Page 204 of Time Stops With You

“Sorry to interrupt,” I tell her, chewing on my bottom lip.

“Oh, it’s fine. It’s Family Night and Micheal chose today’s activity. He has us playing video games and he and Darrel are not above sneak attacks.” She laughs and a part of me aches with sadness.

I will never have a family night like that.

Pulling the car over to the side, I grip the steering wheel and breathe out. “Sunny.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m about to make either the dumbest decision of my life or the best decision of my life. Or, actually, it might be a little of both.”

“Could you give me some more information?” Sunny asks. “I can help more if I have a clearer picture.”

I speak slowly. “If I told you the world was ending tomorrow and you’d never have another family night like this one, would you run away?”

“Sure. I’d run with Darrel and my kids to a bunker.”

I remain quiet, trying to breathe when it feels like my chest is about to explode.

Sunny answers quietly and I can tell she’s being serious this time.

“If I knew that it would all be wiped away tomorrow, I’d stay right here and love them harder.” She pauses. “Where are you right now?”

I pull my car back onto the road. “On the way to Cullen.”

There’s a long pause and then she mutters, “The best or the dumbest, huh?”

“It’s more like a little of both.” I smile shakily, trying to be brave. “I can use an address.”

Sunny’s directions take me to a large house sitting alone and desolate in the night. Despite how big it is, the windows are dark and there’s a bit of an abandoned look even though the lawn and appearance of everything is clean and well put together.

I ponder why that is as I make my way to the porch. And then it hits me. There’s something sad about a structure that was clearly meant for a large family to host only one lonely man.

Bounding up the stairs, I slam my fist against the door. “Cullen!” More pounding erupts through the night. “Cullen!”

A moment later, the door bursts open and Cullen stands in the shadows of his mansion. My eyes flicker over his pale face. He seems thinner than before, if that’s even possible. And he’s wearing a beanie, even at home.

“Nardi,” his silver eyes widen, “what are you doing here?”

I push past him and storm into his house. It’s impossible to see anything. I turn on my flashlight and swing it around until I locate a light switch.

Immediately, the darkness gives way to a flood of light.

“Nardi?”

I storm ahead. “Where is it?”

“Where’s what?”

“The packet I sent you.”

His eyebrows fly up and he points off to the side. “My office.”

I move that way and step into a room off the living area. There are rows of huge monitors bracketed on the walls. Three desktop computers light up neon.

There.

I locate the packets and yank out the document I need just as Cullen’s shadow appears behind me.

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