Page 142 of Finding Fate

Groaning, he smacked the steering wheel in frustration.He had to be missing something.

“The beach!” he realized, hope bursting through him again.

Annie hadn’t said where on the beach they’d looked. If they’d checked their regular hang out in the public section, she wouldn’t have been there. It was another stretch that was special. He pressed his foot against the accelerator, speeding across the deserted streets to reach her.

He tore across the sand when he reached the beach, praying his tires didn’t get stuck, but he could see long before he approached that her old Ford was not there. It was just the open expanse of sand, the pier, and water reflecting in the moonlight. He had been almost positive he’d find her here, in the place where they’d first said they loved each other, in the place he’d proposed.

Deflated that he’d been wrong again, he turned around. Maybe it was time to call Annie and Jet to compare notes. It had been hours now that he hadn’t found her, time that Izzy was upset and alone and under the impression that what they had was dead. He shook with repulsion at the thought. He had to fix things.

He had just pulled out on the main road when something silver glinted in his headlights up ahead. Speeding up, he recognized the bumper of a familiar old Ford. Tucker’s stomach tightened.

He was out of his truck nearly the moment it had stopped, his worry outweighing his relief when he realized her truck wasn’t even on. He ran to the driver’s side and peered through the dark window. He couldn’t see her. Maybe she was lying down. He yanked the door open, and air caught in his throat, a new state of panic starting to take over. She wasn’t there.

This was not good. Correction. This was horrible.

He pushed his panic aside to think, to try to understand what could have happened, to find something to explain why Izzy wasn’t here, why she would have left the protective interior of the cab when the coldest front of the season, of the past several years, had blown in.

His eyes quickly searched the empty area, the seats, the floorboards, the dash, every surface he could see until he caught sight of the keys dangling from the ignition. He reached in and turned the keys, but nothing happened.

“Shit,” he cursed. She really needed a car that worked.

A blast of wind came at him then that caused goosebumps to appear on every last inch of his body. He shivered at the freezing cold that no native south Texan would be accustomed to and slammed the door shut. Whatever reason Izzy had for leaving the confines of her truck, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that she had left, and she was somewhere out in this inhumane cold.

“But where?” Tucker looked up to the sky as he begged.

“You know,” his gut insisted.

“Shit,” he muttered. He’d been right. He knew it.

Suddenly, the idea of standing still while Izzy was out there, upset and alone and most likely freezing in this cold, made immobility impossible. Tucker paused only to grab the blanket and flashlight his father had passed to him back at home, thankful his dad had thought ahead, then turned and shot off down the long expanse of beach.

Digging the toes of his shoes into the loose sand, he ran as fast as he could back to the significant section of shore. The wind from the water blew wildly around him. Shells crunched beneath his feet as he ran. The ribs of his back ached in protest with the quick, heavy expanse of his lungs. But he barely felt it.

He paused when he got there to send up a small prayer that Izzy would be waiting there, somewhere. He took a deep breath, using the flashlight to add to the light of the moon. Yet, still, he saw nothing. He felt his heart drop in his chest. If he couldn’t find her here, where would she be? It didn’t make sense.

He started to turn around when a streak of lightning lit up the sky, and the sound of thunder boomed out around him. A small shriek cried out from nearby, and he momentarily froze.

“Izzy?” he whispered to himself.

Tucker rushed forward to where the shriek had come from, and all remaining air in his lungs gushed out in a sigh of relief when he found Izzy curled up beneath the pier, the large beam placing her just out of sight from where he had looked from the shore. Her head was tucked into her arms, her knees clutched to her chest, as the water soaked her feet and clothes.

His heart broke to see her that way, alone and afraid, shaking with cold. He didn’t stop to think about what he would say to her. He just walked up, unfolded the heavy blanket, and laid it over her shoulders, pulling her into his lap away from the wet sand.

“Tucker?” she murmured, curling into him for warmth.

“Yeah, it’s me, love,” he replied, running a hand through her damp, curling hair.

“What are you doing here?” she said shakily through chattering teeth.

He fought back a grimace at her tone. There was no relief in it. All he could hear was the accusation behind it. “I came to find you. You nearly scared everyone out of their minds, the way you left.”

Isabel tried to frown, but the chattering of her teeth was too strong. “You should leave.” She didn’t want him here out of pity.

He couldn’t help it. He winced. “I’m not leaving without you.”

“Why not?”

He thought he could detect frustration behind her shaking words. “Several reasons. For one, you’re freezing out here, and there’s lightning.” He paused at her wince. “Two, I found your truck. I know it won’t start, so how else are you going to get home? Three, your mother and sister will kill me if I leave you here like this. My parents probably would, too.”

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