Learning to Breathe Again (2 page)

“
Hmm,” Tory tapped a long
fingernail against her lip. “Only stores I know are in Austin. You
said you’re headed to Waketon?” she waited for Bayleigh to nod her
head. “Yeah, you don’t want to have to go all the way back there.”
She turned and motioned the older waitress over.

“
Betty, this gal needs an
electronics store. Do you know of one near here?”

Betty came over and stood near them, hands on
her hips. “Honey, if Wal-Mart ain’t got it, I don’t need it!” she
cackled. “Wal-Mart is just on down the road a couple of miles,” she
informed her, pointing in the general direction Bayleigh was going
to be headed in to get to Waketon.

Bayleigh thanked them and finished up her
meal as fast as she could without choking herself. She didn’t have
the time to go back to Austin, nor did she want to make that drive
again today. She’d just find this Wal-Mart and keep going. Wal-Mart
was sure to have the charger she needed.

She found the Wal-Mart Betty
liked so much, but because she had an older smartphone, and not the
most recent upgrade, they didn’t have the charger she needed in
stock. The poor guy at Wal-Mart took pity on her and let her use
the computer at the customer service desk to print off a map from
the Internet. What a mistake
that
was turning out to be.

Now, here she was, two hours later, sitting
on the side of the road, frustrated and cursing enough to make a
sailor blush.

She tossed the offending piece of paper on
the seat beside her and released a heavy sigh, leaning her head
back and trying to think past the jet lag and exhaustion. It was a
little past four in the afternoon, but she was in the Hill Country
of Texas, lost, still no way to get in touch with her brother, and
ready to call it quits. At least for today. If she knew where the
closest decent hotel was, she’d park herself there for the night
and try this again tomorrow.

Biting her lip in an effort
to control her emotions, Bayleigh sat back up and gave herself a
mental slap across the face.
“Be tough, be
resourceful. You’re not stupid. You can figure this out! Think
outside of the box!”

A car sped by her, startling her. She double
checked the door locks, hitting the button over and over as her
heart raced. Her hands shook and she gripped the steering wheel
until her knuckles were white.

Damn it, I am not going to fall apart
now!

Until that fateful night, she’d never
suffered panic attacks, and now there wasn’t a single day that went
by that something didn’t trigger one. The landscape outside her
windows did nothing to soothe the frantic urge to run. In a few
weeks, the fields around her would be overflowing with the Texas
bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush. Right now, though, with the gray
clouds covering up the afternoon sun, it struck her as bleak. Her
frantic gaze moved over the horizon, seeking something to use to
center herself. Her eyes settled on the red barn in the
distance.

There, focus on the red
barn. Breathe in, hold…breathe out…focus. Find that safe place. Go
to that damn safe place!
The thready wheeze
coming from her chest increased her anxiety level by at least
tenfold.

Red barn isn’t working…what
else, damn it, what else is there?
She
continued to scan the horizon.

A hawk, wings spread, glided through the air.
Floating. It caught a draft and circled around, dipping his left
wing down, then his right.

Beautiful.

Hypnotized, she followed the hawk’s progress,
and the anxiety loosened its hold and her breathing became even
again.

Score one for imagery in motion!

After a few more cleansing breaths, she
jammed the gear stick into drive and pulled out onto the road.
There had been an office building a few miles back down the road,
and at least one vehicle parked in the front; maybe whoever was
inside could give her better directions. Or at least let her use
the telephone to call her brother to come and get her.

Her brother. Jason. God, how many times had
she thought about calling him in the last couple of months? She
should have, she knew that. Once she’d decided to return to Texas,
the phone should have been in her hand. And she should have told
him long before that even though her life had gone from sugar to
shit. But she never made that call.

After Will blamed the whole thing on her, she
had started second guessing herself. What if her brother sided with
him? She could live without Will, their relationship had been a
disaster from almost day one. But her brother? She needed her
brother on her side.

I can do this. It’s going to be okay. What
else could possibly go wrong when I’m this close?

PARKING HER CAR IN THE small lot next to the
pickup truck, Bayleigh studied the small building. A solitary
pick-up truck sat in the parking lot and the place was well kept.
Knowing she wasn’t going to get any answers just sitting out here,
staring at the building, she forced herself to turn off the
ignition and pocketed the keys.

With a deep breath and a short prayer for
courage, Bayleigh slid out from behind the wheel of her small car,
taking the time to stretch and try to ease the cramped muscles in
her back and shoulders. Her knee and thigh protested every movement
she made as she gripped the handrail on the stairs and pulled
herself up them. She gritted her teeth and pushed herself
forward.

