Lucid (4 page)

“Payback, plus…change of plans. Matt’s coming over to my house. He had an errand to run first,” Lainey said, checking her lip gloss in the mirror.

“That’s great! Now you won’t feel awkward about it.” I put my hand on the door handle. “So, guess you don’t need me then.”

“Oh no, you don’t. You’re not getting out of this.” Before I could bolt from the car, Lainey backed out of the driveway, then cut a suspicious gaze my way. “Also, you have some ’splaining to do about Tarra’s ring.”

“About what?” By her tone, I could tell my earlier slipup had come back to bite me. I looked down at my short fingernails, then rubbed absently at the ink smudging my thumb. I’d just started to translate the first few sentences on that website when Lainey pulled up.

“How did you know it came from an antique store? That was just
way
weird that you knew that. When I got home I had a text from Janet, telling me the deets she’d overheard Tarra saying. And don’t give me some craptastic answer that you dreamed it.” She paused, adopting a thoughtful look. “That’s strange, not counting this morning, I suddenly feel like we’ve talked about you dreaming things before…”

Oh, God!
I’d completely forgotten that I’d confessed to Lainey about my ability to see the future via my dreams while she lay in a coma after her car accident a few weeks ago. She must’ve heard what I’d said on some subconscious level.

I’d known Lainey since we were in middle school. She couldn’t handle the truth. First, there’d be denial. Anger would follow that I hadn’t told her. Then, she’d move to, “Tell me my entire day.” Which I’d hear… Every. Single. Day.

“I’m sorry, Lainey. I was just trying to get you off the subject. Earlier in the day, while I was in a stall in the bathroom, I overheard Tarra tell one of the cheerleaders about shopping for the ring.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Lainey took a right at the light, gripping the steering wheel tighter.

“Because I didn’t want you to dwell on the fact that Jared was with her when she picked out the ring.”

“What?” Lainey’s gaze jerked to mine briefly as her foot pressed harder on the pedal. “He
never
went shopping with me! Said he didn’t have the patience for it.” Gritting her teeth, she seethed. “The Jared
I
dated wouldn’t be caught dead in an antique store!”

Lainey hadn’t learned that part?
Crap.
Guess she hadn’t drilled our soccer teammate, Janet (who’d
actually
been the one to overhear this conversation in the bathroom) as much today as she had in my dream scenario. Maybe she hadn’t asked as many questions because she’d been distracted by meeting Matt?
Argh, I was royally screwing this up.

We took the left into her neighborhood on a whiny squeal. I gripped the dashboard as my stomach bottomed out. “Lainey, slow down—”

Lainey let off the gas and exhaled a frustrated huff.

I put my hand on her arm. “Maybe Jared really is trying to suck up to Tarra. That kind of makes sense with this complete one-eighty he’s taken.” Great, now I was letting myself get sucked into her conspiracy theory.

She narrowed her eyes. “I want to drive by his house right now. See if he’s washing her laundry by hand.”

I snorted at the absurd image of Jared scrubbing a pair of designer jeans up and down an old-time washboard in a tub full of soapsuds, then pointed toward her driveway ahead. “Matt’s coming, remember?”

Lainey perked up. “You’re right. Matt’ll be here in a few minutes.”

We’d just walked in the door and shrugged out of our coats when Lainey rubbed her hands on her arms. “Why is it so cold in here?” Glancing around the living room, she continued, “Where’s Lochlan? Loch, where are you, boy?”

“Maybe he’s upstairs?” I said.

“Oh, no…the door!” Her eyes went wide and she took off toward the back of the house.

By the time I reached her side, Lainey was standing at the open back door in her kitchen, calling, “Lochlan, Lochlan!” in a high-pitched, frantic voice.

I quickly retrieved the box of dog biscuits from the pantry and handed them to her. “What happened?”

Lainey shook the box hard and called the dog’s name once more, then whistled several times. “I took him out when I got home. I must not have latched the door all the way and the wind blew it open.” Worry creased her forehead as her fingers tightened on the box. “My dad will kill me if something happens to him. Sometimes I think he loves that dog more than me.”

You didn’t see your dad the night you had that car wreck.
“Trust me, he loves you, Lainey. Grab Loch’s leash. We’ll find him.”

