Page 83 of Healing the Heart

“Like the devil,” he replied. “The storm came from our end, and it's a bitch.”

“It’s getting here, too,” I replied. “But I need you to go and check on Rayna. My gut is telling me something is not all right.”

“I’d be happy to—” Instead of relieved, my stomach sunk to my feet, “—but the rain is coming, and you know the corner of the barn that keeps getting engulfed in water. No matter how many times we fix that place, that corner is always wet.”

I grimaced. I knew it well; sometimes, the water would creep up the wall and drench the last two stalls inside. That meant wet horses.

“When it rains, it pours,” I ground my teeth. “But when you get a chance, please check on Rayna.”

“I’ll do my best,” he promised.

I wasn’t comforted. All I could do was sit out the day and watch the storm grow fiercer as the minutes passed. Even when I had my dinner, it tasted off because my spirit was unsettled. I could not stop worrying about Rayna, and the only thing I could do was go back to bed as the long storm rolled over us.

It didn’t get better the next day. The city was flooded, the roads damaged, and the flights still grounded. I didn’t sleep that night, my gut churning with worry, and even worse, Ben had not called me about finding Rayna, spotty cell service or not.

When I got to the airport, the third day to get the earliest flight out, Ben finally called me and his words made me grab the wall.

“She’s gone, boss,” he said. “Her house is empty, and her boss at the school said she took a leave of absence.”

“To go where?” I demanded.

“She wouldn’t say directly,” Ben replied. “She said Rayna mentioned something about home.”

Home. What had Rayna mentioned about home—Fredericksburg? If she had left to go home, the storm would have stopped her, and I wondered if I could catch her. I brought up the lists of airports that she could possibly be in.

“Waco.” The very place we had met. I needed to change plans immediately. Calling my pilot, I said, “Bennie, we have a change of plans. How quick can you get the manifesto changed to Waco?”

* * *

It was mid-afternoon when we landed at Waco Airport, and I had no goddamn idea what I was doing; all I knew was that there was no way in hell I was going to let Rayna slip through my fingers.

The airport was as empty as I expected, but I had no idea where the gate to Fredericksburg would be. I stopped to ask an attendant, and he pointed me in the direction—that was directly where the coffee shop was.

Could it be….

I stepped inside, and my heart flew to the next side of my chest. Rayna was there, in the same seat I’d met her, swirling a coffee with little energy. Her shoulders were slumped. She looked defeated, drawn out, balancing on the edge.

Stepping closer, I asked. “Excuse me, ma’am. What’s good here?”

Her head snapped up, and her mouth dropped. Her eyes were dulled and red with past shed tears. “J-John?”

I slid into the other seat. “I’m sorry.”

She blinked. “For what?”

“For not telling you I’m in love with you, too,” I said plainly. “But why did you run?”

“West—”

“That motherfucker is behind this?” I snapped. “I need to get rid of him.”

Rayna reached out and rested a hand on mine. “Let me tell you what happened. The night of the fair, he broke into my home and showed me a video he had made of us from that night under the bleachers, but he’s manipulated it with actors who look like us, having—havingsexunder the bleachers. He told me that if I stopped any contact with you, he would not release it, which would have shattered your reputation and mine irreparably. He would have released it that night, but I stopped him.”

“You agreed with his demands?” I said grimly.

“Damn well sold my soul to the devil,” she replied. “So, I had to run. I tried to call you to tell you how he had admitted to me that he had hired someone to sabotage your ranch, but you didn’t pick up.”

“That was my fault,” I replied. “I’d gotten so distracted I forgot to call you back. A deer had jumped into the road, causing me to swerve.”

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