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Before

D uring my drive home, I call Noel about twenty times. I have left five increasingly panicked voicemails about the gas leak. “Call the fire department,” I said in each message. “Don’t touch the stove!”

The only problem is that he might never check his phone.

I can’t believe I thought he would cheat on me. He has been nothing but faithful the whole time we’ve been together—nearly ten years now. He loves me. And now there’s a chance he could be dead, and it would be entirely my fault.

No. I won’t let that happen. I’m going to get home in time and stop him from being harmed by my stupid, stupid mistake.

If he’s dead . . . or horribly burned . . .

I push my foot against the gas, going as fast as I dare. Getting pulled over by a police officer would slow me down, and I might not make it in time. I have to make it in time.

Except Lisbeth told me Noel had already left work, which means he must be home by now. Even if he took a five-minute shower, he would be done by now.

Please, Noel. Please don’t turn on the stove ...

When I am about five minutes away from the house, a fire truck swerves past me, its lights flashing. Wherever it’s going, it’s in a great hurry to get there. And it’s heading in the direction of my house.

I push my foot more firmly against the gas pedal.

Just as I feel like I’m about to lose my mind, a call pops up on the display on my dashboard. I can hardly believe it when I see Noel’s name. Is it really him calling me? Or did somebody just find his phone in the debris of the explosion? I press the green button to take the call.

“Talia?”

It’s Noel’s voice. I can’t stop myself from bursting into tears. They stream down my face, blurring my vision. “Noel!” I cry. “Are you okay? I was so worried!”

“I’m fine,” he says, sounding absolutely and completely fine. “I turned off my phone when I was at work, and I just got all your messages.”

“Don’t turn on the stove!”

“I won’t!” He laughs. “Actually, I stopped off to get fast food on the way back. I didn’t feel like spaghetti and meatballs, so there was no reason to turn on the stove. But I called the fire department, and they’re going to check things out.”

So that’s why the fire truck was headed to my house. Thank God .

“Anyway,” Noel says, “enjoy your girls’ night out with Kinsey. I’m handling everything, okay?”

“Okay . . .”

“And when you get home,” he adds, “I’ve got something for you that I’ll give you as soon as we can get back into the house. I spent a little too much on a necklace for you, but I never buy you jewelry, and I want to show you how much you mean to me. I hope you’re not mad that I spent so much.”

The necklace was for me. Of course it was.

I start to tell him that I am absolutely not mad, and that I can’t wait to see him, and also that I love him. And the first thing I’ll do when I get there is I’m going to wrap my arms around him and give him a kiss that I feel like I’ve been wanting to give him for so long now.

But my eyes are so blurry from crying that I don’t notice the stop sign partially concealed by an overgrown tree, and before I can get out the words to tell him I’ll be home soon, a Mack truck going much too fast slams into my car. For a split second, I hear crunching metal and shattering glass, and then everything goes black.