Chapter 16

16

N oah skied up to the lodge and detached his skis before storing them on one of the provided racks. Then he made his way inside to the ski patrol staff room. He was starving, but most of all, he was excited to chat with Jessa. He tugged his gloves off and pushed them into his locker before pulling his phone out of his pocket. There was a missed call and a few waiting texts from Jessa.

He furrowed his brow as panic spiked inside him. Instead of listening to the message, he called her, but her phone went straight to voicemail. He opened up her texts and read them.

Please call me if you get a second.

I’m boarding a plane. I’ll call you when I land.

His heart seized. Noah clicked on the voicemail and held his phone up to his ear while pacing the small room.

Jessa’s voice came through the line and she sounded like she was filled with regret.

“Hey, Noah. I’m sorry I didn’t get the chance to talk to you in person. Some stuff is happening with work and my boss needs Megan and me to fly to Arkansas for a week.” She sighed. “I guess I’m going to have to cancel our date tonight. I’m sorry.”

A voice in the background told everyone to turn off their phones. “My plane is about to take off. I’ll call you later. I’m sorry again. Bye.”

Noah pulled his phone away from his ear and sighed in relief. It was just a work trip. She wasn’t running since she was scared. He’d see her when she got back.

But then he realized she was only scheduled to be in Montana another week, but now she was in Arkansas. Did that mean she wouldn’t be coming back?

He suddenly wasn’t hungry anymore, and instead sat down on a bench and dropped his head into his hands. He needed to talk to her. Soon.

Getting through the rest of the day was torture. Every chance he could, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked for any waiting messages. They never came.

By the time he left the mountain, panic consumed him. Maybe she didn’t plan to come back, and this was a clean break for her. At the very minimum, she should have texted him by now during her layover.

When he climbed into his truck, he started it up and immediately dialed her number. It went straight to voicemail.

He let out a long sigh and drove home. Even now, he could feel himself shutting down. It took a long time to get out of the rut his ex put him in, and now he was right back there. Exactly where his mom was worried he’d go if Jessa left.

He may not have known her very long, but his feelings were greater than anything he had ever experienced before. They had a connection he had never felt with anyone else. It was something he couldn’t explain. She was the one for him. Deep down, he had known it since the moment their eyes connected in the lobby. There was something special about her, and he didn’t want to imagine his life with anyone else.

Noah gripped the steering wheel and drove past his house, heading for his parents’ place instead.

He pulled into their driveway and stared up at the house. He didn’t even know if they were home from work yet, but he felt like this was where he needed to be.

He walked up to the front door, opened it, and walked inside. There was no need to knock. If the door was unlocked, they were home. If it wasn’t, they weren’t. He followed the voices of his parents to the kitchen.

When he stepped into view, his parents immediately looked up from the cookbook open on the counter.

“Noah, what are you doing here?” Karen asked.

“I’m in love with Jessa.” That was the first time he had said it out loud, and damn, it felt good. He smiled. “I’m in love with her, and I need to go get her.”

“I could have told you that. It was written all over your face at dinner.”

James stood back, leaning against the counter with his arms crossed, a soft smile on his face. “What do you mean, you need to go get her?”

“She left.”

“What?” Karen said, alarmed. “Why?”

“She had to go to Arkansas for a work thing. I don’t know if she’s planning to come back. I haven’t been able to get ahold of her.”

Karen made shooing motions with her hand. “You must go! Go, Noah. Go get her.”

“I need to find out where she went, and I’ll need to rearrange the schedule to have my shifts covered over the next few days.”

Karen pulled out her phone and made a call. Noah watched in curiosity, not entirely sure what she was doing.

“Jackson, we need you at the house, STAT!” Then she hung up. Noah raised a brow.

James chuckled. “I think she’s been watching too many medical dramas.”

His mom smiled and patted James’s cheek before walking over to the dining room table where her laptop sat. Then she powered it on and immediately pulled up the airlines that flew out of their small airport.

Jackson came bursting through the front door only a few minutes later, with Mia following closely behind. “What’s the emergency?”

“Hi, Mia! It’s good to see you,” Karen said, standing and stepping over to Mia before pulling her into a hug. “How are you?”

“I’m doing well, thanks,” Mia said.

Jackson waved his hands in the air. “Hello. Why did you call us here? What’s the emergency?”

“Oh right,” Karen said. “We need Megan’s number.”

Jackson stared at his mom, blinking several times before replying. “And you needed me to drive all the way over here for that? You couldn’t have just had me text it to you?”

She rolled her eyes. “Right. Because it’s such a long drive.”

Noah chuckled. He loved when his mom was sarcastic. It always made his day, especially when it was directed to one of his brothers.

“Why can’t you just ask Jessa?” Jackson asked.

“If we could get ahold of Jessa, we wouldn’t need Megan’s number,” Karen said.

“Wait. What’s going on?”

Karen relayed what had happened since Noah showed up and Jackson’s eyes widened.

“She just left? Without seeing you?”

Noah nodded and scrubbed a hand down his face. “Yeah. She said it was for work.”

“And you don’t believe her?” Mia asked.

“It’s not that I don’t believe her. I’m just worried she won’t come back. She was only supposed to be in Wintervale another week, and now she’s in Arkansas instead.”

“So he’s going to go there and profess his undying love,” Karen said with a flourish, putting her hand over her heart.

Noah shook his head, but didn’t dispute it. He was going to profess his love for her. To let her know he wanted her to come back. And if she didn’t… well, he’d cross that bridge when he got there.

Jackson pulled out his phone and opened up his contacts before pressing a button and holding it up to his ear.

“Here goes nothing.”