Page 36 of Someday

“What happened?”

She says something, but it’s low and the tears are not stopping. Her eyes are wild and panicked, and alarm shoots through me when she doesn’t stop shaking.

“Sofie. I can’t hear you. What’s wrong?”

Her eyes squeeze shut and huge sobs shake her shoulders. I’ve never seen her like this. When I try to move us out of the crowd, she holds on to me for dear life, but is too weak to move at the pace we need to.

I think I hear her saying, “I thought I could do it. I thought I could.”

“You thought you could do what?” I ask.

She shudders and shakes her head, her eyes glazed over.

“Sofie, you’re scaring me. What can I do? Tell me what to do, Firefly.”

She blinks and looks at me when I say the nickname I always called her, and then her face breaks again. I bend down and pick her up, carrying her out of the crowd and toward my truck on the next street over. I buckle her in and feel her arms to make sure she’s not cold. She’s warm but not feverish. I drive her to her place, telling her I can have Wyatt or Callum help me get her SUV back to her later, but I can’t tell if she hears me. She’s staring out the window now, still crying.

When I pull down her long driveway, I stop in front of her house and walk around, opening her door and unbuckling her.

“Sofie?” I hold out my hand and she just sits there, shaking. “Let’s get you inside,” I say. “Maybe we can find a sweater for you.”

I pick her up and she nestles into the crook of my neck, and for the briefest second, everything feels right in my world.

It’s over in the next second.

When I open the front door and walk into her house, she lifts her head and starts shaking her head.

“No. NO, I can’t be in here. No.” She tries to get out of my arms, and I place her carefully on the ground as she staggers away from me. She slides on the hardwood floor and nearly goes down.

“Here, let me help you,” I say as I hold on to her waist to keep her from falling.

She’s crying so hard again and turns to face me, burying her head in my chest.

“Please. Tell me how to help,” I whisper.

“Get me out of here,” she says. “Please, get me out of here.”

She looks up at me, and I bend and grab her thighs, lifting her up so she can wrap her legs around me, her breath stuttering as she tries to stop crying. It shouldn’t feel so good to have her body pressed against mine. And I shouldn’t want to do everything in my power to make her feel better.

“I-I can go in the stables,” she says.

“Is that where you want to be?”

She pauses for a moment and then nods. I don’t fully believe her, but I shove down the impulse to take her to my house and just do what she asks.

I set her in the truck and drive around the back and down the path to the stables. It’s strange to be here and not see all the activity that was always going on before. Her dad was considered one of the best horse breeders in the country and always had tons of employees. The past few times I’ve been here since Sofie came back, I haven’t seen another person on the land.

I park near the office and move to get out. Sofie still seems lost in her own world, so I open her door and she looks up, almost as if she’s surprised to see me standing there.

“Where are you right now, Sof?” I ask. “Do you want to talk about what happened?”

Her hand moves to her neck and then she steps out of the car and walks toward the door. I follow, knowing I should get out of here before my emotions get the best of me, but I’m too concerned about her to leave her alone just yet.

For reasons I’ll never understand, this girl has had a grip on my heart from day one. Even now, when I should hate her.

We walk into the office, and I see the cot next to the desk again, but now I also notice the clothes she has folded on the shelves that used to hold her father’s trophies. The furniture is the only thing I recognize from the past, everything else looks like Sofie’s. There’s a towel draped on the bathroom doorknob, and then I see the little stack of books on the floor next to the cot. She used to always read before bed.

“You’re staying out here?” I ask.

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