When Lainey picked up the leash from the rug at the backdoor and the collar was still attached, dog tags jingling, I gave her an are-you-kidding-me look. She raised her shoulders, looking sheepish. “Loch hates his collar, so we only make him wear it when he’s outside.”

We’d just put our coats back on when the doorbell rang. Lainey finished pulling her wavy red hair out of her coat collar. “Oh, God. I forgot about Matt,” she whispered.

“No better time than the present to find out if he’s really a ‘team player,’” I said, then opened the door. “Hi, Matt. Hope you don’t mind helping us out…” But the rest died on my lips. A guy with light brown hair shot with blond streaks stood behind him. “Um, hi.”

“Hey, you’re Nara, right?” Matt said from his position at the door. Running his hand through his short hair, he turned and glanced at his friend standing on the sidewalk, his hands shoved in his jeans pockets. “Lainey, Nara, welcome Drystan Maddox, an exchange student all the way from Wales. He caught an earlier flight and got here a few hours sooner than we expected. Thought I’d bring him along so he could get to know some peeps.”

Drystan nodded. “Nice to meet you both. Just call me Maddox.”

I smiled. “Welcome to Virginia, Maddox. What made you choose the US—”

“Hi, Maddox,” Lainey spoke over me, then hissed in my ear, “We have to find Lochlan!”

My gaze darted between the guys. “Do you two mind helping us find Lainey’s dog? He’s roaming around here somewhere.”

Maddox pulled his hands from his jeans pockets and grinned. “I don’t mind. I’m pretty good at finding things.” He stepped onto the porch and glanced at the leash in Lainey’s hand. “Is that your dog’s?”

As Lainey nodded, I met her gaze. “When Loch’s gotten loose before, what direction does he usually go?”

Lainey grimaced and skimmed her gaze over the whole neighborhood. “The woods. Remember, he hunts with my dad.”

I frowned. Her entire neighborhood was one big wooded playground for a hunting dog.

“I think we’ll cover more ground if we split up.” I looked at Matt and pointed to the thick grove of trees across the street from Lainey’s house. “Why don’t you and Lainey head in that direction. Maddox and I will check out the woods behind Lainey’s house.”

“Do you have another leash, Lainey?” I asked Lainey.

Maddox shot his gaze to the cloudy sky, then quickly unhooked Lochlan’s leather collar from the leash in Lainey’s hand. “Looks like it’ll be dark soon. Let’s not waste time. This should do.”

“Thank you for helping, guys.” Lainey’s hazel gaze pinged with appreciation between Matt and Maddox.

Matt smiled and turned his collar up against the cold wind. “No problem. We’d better get going.”

Before we left, Lainey shoved a pair of tan gloves in my hands. “Wear these. Lochlan’s wily. This might take a while.”

After I’d tugged on the soft leather gloves, I was surprised Maddox held onto the collar instead of handing it to me, but I didn’t say anything. Instead, I fell into step beside him as we made our way around the house and through the backyard.

“What’s the dog’s name?” he asked once we’d entered the woods.

His accent had a pleasant, sing-song rhythm that made me smile. “Lochlan,” I said before I cupped my gloved hands around my mouth. “Lochlan! Come here, boy!”

Maddox turned in the opposite direction and yelled out for the dog. Then we began walking forward, diagonally away from each other and deeper into the woods, calling in unison.

Off in the distance I heard Lainey’s higher-pitched call, then Matt’s deeper voice echoing our calls for the dog. The trees whipped with wind, full of chimney smoke and forest smells. The gusts stripped colorful leaves, leaving behind gnarled limbs creaking with the currents’ constant tug and pull.

After hollering once more, Maddox and I stopped to listen.

A group of black birds passed overhead, squawking and beating their wings. I watched their flight, then slid my attention to Maddox, who’d made his way back over. “Why don’t you go by Drystan?”

He stiffened then scanned the woods. “Maddox’s the name my dad always called me.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Your dad doesn’t call you by your first name?”

He cut a sharp glance my way, his lips thinning. “No, he
didn’t
call me by my first name
.
My dad is dead.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” I mumbled, glancing away.

He lifted his shoulders, then let them fall. “No big deal.”

By his reaction, it was a big deal. I needed to lighten the mood. “I like the name Drystan better than Maddox. Like Tristan with a D, it just rolls off the tongue better. You’re in a new country…how about a new name? I’m going to call you Drystan.”

