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Tyler had positioned himself a few steps away from her. Now he stepped forward and took her in his arms, holding her so tight, he felt her rib bones. Afraid he’d hurt her, he loosened his embrace.

Katherine could no longer hold back her tears. She didn’t care if Tyler or the people guarding her property saw her. She’d lost seven years of her life, by her own hand. Working with Tyler, she hoped to understand why she had done that to herself. She was unsure of everything, but all that mattered to her now was the freedom she’d rediscovered. And she had two people to thank for it: Doc and Tyler. It didn’t matter if he denied it; she knew if she hadn’t met Doc that she would still be hiding behind her computer, living her life via the Internet and spending her evenings pretending to be a sixteen-year-old girl named Darby.

Karrie! She felt as though the wind had been knocked out of her. “Tyler, last night I was supposed to make a call to Karrie, the young girl from the Friendlink page. I had one of those disposable phones so I could call her without giving my identity away. Did you find the phone?”

“I saw your phone last night. Karrie called you. She seemed pretty upset. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I was so focused on you that I forgot.”

She pulled away from his embrace. “What did she say? Was she all right?”

“She wanted to speak to Darby. Apparently, she thought I was your father, Walter. I told her you didn’t feel well and had gone to bed early, said you’d call her back. She was upset. She was worried about K.C. Winston. She said it was urgent.”

“Shoot,” Katherine mumbled. “Something is going on with that kid, I feel it in my gut. I just can’t figure out what it is. She says she’s sixteen, but I’m not so sure that’s true. I’m thinking thirteen, fourteen. She just seems . . . I don’t know, like a scared rabbit.”

“I’ll get the phone and you can call her back,” Tyler said.

“You must think I’m out of my mind. I don’t know why I got involved with this kid, but I have, and I need to finish what I started. I need to call her now, Tyler. I want to find out what this girl needs, and possibly help her, but I don’t want to reveal my identity just yet.”

“Let’s go,” he said, then called out, “Sophie, Sam. Come.” The shepherds came running back, stopping when they saw Katherine. They were panting, saliva dripping from their muzzles.

“You two need water,” Katherine said. “Good dogs.” She rubbed their heads affectionately. “They like you, Tyler.”

He smiled. “The feeling’s mutual. You trained them well. Let’s go get that phone, and then we can plan our day after we figure out what’s going on with Karrie.”

The dogs ran back up the stairs to the deck, which was their routine. Nothing new to them, but new to Katherine. She was awestruck at the vast land around her. She could walk her property lines now and find those trout streams the realtor had told her about. She would jump in piles of leaves, because she was surrounded by hundreds of sugar maples, oak trees, dogwood, and hickory trees, all of which she recognized from the research she’d done during her first autumn in North Carolina, stuck inside. Now she could go outside, walk the trails, and discover what she’d neglected for seven years.

* * *

“How are you feeling?” Tyler asked, as they walked back to the house.

“I think I believe in miracles. I feel like myself, my old self. I don’t understand why I’m”—she thrust her hands out—“able to be here. I haven’t felt the slightest symptom of a panic attack. Normally when I think about it, I go into full panic mode. I don’t understand what’s happened.”

“You experienced a series of traumas last night—it’s possible they jolted something inside of you, similar to how the initial trauma caused you to go inward.”

As they made their way up the stairs to the deck, they saw the dogs waiting for Katherine to open the door. She was a bit hesitant to go back inside.

“How do you feel?” Tyler asked her again, as he opened the French doors.

The dogs raced ahead of Katherine and headed straight to the kitchen. Katherine trailed behind them. “Sit.” She took two beef sticks out of the jar, giving each a treat as usual. She didn’t want to stray from their routine.

“I want to make that call now,” she said to Tyler. “I need the phone.”

“Of course.” He opened the drawer where she kept her flatware and pulled out the burner phone, giving it to her along with the number he’d written down. He placed her iPhone on the counter.

Katherine was embarrassed that she had pretended to be a teenager, and she didn’t want to have to change the tone of her voice in front of Tyler. “Do you mind giving me a moment?”

“Not at all. I’ll go take that shower,” he said. “If the offer still stands?”

“Of course. My home is yours.” Katherine might’ve rushed her words, but she meant what she said. Tyler had given her so much more, he could have her house if he wanted.

“Thanks. I’ll shower while you can make your call.” He smiled at her and went upstairs.

Inside the downstairs powder room, Katherine closed the door, sat on the toilet seat, and dialed Karrie’s cell phone number. Karrie answered on the second ring. “Hey, Karrie, what’s going on? My foster dad said you called last night, that it was important.” Katherine hoped she sounded like she had the last time they spoke on the phone.

“Darby, you need to help me. I’m serious—my dad is insane. He’s losing it about K.C. Winston. I don’t know what to do. I’m afraid.”

