Page 76 of Chasing Sunrise

Chapter Seventeen

Dreary gray cloudsloomed low in the late afternoon sky. Amanda closed her trunk and slid into the driver’s seat. Summer officially started two hours ago. She’d stayed and completed the paperwork for summer school, which began next week. As she drove home, she wondered what Kasey was up to.

How she missed him. His sweet ways, his humor, his tending to things she didn’t ask or expect him to do. Her heart and head were at war—her heart ready to accept whatever time he could give her, her head not willing to settle for another part-time partner. She massaged her left temple, trying to stop the battle. There was no reason she needed to put more pressure on their relationship.

She drove onto her driveway, into her tiny garage, and killed the engine. When she lifted the box from her trunk, a blue Camry drove up her drive. A tall redheaded man with freckled skin slid out and approached her. “Amanda?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve been trying to get in touch with you. You were hard to track down.”

“Track down?” She studied the guy, trying to place him and having no luck.

“Yes. Probably because you don’t use Rymes anymore.”

She hadn’t used her maiden name since she married Barry. She glared at him. What would he want with Amanda Rymes?

“I’m Ian Holden.”

The lead weight of guilt and sadness she’d experienced after her parents’ crash, jammed her gut and throat at the same time. No wonder she couldn’t place him. He’d been banged up and, in a coma, the last time she saw him. She could hardly breathe. She set the box in her arms on the trunk of her car.Wait.

“You’re standing.”

He smiled. “I am. I beat the odds. My family said you were at the hospital every day until I came out of the coma.”

He’s not bound to a wheelchair.

All this time she’d wondered what happened to him. If he was still alive. If he had any quality of life. His injuries were so extensive, he’d had three surgeries while in the coma. Although the doctors were optimistic he’d live, they weren’t sure what his quality of life would be and said he’d probably never walk again. She thought of him every day since the wreck, but couldn’t bring herself to check on his health. She felt too responsible. Too scared of what his life might entail. Now, here he was. Standing. Looking healthy.

A hot rush of relief swept over her.

“I tried to get in touch with you, but you disappeared, and your lawyer refused to give me your contact information.”

A barrage of happy tears overwhelmed her. She covered her face with her hands and wept so hard she lost her breath.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Too emotional, she couldn’t tell him she was more than okay. Seeing him standing repaired a part of her shattered heart. She heard a vehicle drive up, then a door slam. She lifted her head and blinked rapidly to clear her vision.

Kasey.Excitement at seeing him gave way to fear when she noticed he had a black eye and a white bandage covering his right cheek. “What happened?”

“I’m fine.” When he made it to her, he leaned down and softly kissed her lips. Concern filled his words. “Why are you crying? What’s wrong.”

“Nothing. Everything is perfect.” She buried her head in his chest and cried harder.

He held her close, one hand rubbing her back and the other her nape while he spoke to Ian. “If things are perfect, what do you think she’s like when she’s down?”

Head still buried, she laughed. Her heart pounded with years of release.

“You’re Hunter Kase. I can’t believe it,” Ian said.

“Call me Kasey.”

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