Page 29

Chapter Six

The haunting images from his dreams were becoming too real.

Asher sat up in bed, the darkness surrounding him, as he pulled himself from the dregs of sleep and tried to make out shapes in his room.

His chest heaved as sweat slicked his skin.

Instead of the past bus crash that changed his life, his present life intervened.

Dani was in the middle of the lake. No matter how fast he swam, he couldn’t reach her. She’d gone under, screaming his name.

He untangled his legs from the twisted sheet and tossed it aside. Moving to the edge of the bed, he buried his clammy face in his shaking hands.

Must’ve been the argument with the guy about the stage and his conversation with Dani outside of Martha’s that triggered it.

Asher hadn’t had a nightmare in a while, and now he’d had two in the same month.

Check that, the same week.

He needed to get out of his room. Do something to clear his head. Maybe a walk would help. No one was around to judge him. He did plenty of that on his own.

He threw on a pair of running shorts and yanked a T-shirt over his head. He slid his feet into his flip-flops, grabbed his phone and keys, and headed out to the hall and down the stairs.

As he stepped outside, he sucked in a breath of chilly night air and filled his lungs. Goosebumps prickled his skin as he jammed his hands in the pockets of his shorts. Gravel crunched beneath his feet as he headed down the driveway, then turned onto Sugar Maple Lane, which ran past Hetty’s house.

Wings flapped and owls hooted from their perches in the branches hanging over his head.

As he passed Hetty’s darkened cottage, someone coughed softly.

He paused.

Was that from inside the house with the window open, or was someone awake and sitting outside?

He crept closer, trying not to come across as a stalker. He just didn’t want to startle whoever could be on the porch.

He took another step.

“Hello?” Someone called from the porch.

Sounded more like Sadie than Hetty. Besides, he couldn’t imagine the older woman still being awake at this hour. He trudged through the yard, the wet grass soaking his feet.

He rounded the corner of the house and stopped.

Sadie sat on one of the wicker chairs with her knees close to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs.

“Sadie?” Even though he knew it was her, speaking her name hopefully let her know he wasn’t some stranger.

She pushed to her feet and moved to the railing. “Asher?”

He came into the glow of the porch light and lifted a hand. “Hey.”

“What are you doing here? Especially this late at night?”

He waved a hand toward the road. “Just out for a walk, trying to clear my thoughts.”

“You too, huh?”

He edged closer to the porch, then jerked his head toward the path separating the two properties. “Wanna go for a walk?”