“Since when did she get a therapist?” Josh asked more to himself than his sister.
“When she decided she wanted to do an intervention, Hailee came up with the thought that she should also talk to the therapist as well.”
Josh had never met Hailee’s parents, but he already disliked them. Anyone who would abandon their little girl was trash in his eyes, and he couldn’t believe how many times Hailee was willing to forgive them.
He had a pretty good idea the only reason they were reaching out to her recently was that they’d found out she was quite successful with her blog. It was no coincidence they came back in her life with their hands out.
Josh knew Hailee recognized it too, but she didn’t want to face the facts.
Instead, she wanted to believe she could fix them, and while Josh thought that the issue they had could be entirely resolved in a lot of cases, he didn’t particularly believe that Hailee’s parents wanted help.
The people who overcame those kinds of challenges wanted help. They sought the treatment necessary to better themselves, their lives, and the lives of their loved ones. Hailee’s parents didn’t strike Josh as such people. They seemed to specialize more in self-serving rather than worrying about others.
“That’s probably a good idea about the therapy, but she’ll probably just get destroyed again when her parents don’t do what they say they’ll do.” Josh let out a frustrated grunt.
He hated being all the way in New York, but before his sister opened her big mouth to Hailee, he’d been working behind the scenes on a special surprise that Hailee might never see now.
“So, when’s this intervention?” Josh asked, afraid to hear the answer.
“Tomorrow morning.” Dakota fell silent, and Josh knew there was more.
His heart rate quickened at the thought. With all his heart, he hoped the meeting was going to take place at a hotel or a clinic’s office. Anywhere but at her grandparents’ home. She didn’t need her one sanctuary tainted with something that could go so disastrously wrong.
“Where?” he snapped.
“You could be a little nicer,” Dakota reminded her brother.
“Sorry, but I’m not exactly thrilled with this sudden fountain of information I’m getting from this call.” He waited a few seconds. “So, where?”
“Her house.”
“Shit,” he grumbled and glanced at the clock on his wall.
If he left New York now on a redeye, he could get to Silver Ridge in time. He might look like hell by the time he showed up, but at least he’d be there.
“Okay. I’ll talk to you soon.” He swallowed down his anger. It wouldn’t do anyone any good.
“At least you’re still talking to me,” she half teased.
“Don’t get your hopes up. We’ll have to see how this shakes out.”
“How what shakes out?” his sister asked.
“I’m headed out there tonight. She doesn’t need to do this alone.” And he hung up the phone.
Josh scrolled through the texts he’d received from Hailee and everything suddenly made sense.
At first, she’d started responding slower to his texts, and then she started returning fewer of his texts and then his calls. He had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach when she started to pull back, but she didn’t give any reason for it.
He only surmised the timing was between her visit with Dakota and Hailee’s sudden disinterest in pursuing a relationship with him any longer.
Josh quickly threw a fresh change of clothes in a bag in case he couldn’t swing by his house in Silver Ridge first. He knew he only had limited time, and he certainly didn’t want Hailee to face what she was about to do alone.
By the time he’d boarded the plane, he had texted Hailee one last message.
I spoke to my sister, and while I love her a lot, she’s really misguided. I know what I want in life. I want you, Hailee.
He turned off his phone as the flight attendants instructed and slid back into the First-Class seat as the engines roared to life and carried him to where he needed to be.
Hours felt like minutes as he woke up to the announcements coming over the plane intercom. It was close to five in the morning, which gave him a very narrow window to make it to Hailee’s house in time.
He caught the shuttle to where he kept his car stored and hit the highway that just might not get him to Hailee’s house in time.
While Josh was usually a law-abiding citizen, he didn’t have any issues going well over the speed limit on the way up the mountain to Silver Ridge. The image of Hailee’s face filled with disappointment nearly killed him. He couldn’t imagine what it was going to be like in person.
By the time he flew into town, he had minutes to spare and pulled right up along the road leading to her house. He only saw one car in the driveway that wasn’t hers, and the rest of the street was empty.
Josh gripped the steering wheel and peered at Hailee’s house.
She didn’t expect him, but he didn’t fly all this way to stay in the car and watch from the outside looking in. He wanted to prove to her that he could handle whatever demons had kept her away from Silver Ridge for so long.
All Josh wanted was to be let in, and he didn’t know if Hailee was even capable of allowing that to happen.
He drew in a deep breath and climbed out of the car and made his way up to the front door when he heard yelling followed by something that just broke his heart.
Hailee was sobbing.
Before he had a chance to knock on the door, it opened and a woman walked onto the stoop.
“You must be Josh.”
He nodded.
“It’s good you’re here.” She patted his shoulder, and he walked into Hailee’s home.
It was like he was walking into a time capsule where everything had been preserved, and the memories nearly drowned him.