Katherine didn’t know, either. Still uncertain if this was real or just a prank, she was inclined to go with the latter. “Where is your dad now?”

“At work, I think,” Karrie said. “I have to go; the bell is ringing. Call me after three. I’ll be out of school then. I’ll be in my room doing homework. If he comes home, he won’t be suspicious.”

“Karrie, like, this is crazy. Suspicious of what? That you have a friend? Like, what do you want me to do? I can call the cops, like, now if you want me to,” said Katherine in her fake Darby voice, purposely overusing the word like . “Is he hurting you?”

“No! You can’t do that. Look, I have to go. Call me later this afternoon.” Karrie hung up.

This was beyond strange. Katherine went back to the kitchen and waited for Tyler. Karrie must have an emotional problem Katherine couldn’t fathom. She couldn’t make sense of anything she said. Her father was mean, she got that. But how was he connected to her books? Why did Karrie think Darby could help her? Did she know more than she was telling Darby? Did Karrie know she was K.C. Winston? If so, what was the connection between Karrie’s father and the books?

“How did your call go?” Tyler asked. He smelled of her tangerine body wash and shampoo. His wet hair was slicked back. He hadn’t shaved, which Katherine thought was sexy. He wore the same clothes as before, but Katherine didn’t care. He was striking, a man who most likely turned heads when he walked into a room. She would bet on it.

“This girl, Karrie . . . I don’t know if she’s suffering from an emotional problem or if she’s a little drama queen.” Wasn’t Katherine in a similar situation herself? “I asked her if she wanted to me call the police, and she adamantly told me no, I couldn’t do that. Said her dad was at work. She asked me to call her after three this afternoon. I think she’s lying about being in school. She told me the class bell was ringing when I spoke with her, yet I never heard any bells, or any other voices in the background. I think it’s strange.”

Tyler ran his hand through his damp hair. “What is your gut telling you?”

Taking a deep breath and slowly releasing it, Katherine shook her head. “I can’t pinpoint an exact reason she’d be doing this. None of it makes sense. She’s a kid living in Dallas, and her mother passed away a couple of years ago, according to her. I did find an obituary online that seems to corroborate all that, if she’s the person she says she is. I just don’t understand the why s and what for s.”

“Do you want me to see if Ilene can do a background check on her? Did she ever say what her father’s name was?”

“No, but it’s in the obituary.” Katherine saw her cell phone sitting on the counter. Picking it up, she did a search, and within minutes, she had pulled up the obit. “Here, have a look.” Katherine handed Tyler the phone.

“Okay, so this could be the girl. We need to find out why she’s afraid, but let’s leave it for now so we can focus on your progress. You’ve made such a drastic turnaround, Katherine. I don’t want you to do anything that would jeopardize this unheard-of recovery. Do you still want to go for a ride? See Blowing Rock?”

“Would this count as part of my therapy?”

“Absolutely. You aren’t the first patient to ride in my car. Though you are the first patient to overcome your agoraphobia in such a short amount of time.”

“I wouldn’t call seven years a short amount of time, Tyler. Something in my psyche clicked, or so you tell me. Right now, I don’t feel an ounce of fear.”

“I’m not factoring that in. When you said yes to treatment, what, two hours ago, you actually went outside on your own. Let’s try and move forward from there. You need treatment, K, because something caused you to hide away for a good portion of some of the best years of your life. We need to find the cause of it. So even though this miraculous thing has happened, we don’t want you to have a setback.”

She nodded. “That makes me uneasy, I can’t lie. I never want to go back to the way I’ve been existing. I’ll do whatever it takes. If I need to be in a hospital for therapy, I’ll go. I have to start making up for lost time.”

“I’ll come to you for your therapy for now. No hospitals needed. A positive attitude makes a difference,” Tyler said, then asked, “You want to see Doc’s place?”

“Yes, I owe it to him. Let’s go. Sam and Sophie will be thrilled. I’d like to surprise him, if that’s okay with you.”

“It’s perfect. Let me call to make sure he’s at the clinic. He makes a lot of house calls,” Tyler said.

“Of course,” Katherine said. She hadn’t thought of that, but again, she hadn’t been out in public since the day she walked through the main entrance to her mansion on the mountain.

“He’s there,” Tyler said, getting off his cell phone. “I told him I just wanted to let him know you were doing okay. I don’t normally lie, but this is worth a little fibbing. Something I seem to be doing more than I should,” he said, grinning.

“I’m ready when you are,” Katherine said. “Anything I should do with the dogs? They’ve never been in a car with me, just Doc’s old truck.”