She paused for a moment at the top before
taking those last few steps forward to the wood paneled door. The
plaque beside the door caught her attention: “Williams and Winters,
Attorneys At Law.” There was something about those names teasing
her memory, but she was too tired. Struggling to pull open the
solid oak door, she was able to wedge it open enough with her hip
and step through into the reception area.

A bell chimed down the hallway, announcing
her arrival. She glanced around, unsure of what to do when no one
came to see who had entered. Muffled curses echoed from one of the
offices.

“
Hello?” she called out,
craning her neck to see into the back hallway.

An impatient male voice called back, “Yeah,
what do you want?”

Bayleigh rolled her
eyes.
Great, someone else having a shitty
day.

“
I’m sorry to bother you,
but I’m lost. My cell phone died and I can’t find my car charger
and I was hoping you might be able to help me.” The quietness of
the office was unsettling her. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. She
debated turning around and leaving. With her recent panic attacks,
especially the one she just had in the car, she wasn’t sure she
could handle a strange man right now.

She could hear the unseen man as he cursed
again and then muttered something about ‘just put her out of her
misery’ and ‘making things easier’ and something about ‘setting him
up.”

Good Lord, what kind of
attorney’s office did I choose to stop at for help?
She turned towards the exit and reached for the
doorknob.

“
I thought you needed
help?”

Without warning, the voice sounded from
behind her. She jumped, her heart now in her throat.

“
Sorry. I didn’t mean to
startle you,” the voice was softer, but still male.

She spun around and stepped backwards,
cursing herself for not putting her pepper spray in her pocket.

Whoa, face of an
angel.
The phrase ran through his
mind.
A very startled and scared angel, but
still, an angel. Blonde hair and everything. And
familiar-looking.

“
Both my partner and my
receptionist are out of the office and the computer decided this
was the perfect time to act up. She hates me,” he glared over his
shoulder before turning back to her, a slight grin on his face. “If
my partner wouldn’t kill me for it, I’d shoot her. Now, what’s this
about being lost?”

“
Oh God,”
was Bayleigh’s first thought, followed by
“well, damn”
as she took
in every detail of the man standing across from her. Jet black
hair, chocolate brown eyes, well-worn jeans. Polo shirt stretched
tight across broad shoulders.
Smoking
hot
seemed to be the only description her
brain could come up with at the moment.

Giving herself a mental shake as she caught
the frown on his face, his words registered and she went still.
“Wait….who hates you and who are you going to shoot?”

She felt behind her for the
doorknob, keeping her eyes locked on him. He was big. He had to be
over 6 feet tall. And muscles. Lots of muscles. Her heart started
to pound. The room seemed to be closing in on her and her mind was
trying to take her back to the last room she’d been cornered in,
with
that man.
That
man
had been tall, too, and muscular. More
muscular than this guy. She felt her chest getting tight again and
the hated yet familiar hitch in her breathing started.

Crap! Focus. Stay in the
moment!
She couldn’t afford to lose sight
of where he was, what he was doing. She struggled to get her
breathing under control.

“
My computer hates me, and
I’m going to shoot her one of these days.” His arms were relaxed at
his side, his hands visible to her. He took a few steps backwards,
putting a few extra feet between them.

“
You refer to your computer
as a she?” She tracked each of his movements and tried to focus on
his words. But now she was getting confused. Who referred to their
computer as a person, and why would they want to shoot
it?

He raised an eyebrow, “Yes. I tend to call
her Miss B, short for Miss Bitch. She’s temperamental and you have
to have the right touch in order to get her to give up what you
want. Right now she’s locked up tighter than Fort Knox and is not
letting me access my files.”

Bayleigh studied the man across from her. He
was keeping his distance and his comment about the computer was
kind of funny. Her heart was still racing but her breathing had
evened back out. As long as he stayed on the other side of the
room, maybe she could get through this.

Clearing his throat to get her attention, he
repeated his question. “You said something about being lost. Where
are trying to get to?”

Bayleigh shook her head, not
sure what episode of
The Twilight
Zone
she stepped into, but shuffled forward
just enough to hold the map out to him. “I’m sorry. It’s been a
long day and I’m a little out of it. I’m looking for my brother’s
place but I can’t seem to find the road the map says I need to
take. I’d call him, but as I said, my cell phone is dead.” As soon
as he took the map from her, she stepped back, out of reach. “Do
you think you could help me?”