He laughed, his green eyes crinkling. “Well ’tis my name. Is Nara your actual name or is it a nickname?”

“It’s Inara.” I smiled. “Lainey gave me the nickname ‘Nara.’”

We both turned and walked farther into the woods. After we’d called the dog’s name several times, I asked the question I’d started to earlier. “What made you decide to come to the US?”

He slid the buckled leather collar in a continuous circle between his fingers as his gaze met mine. “My mum thought it’d be good for me. Said it would make a good transition before we officially moved to England.”

“Are you excited about moving to England?” I asked, then called Lochlan’s name once more.

“It’s not Wales,” he said, pride in his tone. “But sometimes you need to travel away to appreciate your home.”

“Is that why you’re here? To appreciate your homeland more?”

“I’m here to broaden my scope.”

Broaden my scope?
The way he said it sounded like someone else’s words. Guess this exchange trip wasn’t his idea. I pulled a glove off and put my hand on his. “You’ve got friends now, Drystan. We’ll make sure you have fun while you’re here.”

Drystan blinked, then quickly glanced down at the collar in his hand. “So weird,” he mumbled.

Did he think what I said was lame? I pulled my hand away and took a step back. “I was just trying to make you feel better.”

Drystan glanced at me, his brow furrowed. “No, I was just thinking that Lochlan’s an odd name for a smallish dog.” He pointed to the name stamped on the collar’s gold nameplate. “But I suppose it probably suits a Jack.”

It seemed like we weren’t making any progress and the sky was getting darker by the second. I was about to suggest we head in opposite directions, when he held up a finger. “Listen.”

“Do you hear something?”

“Shhh.” He closed his eyes and tilted his head as if tuning in. “Do you hear that?”

After a couple of seconds, the distinct sound of water running across rocks floated to my ears. “It’s rushing water. I forgot there’s a creek back here. Lochlan might’ve gone this way.” I took off toward the sound with Drystan’s heavier footfalls close behind.

I’d just started down the incline toward the creek when he grabbed my arm and pulled me to a halt. “Careful.” His gaze slid up and down the creek bed below, then he released me. “Take it slow.”

It was just a creek. Nothing down there could hurt anyone, but the caution in his tone slowed my pace, especially since this entire afternoon was all new to me. I really needed to
not
improvise my dreams. “I’ll be careful.” I moved with caution down the hill’s slippery leaves toward the flowing water.

I’d just gotten to the bottom of the hill and was about to step closer to the creek bed, when Drystan gripped my elbow in a vise hold. “Stay out of the underbrush along the edge.”

Maybe he was worried about snakes. They weren’t even out this time of year.
Wait? Did they even have snakes in Wales?
I glanced back at him, getting ready to ask, when he released me with a nod, telling me to move on.

I stepped over the leaves and onto the pebbles near the creek. “Lochlan!” I called a couple more times, peering up and down the long winding creek.

No paw prints were visible in the mud to prove the dog had come this way, but my gut told me the creek was our best shot.

“Which way should we take?” I said. A couple of seconds later, a cacophony of cawing echoed above me before another set of black birds took flight from a tree. I watched them circle, then head to my right.
Were they telling me which direction to go
?

Casting a surreptitious gaze toward Drystan, I started to suggest we follow the creek bed around the bend to the right, when I saw his gaze was completely focused on his thumbs sliding along the collar’s soft leather.

Drystan’s head snapped up as if he felt the weight of my stare. Setting his mouth in a determined slant, he took off ahead of me to the right. “Let’s go this way.”

After we rounded the bend, we’d walked another thirty feet or so when a low sound, an animal’s yelp of pain, came in loud and clear. The babbling water and tall embankment had muffled the sound earlier. Drystan rushed ahead. Once I reached him, he was squatted beside Lochlan, talking in a soothing tone.

A muscular bundle of white fur with black floppy ears, black eyebrows, and a stripe of black down his nose, Lochlan lay on his side on a bed of leaves next to the creek. Exhausted and terrified, the Jack Russell’s rib cage sawed up and down. He whimpered his recognition as I squatted next to him. Blood coated his left front paw, which was clamped inside some kind of poacher’s trap. By the blood staining his snout and along the underside of his right paw, poor Lochlan must’ve tried several times to free himself.