Page 25 of Promise of a New Beginning
Savannah threw her shoulders back, as she had the first day he’d met her, when she’d stood up for Pratt right after they’d landed. “I want this, too. But I can’t be that woman anymore. I can’t fix you, and I can’t be your battering block while you figure it out.” She turned and began walking back toward the camp.
“Savannah,” he called after her. Five long, fast strides later, he was beside her and walking fast to keep up with her determined pace. “Savannah, tomorrow’s our last day here. Please don’t leave things like this. I’m sorry. I tried to warn you and I tried to stay away from you, but I couldn’t, and I don’t know why. Savannah, I’m so sorry for that. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
She turned to face him with tears streaming down her cheeks. “Too late.”
Chapter Fourteen
MONDAY MORNING, SAVANNAH lay in her tent with puffy eyes, nursing her broken heart. She’d cried for most of the night and had beaten herself up over how much she already cared for Jack. What she felt couldn’t be real—it had to be an emotional reaction from the combination of being hurt by Connor and then allowing herself to fall for Jack. No one felt that strongly about another person after just a few days. Maybe she needed to talk to Danica, her cousin Blake’s wife. Danica had been a therapist prior to falling in love with Blake, who had been a new client at the time. Maybe she could help Savannah weed through whatever was making her fall for the wrong guys.
Savannah couldn’t even look at Jack as they disassembled their tents and inspected the campsite to ensure that they’d left nothing behind. She was too pissed at herself. She had seen the warning signs, had even contemplated them, and she still let herself get caught up with him.
“Is everyone about ready?” Jack called across the site.
Hearing Jack’s voice sound deflated, as if he were having a hard time making it through the morning too, tugged at her heart.
He continued. “As soon as Pratt and Lou are back, we’ll roll out of here.” Lou and Pratt had gone down by the stream to rinse out the pots from breakfast.
Jack picked up the sticks from their makeshift shelter—the one Savannah had fantasized about sharing with him—and carried them into the woods. She forced herself not to look at him. She didn’t want to see his midnight-blue eyes or the stubble on his cheeks that felt so good beneath her palms. Instead, she grabbed her bags and took one last look around the campsite that she knew she’d never forget. She’d opened her heart to Jack in ways she never had before, and she got hurt. As angry as that made her, it made her stronger, which was what she’d come to the mountains for in the first place.At least it wasn’t a failure.
“Aiden?” Elizabeth called into the woods. “Aiden?”
Savannah scanned the empty site. Her heart leaped into her throat.Aiden!She saw panic in Elizabeth’s eyes and went to her. “When did you last see him?”
Josie took off running toward the stream and called over her shoulder, “I’ll go see if he’s with Pratt and Lou.”
“I don’t know.” Elizabeth’s voice trembled. “Twenty minutes? I was busy packing.”
Savannah ran to Jack, hating that the angry mask he’d worn when they’d arrived had settled back on his beautiful face. “Aiden’s missing.”
Jack’s eyes did a fast sweep of the site, then the perimeter. “Elizabeth, how long ago did you see him?”
Elizabeth was circling the site, calling Aiden’s name.
“She said about twenty minutes ago,” Savannah answered. “I’m going to look for him.”
“No. You stay here. I’ll go,” he said. “He’s probably down by the stream with his father.”
“If he’s not, then I’m going. I’m not going to sit here while that little boy is out there alone.” She lowered her voice. “Remember the bobcat?”
Jack gripped her shoulders. “You’re not going in the woods alone. I’m not losing you, too.”
Lou and Pratt sprinted past Josie into the camp. Josie’s voice came over the crest of the hill, out of breath and unable to hide the fear in her eyes. “He’s not at the stream!”
Elizabeth’s face was beet-red as she screamed Aiden’s name.
“Where’s Aiden?” Lou yelled. He grabbed Elizabeth.
“I don’t…know. He was right here, and then…” Elizabeth cried.
“Where’s his survivor bag?” Jack’s eyes searched the site. “Elizabeth. Do you have his bag?”
She shook her head.
“I’m going to find him,” Lou said, moving toward the hill.
“Hold up.” Jack looked at Pratt. “Pratt, go with him. Leave a trail on the trees like I showed you so you can find your way back. Do not separate. You two go east. I’ll go west.”
“Josie, you stay with Elizabeth and do not let her leave this site. You hear me? If anyone finds him, you yell as loud as you can and bring him back here to the camp. If he shows up, you don’t let him leave. No matter what. We meet back here in”—he checked the time on his watch—“thirty minutes. Everyone. Right here. Elizabeth, we’ll find him. He can’t have gone far, and since he took his bag, he’s probably nearby playing survivor man.”
