Page 5 of Zane

Occasionally, he’d call her once he was in the car, but he told her that more often, he liked to use the drive to the apartment to think back over his shift so he could let it go when he got home to her.

While Kelsey waited for him, she got up and switched the laundry over to the dryer, then went to the kitchen. She got a couple of plates from the cupboard, along with a couple of glasses.

Since he was getting home later than usual, they’d probably have sandwiches for dinner again. Which wasn’t a problem. She’d eaten at the restaurant, so she wasn’t too hungry.

When a half hour had passed with no notification that he was at the building, Kelsey picked her phone up to check where he was. She frowned when she saw that his location was still twenty minutes away, but then she noticed that it hadn’t been updated since then, either.

It seemed like maybe his battery had died on him again. That had happened a couple of times, but he’d gotten better about checking and plugging his phone in if it was too low.

Trying to distract herself, she sat back down and picked up her tablet. However, minutes ticked by, and soon, Kelsey had to set aside her tablet, unable to focus on the material as herworries mounted. She tried calling Zane, but it went straight to his voicemail.

Getting up from her chair, she went to the balcony of their apartment. When she slid open the door, warm, humid air greeted her. She stepped out onto the empty balcony. They hadn’t bought any furniture for it yet. Neither of them were quite able to find it appealing to relax while sweating to death.

Though it was night, she could see cars approaching with their headlights. A couple of cars went by, but neither turned in.

She stood there for several minutes, watching for any more cars on the road, hoping just one would turn into the parking lot of the building. But none did. Just a smattering of vehicles driving past.

Worry and anxiety crept up her spine, and Kelsey couldn’t stay still. After pacing a bit on the balcony, she went inside, but then she turned right back around and returned to the balcony.

What was she supposed to do?

How was she supposed to know what was going on?

It was now almost an hour past when he should have been home, and her thoughts and worries were in overdrive.

Kelsey’s heart raced, and she struggled to take a breath. Her shallow breaths left her feeling a little lightheaded and like she was going to suffocate if she couldn’t take a deep inhale.

She tried to count in her head, but her focus was shot.

Finally, she had enough presence of mind to pull up the voice note on her phone that she’d made years ago to help her when she had a panic attack. It had been a long time since she’d last needed it, but as her own voice counted for her, Kelsey was grateful she still had it.

Inhale, two, three, four.

Hold, two, three, four.

Exhale, two, three, four.

Hold, two, three, four.

Kelsey sank down on the rough cement of the balcony floor and struggled to bring her breathing under control. It felt like it took forever. It had been so long since she’d last had a panic attack that she was out of practice in dealing with them.

And what was she panicking over, anyway? She didn’t even know if the situation warranted her reaction.

But that was the problem. It was the not knowing that was ramping up her anxiety.

Right then, everything was out of her control.

She didn’t know what was going on, and she had no idea how to find out, especially since her calls to Zane were still going directly to his voicemail.

Though her anxiety wasn’t gone, her breathing eventually settled. Unfortunately, that allowed her thoughts to once again start to stress as she thought back over what she knew.

Which, quite simply, wasn’t enough.

All she knew for sure was that Zane had left the restaurant in his car.

Then… nothing.

Kelsey leaned against the wrought-iron railing, peering down once again at the parking lot. She thumped her head on the rail, trying to figure out what to do.

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