TWENTY-SEVEN
Nikki
The sound of rain pummeling the roof jolts me out of my sleep. My head is throbbing. I blink at the ceiling a few times and remember I’m home at the farmhouse, but I don’t remember getting in bed. The bedcovers are tucked around me. I breathe a sigh of relief. It was a dream, more like a nightmare. Either way, everything is okay now. I’m awake. I’ll go back to Dalt’s house and tell him about Chloe. He’ll understand.
When I roll onto my side, I’m startled to see my mom sitting in the rocking chair in the corner of the room. Her head is tilted to one side and she’s making gentle snoring noises. She hasn’t fallen asleep sitting in my room since I was a child sick with the flu and she insisted on staying there all night in case I woke up and needed anything. Or…wait…no, the last time she slept here was when I came home from school after my encounter with Dalt’s father and I was a basket case. I couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, almost couldn’t breathe. She’d stayed in my room every night for a week.
I glance around the room once more and realize it’s not morning. It’s dark except for the soccer ball nightlight plugged into one of the outlets. Throwing back the covers, I find I’m still in the same clothes I was in when I came to the farm; the same clothes I was wearing in my nightmare. Mom is still in the same clothes she was wearing. I touch my eyes. They’re burning and my head throbs harder now that I’m sitting up. Oh God. It wasn’t a dream. I gasp and the sound jolts my mom out of her uncomfortable slumber.
“Nikki? What are you doing, honey? Do you need something? How about some water? Let me get you some water.” She pushes herself up from the rocker.
“No. I’m…how did I get up here?” I whisper because even the soft sound of my words pound inside of my head like a hammer.
“Matt carried you up. He found you sobbing on the ground in the middle of the driveway. You cried yourself to sleep.” She sits on the edge of the bed next to me and strokes my hair. Her touch is soothing. I close my eyes and revel in her comfort. “Give him some time, sweetheart. With everything you told me about Dalt when you were dating, I’m sure he’s a good man and he loves you. He’ll come back to you and Chloe.”
My eyes pop open when I hear his name. “What time is it? I have to go.” I jump off my bed, run out my bedroom door, and down the stairs, taking two steps at a time.
“Go? Go where? Nikki it’s the middle of the night and it’s pouring out.” Mom races down the stairs behind me.
I grab a rain jacket off of one of the hooks and pick up my backpack and keys from the spot where I dropped them when I came in.
“Can you watch Chloe for me, Mom? I know I was supposed to be here over break but I have to go. I have to see him before he leaves for California.”
“How do you know he hasn’t left already? It’s been hours since he was here.”
“I’ll call him on the way to check, ask him to wait for me.” I lean in and kiss her on the cheek. “I have to try, Mom. I said all the things today except the most important one. I didn’t tell him how much I love him.”
“Wait. Let me get Matt to go with you. The weather is miserable.”
“It’s okay, Mom. I’ll be fine. I’ll call you when I get to Dalt’s. Kiss Chloe for me.” I hesitate before running out the door. “And thanks, Mom for always being there for me.”
“Be careful, sweetheart, and call me as soon as you get there. I don’t care what time it is.” She wraps me in one of her big warm hugs and I hug her in return. I don’t want to worry her, but I can’t wait another second. I have to get to Dalt before he leaves.
I don’t know what came over me. I’m stronger than this. Instead of simpering like a little girl, I should have simply stood my ground. Yes, I may have kept the significant knowledge of his having a daughter from him. A horrible, terrible mistake, I admit. But I was a pregnant woman on a mission to protect her child from his monster father, and as far as I knew at the time, from him too. Yes, I may have wasted two years of our lives together being a doubting fool, but does it mean we should throw away the rest of our lives together? Waste even more time? We have a beautiful little girl who needs us. He’s just going to have to get past his hurt and anger and whatever other unconstructive emotions is getting in our way because dammit, we love each other and—to use his own words—we belong together. That’s what I should have said long before now and what I’m going to say when I see him tonight.
I start up the engine. Before shifting into drive, I pull up Dalt’s number and press the call button. The call goes straight to his voicemail. Either his phone is turned off or he’s blocking my calls. I press end call but hit redial just to be sure. Straight to voicemail. I’m hesitant to leave a message, but since I have an hour drive back to Bar Harbor I decide to leave one to let him know I’m coming. Hopefully he hasn’t blocked me and he’ll get it. He might delay his trip to California if he knows I’m on my way.
“Dalt, it’s me…Nikki.”
Stupid. Of course he knows it’s you.
“Um, anyway. I hope you haven’t left yet. If you haven’t…um…please don’t leave yet. Please wait. I’m on my way back to your house. I…I love you…so much. Please, just wait for me.”
I hit end call, shift into drive, and skid out of the wet driveway.
The things I want to say to him repeat inside my head as I push down on the gas pedal. The rain is coming down even harder now. I blink rapidly a few times and squint like it will help to improve my visibility. Cranking the speed of the windshield wipers to high, I try not to dwell on any negative thoughts like: Dalt hasn’t tried to call me in hours, he hasn’t returned my call, even though I only left the message a few minutes ago. Or he’s turned off his phone, or blocked my number because he doesn’t want to get any calls from me.
Sunlight is just beginning to glow over the horizon when the curve in the road looms in front of me. The thought flashes across my mind, you’re going too fast to take this curve. I hear the screech of my tires right before the world turns upside down and everything goes black.