Chapter Eleven #2
Feeling as if she were floating then falling, Nyah tried to slow her ragged breath.
She felt helpless, lost, echoingly hollow.
The warm air clung to her like a heavy cloak, seeping into her bones and weighing her rhythmic steps.
Lost in her thoughts, she slowed her jog to a speedy walk as she followed the route around the outskirts of the township, surrounded by the lively beginning of another day—the cries of birds overhead, the gentle rustle of leaves in the breeze, and the distant laughter of children.
But even amid this vibrant scene, she couldn’t shake the knot tightening in her gut as a shadow flickered at the edge of her vision.
It was a fleeting movement that could’ve been nothing more than a trick of light, yet she felt a prickling sensation crawling up her spine.
Terrified to stop, or look over her shoulder, she quickened her pace again, while trying to dismiss her unease as paranoia.
But as she hurried along, her long curls bouncing with each step, she sensed something was off—a shift in the atmosphere, footsteps echoing hers.
‘Excuse me,’ she muttered distractedly as she brushed past a couple strolling before her, their leisurely pace a luxury she couldn’t afford. Not when her every sense was on high alert, and every rustle or snap was causing her heart to race faster still.
Approaching a sharp bend in the path, she blinked back hot tears.
It was exhausting, this constant vigilance against the shadows that followed her, when all she craved was peace.
She needed to be strong. She needed to hold herself together.
But then she felt the chilling presence again, more foreboding, increasingly suffocating.
Someone was following her. She was sure of it.
And just when she felt herself succumbing to her terrifying solitude and her speedily increasing suspicion, she saw him up ahead, the man who always made her feel safe, and her racing pulse steadied at the sight.
‘Hi, Love,’ Caleb called out as he approached in his training gear. ‘Fancy seeing you on the trail. Great morning for it, hey.’ His easy smile was a balm to her frayed nerves.
‘Hi,’ Nyah breathed out, relief mingling with her words. ‘It sure is.’
Catching his breath, he tipped his head to catch her flittering gaze. ‘Everything okay?’
‘Yeah, no, sort of.’ She half shrugged. ‘I keep feeling as if I’m being followed, but I reckon it’s just my mother’s ghost, coming back to haunt me.’ She tried to laugh off her unease.
From the sombre look on his face, Caleb wasn’t buying it. He glanced over her shoulder, as if searching for her apparent stalker, then back at her. ‘How about I turn around and join you on the rest of your run?’
Oh, how she loved this man. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Yup, I’ve got to head back to the station at some point, so I can shower and get ready for my shift.’
‘If you’re okay with it, I’d love you to, thanks, Hart.’ Her smile was filled with relief.
As Caleb fell into step beside her, she felt her imagined threats fade away. His closeness was a shield against the unfounded fears that consumed her. In his company, the world seemed less ominous, and she couldn’t help but feel grateful for his presence.
‘How are you going?’ he asked, genuine concern in his brown eyes as he flicked her a sideways glance.
‘Much better now,’ she admitted with a small smile as they continued down the footpath together.
‘That’s good to hear.’ His radiant smile outshone the bright morning sunshine.
As they jogged side by side, in sync with each other’s rhythm, admiration unfurled within Nyah’s chest. Here was a man who deserved the world and more, a man who could have his pick of women, and yet, even after everything, he still loved her.
And she still loved him. As they turned around a corner that would lead them back into town, there was a silent exchange as their eyes met, the glance fleeting but laden with unspoken words.
The moment stretched, tenuous as a sunbeam piercing storm clouds, illuminating the contours of a bond that had weathered much and yet promised so much more.
Nyah bit back a gushing I’m so in love with you, Caleb Hart .
She couldn’t do that to him, go and put him in such an impossible place just because she felt as if she was going to burst if she held it in much longer.
But not saying anything was killing her.
How were they meant to keep ignoring something so powerful, so beautiful, so natural?
Reaching the shoe shop that signalled the beginning of the main street, they slowed their steps, and yet Nyah’s pulse raced faster. She didn’t want him to go now they’d finished their impromptu morning jog.
‘Do you have time to grab a coffee before you start work?’ she asked before thinking better of it, keen for a resounding yes from the lips she was aching to kiss.
‘I sure do, so that sounds like a plan, Ny.’ Caleb’s smile was a soft curve.
‘Great.’ Halting, she met his gaze, and within that suspended second, she glimpsed a future unfettered by the chains of her past.
‘Do you want to go to Hope’s, for our cuppa?’ He checked his watch. ‘She’ll definitely be open by now.’
‘I, um…’ Now she was glitching, fragmenting, the words she was aching to say were tumbling around her mind as if swept up by a whirlwind.
‘Nyah, did you hear what I just said?’
‘Sorry, no, I…’ She shook her head, trying to get rid of the wooziness.
Caleb’s hands reached to hold hers. ‘You’re worrying me, Ny.’
‘I can’t, I don’t…’ She tried to say more but couldn’t form a sentence.
‘I know what it is, because I feel it too.’ Gently squeezing her hands, he waited for her to look at him. ‘I want you, Nyah Love, more than anything I’ve ever wanted.’ His deep voice wavered, then rippled, as if travelling over water.
‘I want you, too, with all of my heart, and then some.’ Her voice was a whisper.
‘Then let’s stop ignoring what’s right in front of us.’ It was a promise that rang with the weight of certainty. ‘I can’t let you go back to Cairns without me, Ny.’ He blinked faster, as if warding off tears. ‘I can’t bear the thought of living without you.’
‘But Caleb.’ Frozen in time, Nyah tried to decipher the mixture of emotions swirling deep within. ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’
‘Of course, yes.’ His passionate smile, filled with assurance, was knee-buckling.
Feeling as if she were plummeting now, as though she’d just dived off a cliff edge, she shook her head, unable to believe him. ‘You want to leave the job you love, and move to Cairns with me? Just like that? As if it’s easy.’
‘Yes, I do.’ His strong hand cupped her cheek ever so gently. ‘And I also want you to be my wife, sooner rather than later.’ He leant in, taking her lips with his, kissing her like their lives depended on it.
This all felt surreal. Too much, almost. She didn’t want to scare him off by being blasé, or by seeming like she didn’t believe him.
But given what he was saying, so simply, so nonchalantly, she almost couldn’t allow herself to.
How could he be so sure? Of moving? Of them?
But, melting into him, she threw all caution to the wind as she felt the gentle caress of hope, its tendrils intertwining with the sturdy vine of connection that had taken root between them since their eyes had met at her mother’s funeral.
The ground felt as if it moved beneath her, and suddenly she was floating, weightless, free.
And Caleb was soaring with her. All around them, the soft breeze stirred the leaves of the towering trees lining the pathway, carrying with it the strong scent of lychee blossoms and rain-damp earth.
But it hadn’t been raining.
And there were no lychee trees in Wildstone.
And that was when she woke to someone knocking on the bungalow’s front door.
‘Nyah, it’s me, are you awake?’ Another gentle rap sounded. ‘Helloooo, wake up, Nyah, it’s almost eleven.’
‘Hold your horses.’ How in the heck did Hope sound so alive after they’d danced their butts off until all hours, then climbed into bed, with Caleb’s help, sometime around midnight.
‘I’m coming.’ Gathering together all the scattered pieces of herself, she climbed from her mussed sheets, and with pyjamas askew, dragged herself, her hangover and the remnants of her way-too-real dream, towards her beautiful friend.