Page 18 of Beyond the Blue Horizon

Barely keeping it together.

The undertow so close to sucking me under.

With everything, we hadn’t had dinner yet.

Frantic, I glanced around the lobby, praying there was a vending machine or something. I hadn’t noticed a restaurant on the premises.

“Already have something on the way,” Theo tossed out as he stalked back for the door.

Are you freaking kidding me?

He shifted back to look at me. “No, Piper, I’m not kidding you. What, did you think you were going to forage in the forest?”

“I…” Crap. I didn’t even know I’d uttered that aloud. And he was right. My son was hungry, and by whatever means necessary, he needed to be fed.

“I, for one, could go for a hot meal,” Nelly said, putting on a show as she waddled around me like she was having difficulty walking, patting Theo’s shoulder as she headed for the door.

“Ah, at least one of you isn’t so stubborn.” He eyed me up and down as he said it, as if he had the right to label me as anything, before he tossed my grandmother a winning smile. “There is plenty of it coming. Wasn’t sure what you all like to eat, so I got a few options.”

“Such a nice boy.” Wow, was she laying it on thick. She ducked out through the right side of the double doors and into the snow.

I wavered, mind careening through every way that I might be able to get my family out of this town tonight. Because there was something about it that made me sure that I’d wandered into dangerous territory. Fallen onto a path that was going to lead to…I didn’t know.

Trouble?

Destruction?

Or was I just being paranoid?

“Comin’?” Theo grunted, his eyes slanting over me in a slow slide that sent a tremor ripping through my body.

A spark of severity that sliced through my middle.

That was the trouble right there.

The effect this stranger had on me.

But there seemed to be nothing I could do but follow him out the lobby doors, considering Nelly was already waiting out in the storm.

“Have a great night,” Madge called behind me.

Oh, there was nothing great about what I’d gotten us into, but still, I returned, “Thank you for your help, Madge. I hope you have a great night, too.”

Theo wound ahead of us, and he turned left down the walkway that led along the wing of rooms on that side.

The storm had waned, and now soft flurries fluttered down from the heavy night sky.

From what I could tell, the motel was both comfortable and upscale. Sort of a cross between retro chic and mountain resort.

The neon sign I’d been able to see when we’d been driving in from the distance proclaimingThe Sanctuarydefinitely lent to the vintage vibe.

It was a one-story building that looked like it was likely built in the fifties, and it had two long wings that extended from each side.

I’d noticed there were a few larger cabins interspersed around the grounds, and the landscape promised to be lush and beautiful and fully surrounded by the dense woods.

Even though the wind was no longer battering, the air was still a bitter cold, and I curled myself around my son to try to protect him from the chill as we hurried to catch up to Nelly who was now five feet behind Theo.

“Isco-wed, Mommy.” Finn shivered as he tucked himself closer.