Page 113 of Somewhere We Belong

A few more people showed up as the hours passed and as night was approaching, Iris walked into the station. Jude hugged her as he gave her the rundown. We still were no better than we were a few hours ago. The park rangers were retracing the group’s steps and it seemed they were having no luck. Since it was getting closer to night time, they didn’t know if they could continue with the storm that was rolling in.

Iris made her way to me, and when we hugged it made me cry all over again. She gave me comforting words that they would be found, but the uncertainty in her voice was too much to let me know it might be a possibility.

“Alright, we don’t know much more than we did earlier,” a park ranger said standing on a crate. “We've retraced their stepsand while we see their tracks, either they went another route, or they possibly got cut off by the avalanche.”

He didn’t say what we all were thinking. They might have been buried in the avalanche.

“Unfortunately, there is another storm rolling in and while I'd love to have my guys out there searching, it’s too dangerous and I can’t lose men who could continue the search as soon as it lets up,” he said as a few people started talking. “I know we need to keep looking for them, but I can’t put anyone in danger and then force them to be rescued or worse, die out there.”

I craved more information, but at this point, I needed everyone to stop talking. This was too much, the not knowing was too much, the thinking I lost the people I loved was too much, and the possibility of living without them was too much.

People started moving as I looked around, trying to figure out what was happening. Colt was talking to someone, and Iris was talking to Jude. The other moms were leaving the room as I just sat there, wrapped up in a blanket.

“Come on, let's go home,” Colt said, holding his hand out to me.

I shook my head.

“Nova, they are?—”

“No, I’m not leaving.” I shook my head again.

“They are going to call us and then we can spread the word,” Jude said.

“I don’t care, if we leave, that means it’s going to take longer for me to find something out and I want to be the first to know,” I said, glaring at all of them.

“Cielo.” Colt knelt in front of me.

“Don’t Cielo me, Colt,” I snapped.

“It’s going to be a waiting game, we might as well rest and come back in the morning,” he said in a condescending voice.

“Rest?! You think I’m going to rest?” I laughed. “You think I’m going to rest while my daughter and our boyfriends are out there?!”

I could feel the stares, but I didn’t care.

“I am not leaving.” My voice cracked, as I sat down trying to breathe through the panic attack threatening to surface again.

“Can we stay?” Colt asked, as Iris hugged me with one arm, rubbing my arm, our heads leaning against each other.

“We don’t have enough beds, and I don’t think they are going to let you guys stay,” Jude sighed. “But let me go ask.”

Colt’s phone rang and I looked up at him with wide eyes praying it was one of them.

He shook his head before he answered. “Hey, Luke.”

My lip trembled as the little bit of hope came crashing down.

“We are at the fire station with Jude, yeah, on the main street just at the end,” Colt said, running his hands through his hair glancing at me. “No, the storm coming in is stopping the search and rescue.”

Hearing it again made the tears come back. Iris hugged me tighter until I felt another set of arms around me. I was in this weird time bubble, and it felt like everything was going so slow.

The sound of heels brought me out of wherever I was hiding myself to see Camila and Genevieve walking towards me. They hugged me as they discussed what was going to happen and how they could help. Luke was arguing with someone and the pain in his voice shook me out of my stupor a little more.

“Luke,” Camila snapped at him. “Arguing with them isn’t going to help. We are going home, we are going to eat, and then we will wait together as a family.”

Luke looked ready to argue with his wife before he nodded and so did the rest of the men.

“Come on, cuñada,” Camila said, calling me her sister-in-law, holding her hand out for me and even though I just wanted to stay here, she was right, we all couldn’t stay here.

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