Chapter 7
Kallie
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Kallie walked away from the house as fast as the cold spring air allowed. Her foster mother's voice rang in her ears.
Her breath came sharp and uneven. Her hands shook so hard, she shoved them into her pockets.
"She overdosed. They found her in a motel."
Over the years, she'd expected the news. It came as no surprise, and if she could catch her breath, she might even admit the announcement brought some relief. She no longer had to wish for her mother to contact her or dream about her apologizing for abandoning her.
The years of silence were over. She no longer had to lie to herself that her mother was coming back.
Because her mother was dead.
Foster parents could no longer throw the truth in her face. The kids she went to school with could no longer try to convince her of the truth.
The truth was her mother never wanted her.
Kallie's throat burned. She blinked hard, refusing to let the tears fall. Crying was pointless. Crying was for girls who loved their mother.
She wasn't that girl.
She walked faster out of the neighborhood. Houses blurred in her peripheral vision. Dogs barked as she hurried past fences. Kids played on sidewalks. All around her was a world she never belonged to.
A deep hollow ache grew in her chest, making it hard to breathe.
She didn't know where she was going. She no longer cared. She would go as far as her legs would carry her.
There was no reason to follow the rules or be back before curfew. She had nobody counting on her.
Nothing belonged to her. Not that house. Not the foster parents. Not the family.
Her feet carried her toward the edge of town, down a narrow road lined with tall pines. She'd never ventured that far away from the house, but today, she needed to outrun the news of her mother's death.
She looped into a jog and looked over her shoulder, needing to escape, but didn't recognize the area. Or maybe she did. Something tugged at her memories like a dream she'd had many times.
Her breath hitched.
No.
No, it couldn't be.
She stopped in the middle of the road, heart pounding. Straining to hear anything that would hint at where she was. She walked in a circle. The hair on her arms stood.
A stitch grabbed her below her ribs. She pressed her hand against her side. The air was changing. She could feel the electricity on her skin.
Then, the wind died completely. The world stilled. She was alone.
A shiver crawled up her spine. The weather changed. She remembered this feeling. Accepted what was coming. Welcomed the shift.
The air thickened.
The clouds rolled overhead.
Her goosebumps multiplied. A thrill shot through her. Just like when she was ten and had stepped into a new world.
She whispered, "Please...take me to Finn."
The trees swayed. The sky flickered. The pavement thinned beneath her feet as if she stood on the skin of something alive.
She opened her mouth, unable to breathe. Her breath was stolen from her before the world snapped back into focus.
A gasp erupted from her. She swung around. The road was changing. The trees were taller. The air smelled dusty, warmer. The sky had that muted, washed-out quality she remembered.
Her knees weakened. She clutched her hands together, elation filling her. Ahead of her was the town she remembered. She hurried forward. She'd made it back.
The street stretched out in front of her. A cry escaped. It'd been six years since she was here, but she remembered everything. The restaurant. Th-The courthouse. The cracked pavement.
Her chest tightened. She wasn't dreaming. She wasn't imagining it.
This was the place she'd gone to when she was younger. She made it. She was here.
A figure in the street stopped walking and turned slowly. Tall and broad-shouldered, she recognized the quiet, dangerous confidence.
Finn.
He stopped when he spotted her. She stilled. Would he remember her?
For a moment, neither of them moved. His eyes locked on hers, and recognition flickered across his face. Her stomach fluttered. The feelings he brought out in her were strange, exciting, and new.
"Kallie." His low, rough voice rolled through her.
Her breath broke. He remembered her.
She didn't know how her legs carried her forward, but suddenly she was standing in front of him, close enough to see the faint lines at the corners of his eyes, the ink on his arms, the tension etched into his forehead.
"You came back," he said.
She nodded vigorously. "You remember me?"
"Yeah." His gaze softened. "I never forgot you."
All the air left her lungs. The relief overwhelmed her. His admission was the equivalent of someone not giving up on her, which she wasn't used to in her life.
"I've tried and tried to come back here, but I didn't know how to get to you. I still don't know how I got here." She swallowed hard. "I just wanted to come to you."
"You've been crying." His brows lowered. "What happened?"
The question cracked her open. It was okay to talk to Finn.
"My mom..." Her voice trembled. "She never came back for me, and now she's dead."
Finn's jaw clenched, and his gaze darkened. Telling him, sharing with him, took away her anger.
Kallie blinked fast, fighting the tears. "She chose drugs over me. Every time. Even at the end."
Finn stepped closer. She gazed into his familiar brown eyes.
"You're here now." He cupped her cheek.
Her breath shook, and she pressed against the warmth of his palm. "I'm here."
And standing there in the fading light of a world that shouldn't exist, Kallie realized something she'd never dared admit before.
"I don't understand how this happens." She patted her chest. "But I think I'm supposed to be here."
She'd come because some part of her had been reaching for him all along.