Page 127 of Heartland

For a moment I just stand there in the hallway, trying to catch my breath. Then I make my way downstairs again, avoiding the fifth step from the bottom.

I tiptoe into the kitchen, where Grandpa is standing in the moonlit window, drinking a glass of water. “I’m sorry if I disturbed you,” I whisper.

“Eh. You know what’s disturbing?” he asks. “Having to piss three times every night when you’re old. Enjoy being young, kid. Don’t waste it.”

That sounds like good advice. So I go back outside to find Dylan.

Thirty-Nine

Dylan

I sleep fitfullyin the bunkhouse. My body is exhausted, but my brain can’t stop turning over all the things that happened tonight.

And I still haven’t caught up with Chastity.

As I turn over for the hundredth time, I could swear I hear the bunkhouse door open. My eyes flip open in the dark, and I listen to the quiet footfalls of someone approaching.

“Dylan?” comes a soft voice through the door.

“Yeah?” I croak. “Chastity?” The door opens, and in she comes. At two in the morning! I say the first thing that comes into my head. “Holy shit, how’d you get here? And how’d you find me?”

“I walked,” she says. “That was easy. But finding you was not.”

“Wait.” I sit up fast. “Did you knock on my bedroom door? Because Rickie is kinda jumpy—”

“Knocking would have been smart.” Chastity—still in her coat—perches on the edge of the bed. “But you once told me how to pop the lock. So I scared the heck out of Rickie, terrified the both of us, and then we woke up the whole house. Now everybody knows I was trying to sneak into your room.”

“Oh shit,” I whisper. “Is it horrible that I’m not sorry? I need to see you.”

Her eyes get wet. “I need to see you, too.”

“Get in here.” I pat the spot on the bed beside me. “Take off that coat. And those boots. I need to hold you.”

Chastity wipes her eyes and sheds her coat. The moonlight shows me the curve of her cheek and the shine of her hair as she leans down to shed her boots. And I forget how to breathe for a second, because I just love her so hard.

Maybe I’m the dumbest man alive. I don’t know how it took me so long to realize how I really feel. And now I need to tell her. “I don’t mean to complain, because you walked all this way. But could you hurry? I’m dying here.” I open my arms wide.

She kicks her boots aside and launches herself at me. I catch her against my chest and squeeze. All the tight places inside my chest finally loosen up. “Chastity, please don’t go to Wyoming. You hate it there. And I need you too much.”

A giant sob shakes her body, and her arms wrap even more tightly around me.

Don’t cry, I almost say. But that’s ridiculous. Sometimes you just need a good cry. So I hold Chastity against my body, rubbing her back and stroking her hair.

“I’m sorry,” she sniffs. “I never cry.”

“I’m just glad you’re here. I really don’t want you to leave.”

“I can’tstandthe idea of leaving,” she says with a sniffle. “But Leah really deserves my help. And I don’t know how I could make it here on my own. I don’t know what to do.”

My heart lurches. “You’renoton your own. Jesus. I’ll help you figure it out. My family will help, too.”

She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “I’m sure you would. But then I’ll owe you just as much as I already owe Leah.”

“You won’toweme,” I insist. “Because I love you. And I don’t want you to go. I need you too much.” I’m going to keep saying that until I’m sure she’s heard me. “And I love you.”

Chastity picks up her tear-stained face, as if she can’t quite make sense of those words. “Dylan.”

“It’s true. I promise.” I wipe a tear off her cheekbone. “I’m in love with you, which is kind of inconvenient if you’re leaving Vermont. But if you give me a chance, I’ll make it worth your while to stay.”