“Don’t let that fool you. Doc has a red Mercedes-Benz convertible and a Range Rover. I think he also has a couple of Harleys, maybe an old Indian Cycle, too. He drives the truck because he doesn’t want animals ruining his precious vehicles. Before you get the wrong idea, Doc is a car buff, the same as my father. They’re a lot alike—good, honest men. Makes me feel guilty for not caring about cars and trucks as much as they do.”

She went to her desk, still covered in fingerprint dust, and took her wallet out of the drawer. “I don’t know your father, but from the little I’ve heard, he seems like a nice guy. Doc’s best friend. That can’t be bad.” She wanted to meet the senior Dr. Newlon sometime soon, though she kept that thought to herself. “I’m ready to go, Tyler.”

“You’ll get to meet him soon. Follow me,” he said, taking her hand. “I mean, you’re coming with me.” He squeezed her hand. “Doctor’s orders.” He winked at her.

* * *

Walking around to the east side of her house, she saw how the driveway circled completely around her home, leading out to Red Oak Road. She breathed in the crisp, cool afternoon air, a briskness that promised a cool fall evening.

Tyler drove a black Ford Bronco. He opened the hatch for Sam and Sophie. They jumped in the back, as if they’d done it before a million times. “See? They like me,” Tyler said as he opened the passenger door for her. “How are you feeling?”

“Surreal,” she said as she slid into the passenger seat. “Nice wheels, though not quite as fancy as Doc’s, according to you.” Her parents had always purchased a Mercedes-Benz E-Class every other year. Looking back, she knew they were snobbish. But that discussion was for another time, when she and Tyler were better acquainted.

Tyler nestled into the driver’s seat, adjusted the seat belt across his chest, then cranked the engine. “I’m not a fancy car guy, remember? I’m just a Ford fan. K, your seat belt. It’s against the law to ride or drive without using them.”

“Sorry, it’s been a while,” she explained, her voice more serious than it had been all day.

“You sure you’re ready for this?”

“Positive, Tyler. Let’s go,” Katherine said. Words she thought she would never say again, and now she spoke to them without fear.

Tyler shifted into gear, and they headed down the winding driveway. Katherine was leaving her house and didn’t feel the least bit frightened. If she counted all the Christmases she’d spent alone and rolled them into one, it couldn’t compare to the excitement she felt now, as Tyler maneuvered the twists and turns leading to Blowing Rock. She pushed the electric window button, letting in the cool air. Her extra-long hair, still a bit damp from her shower, tangled around the passenger-side mirror, but she didn’t care. Just being out with Tyler was the ultimate gift. If she had a panic attack, so be it. She knew she would survive.

When they reached Red Oak Road, Tyler turned to her. “You sure you’re up for this?”

“More than you could imagine,” she said, untangling her twisted hair from the side mirror. With her hair now intact, she closed the window. “That’s a bit dangerous. Not ready to lose my hair yet,” she teased, then had a thought. “Tyler, I know this is completely crazy . . .” Why did she continue to use that word? “Is there a hair salon in town?” She sounded like she’d been in a coma, that everything in the outside world appeared new to her. For seven years, she’d been content with her hair. Now wasn’t the time to be vain.

He laughed. “Hey, we’re not just a bunch of country bumpkins out here,” he said, then reached across the seat and took her hand. “We have a couple of salons in town, K. I’m sure either would love to get their scissors on all that gorgeous hair.”

She squeezed his hand. “Good to know, for the future.”

“When the fall foliage is at its peak, people from all over the country come just to get a look at the red oak trees on either side of the road,” he said, turning onto Red Oak Road.

“Hence the name of the road,” Katherine said. “I’ve never seen it, since the house is too far away. I’ll make sure that I see the trees this year.”

“You’ll make up for lost time,” Tyler said. “I feel it in my bones.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

Katherine tried to take in as much as she could. To her left, she saw hundreds of red oak trees, the same to her right. Ahead was more of the same. “And I thought I had the best view around.”

“They’re all good, no matter which direction you’re looking in,” Tyler said. “One of North Carolina’s bonuses.”

Signs advertising B LOWING R OCK’S F ORD D EALERSHIP and P OOR M AN’S A UTO R EPAIR came into view as they drove toward town. Katherine wasn’t sure how many miles they’d gone, and she was about to ask, when Tyler’s cell phone rang, startling her.

He pulled onto the shoulder before answering. “Dr. Newlon.” He spoke in a very professional tone. “Yes, I see. Thank you.” He ended the call, then pulled back onto the highway.

“Everything okay?” Katherine asked. “Do you need to get to your office?”

“No, I’m fine. Rose is taking care of my patients.”

He’d waited a beat too long to answer, so she knew something was wrong. For the first time since she’d walked out of her house, Katherine felt the tiny fingers of panic tickle their way up her spine, raising the hair on the back of her neck.