Page 25

Our plans to go to the fair this weekend came to a screeching halt when Colt called this afternoon.

One of the cows was struggling to deliver her calf.

Colt needed to stay until she was out of the woods, which meant he’d be tied up for at least a few hours and wouldn’t be able to take me to the fair downtown after all.

I was bummed that I wouldn’t see Colt tonight, but there was no way I’d let my cute outfit and perfectly applied makeup go to waste. So, I called Cassie to see if she was up for a night of carnival rides and fried food.

As expected, she was more than eager to join me. Something about how she was hoping to find herself a cute cowboy under the twinkling stars.

As I walked through the entrance of the fairgrounds, the scent of funnel cakes and popcorn hung in the air, and the distant screams from the Tilt-A-Whirl made me smile.

I spotted Cassie near the ticket booth, chatting with a group of guys in ball caps with farmer’s tans. She was wearing denim shorts, tennis shoes, and a white T-shirt with the words BBQ Stain on it.

As soon as she noticed me, she beelined towards me, leaving the guys she’d been talking to in the dust. “Thank God you’re here,” she huffed, “those guys were so boring. I thought I was going to fall asleep standing up.”

I rolled my eyes, laughing.

“What should we do first?” I asked, looking around.

We quickly agreed our first stop would be the Ferris wheel. The old nuts and bolts creaked as we stepped into the swinging gondola, settling into our seats while the attendant latched the door shut.

As we rose higher and higher, the lights below blurred into a kaleidoscope of color. The cool June breeze slid between the strands of my hair, and the sound of laughter played like a vinyl record in the distance.

“I wonder how many people have had sex on one of these things,” Cassie said, interrupting the quiet moment while doing silent math on her fingers as if calculating an actual amount.

“Probably way more than you can count on your fingers,” I said, nudging her shoulder and laughing.

“Too bad Colt didn’t bring you tonight. You could be making out with him instead of sitting next to little ole me,” she teased.

“Might I remind you, we were only coming as friends,” I said, doing my best to sound casual.

Cassie turned towards me. “Quick question. Do I have stupid written across my forehead? ”

“No,” I said, chuckling, “but it does say best friend who’s sworn to secrecy .”

“I knew it!” Cassie said excitedly, clapping her hands. “How? When? Where?” she asked with a playful wink.

“Next girls’ night, I promise to give you all the juicy details, but not right now. This town’s so small, I swear Maggie could hear me even from all the way up here.”

Cassie laughed. “That woman can hear gossip from a mile away. When I grow up, I want to be just like Maggie Holt.”

We made it to the top, the ride stopping for a few moments as someone at the bottom got off and a new couple got on.

As I looked around, taking everything in, I spotted a familiar red and blue Texas Rebels baseball cap next to one of the food trucks.

The man beneath the hat stood stiffly, scanning the area with his head down and shoulders hunched.

I watched as he took slow, deliberate steps towards the Ferris wheel line.

My breath caught.

The walk.

The frame.

The posture.

It looked just like Jason.

“Ellie?” Cassie nudged me. “You okay?”

I blinked, snapping out of it. But when I looked again, the man was gone. Like a ghost, he’d vanished into the sea of faces below.

I forced a smile. “Yeah… yeah, I’m fine. Just spaced out for a second. ”

Cassie raised a brow but let it go, launching into a debate about which snack we should get after we got off the Ferris wheel, a salty pretzel or a sugary funnel cake. As we descended, we decided on a funnel cake first.

After getting off the ride, I scanned my surroundings for the baseball cap I’d seen moments ago. If I could find the man, I could confirm that it wasn’t Jason and calm my nerves.

No matter how hard I searched though, I couldn’t find the man anywhere.

Cassie tugged on my arm, asking if I wanted strawberries on my funnel cake.

“Uh, yeah, strawberries are fine,” I answered, trying to look around without her noticing. I scanned the crowd, again and again, but I didn’t find anyone close to the same build and appearance of the man I was searching for.

After a few minutes, Cassie handed me my funnel cake, directing me towards an empty picnic table she’d spotted just a few feet from the food truck where we’d purchased our funnel cakes from.

On our way to the table, a blue and red ball cap caught my attention.

My stomach dropped as I stared at the face of the man beneath it.

This time, I was sure.

Jason.

He stood near the lemonade stand, scanning the crowd with that cold, calculating stare I knew too well. His eyes hadn’t landed on me yet, but it was just a matter of time. Panic gripped me like a hand around my throat, and I did the first thing that came to mind—I ran.

“Ellie! Wait—” Cassie yelled as my strawberry dessert hit the gravel. Her voice trailed off behind me, swallowed by the music and noise.

I pushed through the crowd, heart hammering against my ribs. I had to get out of here before Jason saw me.

Why was he here?

How did he find me?

Was he chasing after me?

This was no coincidence. He wasn’t in Silver Creek by chance. Jason didn’t have any family nearby, let alone in Montana.

All these thoughts rushed through my head, like a speeding freight train, as I kept running with no planned destination. I needed to get as far away from Jason as possible. If he spotted me, there was no telling how he’d react to me leaving him.

Maybe he’d try begging me to come back. Or maybe he’d try forcing me to come back. I wasn’t sticking around to find out.

My heart pounded in my chest as I ran past the carnival rides and into the darkness beyond. As I turned to see if anyone was following me, I collided with something hard, almost knocking me off my feet.

I quickly realized it wasn’t something I’d run into—it was someone . The unknown wall of muscle grabbed my wrists.

“Let go of me!” I screamed, hoping someone would hear me over the music and the large crowd .

I tripped over my own feet as I tried to turn and run in the opposite direction, but the strong arms steadied me, not letting go.

In a final attempt, I tried to jerk my arm away, but it didn’t work.

Terrified Jason had found me and would force me to return to Dallas with him, I lifted my head to meet his eyes.

“Ellie, what’s going on? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Relief rushed through my body as I realized the person holding on to me wasn’t Jason—it was Colt.

“He’s here! He’s here!” I shouted, barely able to breathe.

“Who’s here, Ellie?” Colt asked confused, searching for someone in the crowds off in the distance.

“Jason,” I said, gasping to catch my breath with my hand on my chest as my heart rushed beneath it.