“Nonsense. She’s been fine. If you’d like for them to bring her here, you’re more than welcome to have her.”
“I’d like that if you’re sure you don’t mind.”
Her eyes were filled with love as she replied, “Of course not, sweetheart. This house has always been filled with dogs except for the last few years. Honestly, I’ve missed having a four-legged friend. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve asked Lauren to bring you a few changes of clothes and some other items, like your toothbrush and such.”
Looking down, it was then I noticed I was completely dressed in Jase’s cloths. An old pair of sweets and one of his high school football shirts.
“You can wear them, Taylor. But I thought you might like some of your own as well.”
Whitley set a cup of hot tea down in front of me while she waited for her own to brew.
“I’ll never love anyone like I love him,” I said as I looked directly into her eyes. “And as much as my heart feels broken, I don’t feel like he is gone.”
A single tear slowly rolled down her cheek. “I feel the same way. He’ll always be with us.”
I wanted to clarify with her what I meant, but she looked so tired.
When she got her tea, she sat down across from me. I wasn’t sure what came over me, but I had to say what I felt.
“I don’t think he’s dead.”
Her eyes lit up.
“Wouldn’t we feel it if he was? I’ve felt so empty these last few days. But when I saw Mireya, something happened. It was as if a light switched on and I started thinking clearly. My mother told me I was tired and needed sleep, but that’s not it. I feel it in the depths of my soul that he isn’t gone.”
She covered her mouth as she closed her eyes. It took a few moments before she dropped her hand and opened her eyes. With a smile, she simply said, “You just said what I’ve been wanting to shout from the roof-tops.”
I reached my hand out for hers. “I’m not giving up hope until they find the plane and tell me he’s gone. Until then, I’ll be on my knees praying for him to come back to me.” Pressing my trembling lips together, I whispered, “He has to come back to me.”
Jase
Five days earlier
“Is everyone okay?” Tess yelled out.
“Yes . . . I’m . . . okay . . . I think,” I said as I tried to adjust my eyes. The plane looked like it was filled with smoke or dust.
“Mr. Montgomery? Are you okay?”
Nate moaned and then let out a string of cuss words. “I think my leg might be broken.”
Glancing over to Nate, we both shook our heads. “William landed the plane safely . . . somehow,” I said as I got out of my seat and made my way up front to check on him.
“William, are you okay?”
“Yeah, my ankle is stuck and I can’t get it out. If you can pull that back some, I think I can get it out.”
I pulled where he pointed and it moved just enough for him to pull his leg out.
“Is it broke?” I asked while helping him out of the seat.
He shook his head. “No . . . I don’t think so, but it’s not normal either.”
Looking out the front window all I saw was sand. “Where the hell are we?”
William followed my stare. “I’m guessing near or in the Red Desert in Wyoming. I need to work on trying to get the radio working at the very least. We lost power when the lightning hit us . . . twice. It fried everything.”
He looked at me and frowned. “Including the emergency beacon.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah, which means when they realize we’ve gone missing they’re going to be looking in the wrong area.”
Pulling my head back in confusion, I asked, “Why?”
“They’ll assume we crashed in the area will be where they lost radar. We need to somehow let them know we made it a lot farther from where they think we should be.”
Gripping his shoulder, I smiled. “How in the hell did you fly this plane with no power?”
“It wasn’t easy, I’ll tell ya that. The sand though at least made for a lighter impact. How are Tess and Nate?”
“Nate thinks he broke his lower leg, Tess seems to be okay, but we should all let our adrenaline settle and then assess how we feel.”
William agreed. “We also need to start looking at food and water. Who knows how many days this plane will be our home. I’m going to guess no one has a cell signal?”
“No.”
“Let’s turn off the phones and save the batteries.”
“Mine’s already off, but I’ll let Tess and Nate know to do the same.”
After things settled, we discovered Nate had indeed fractured his lower leg. We were able to put it in a splint and find something to act like crutches so he could get around.
While Tess was helping Nate, she gasped and held onto her wrist.
“Let me see it.”
“It’s fine,” she softly said. Her eyes said something different.
“Tess, your wrist is probably broken with the way it is swelling. You probably did it when you hit the ceiling of the plane.”