This One Moment (Pushing Limits, #1)(70)

We laughed at his enthusiasm, but I had to agree with Mason and Daniel. The album was our best one yet.

And it was the album that would show the world Hailey and I belonged together. The songs existed because of Hailey, like “This One Moment” from our debut album. I’d written it when I first realized I’d fallen in love with her.

As we packed up to leave, a nervous energy twisted inside me. My flight wasn’t until tomorrow morning, but in ten hours I’d see Hailey again—and this time it wouldn’t be in the hospital because she was in a coma. This time when I kissed her, unlike the last time when I first arrived in Northbridge, she’d be able to kiss me back.

She would be able to hear how much I missed her, how much I loved her.





Chapter 44


Hailey


“Are you home?” Kayla asked me on the phone as I packed my suitcase for the week.

“I am for a few more minutes, then I’m heading over to my parents’.” They’d left for their Mexican cruise this morning and had asked me to house-sit.

“Have you received any more letters or phone calls?” she asked.

“Only the one letter from yesterday, and I haven’t received any more calls since the last one.” After calling me three times, the Nolyssa fan had given up phoning me when I’d quit answering her calls. The cops hadn’t been able to identify where the calls came from, but they did have the letter. It hadn’t threatened my life, unlike some online comments I’d seen. It contained a rather lengthy explanation as to why I was lacking compared to Alyssa when it came to being Nolan’s girlfriend.

But the fact the girl knew where I lived disturbed me the most. If she could figure it out, then maybe so could some of the more ardent Nolyssa fans. Eventually things would die down when Nolan and Alyssa officially broke up and both of them moved on with their lives, or once the rumors ended that they were headed for splitsville. But until then, my life was still potentially at risk.

“Have you told Nolan?” Kayla asked.

“No, I think he’s still in the recording studio.”

“But are you going to tell him?” Her tone wasn’t so much a question of whether I’d do it or not. It was a demand.

I removed a couple of pairs of jeans from my closet and folded them into my suitcase. “If you’re asking if I’m gonna talk to him, the answer is yes. As a friend.” I missed him more than the last time he’d left, and that had been unbearable. This time it felt like all the air in the room had been sucked away, and I was no longer able to breathe.

“But you’re not gonna talk to him about being his girlfriend and moving to L.A.?” The demand in her tone had been replaced by the desire to whack me on the back of my head for being such an idiot. But this was Kayla. I was used to it.

“No, I’ll continue being his friend and see what happens between him and Alyssa.” I’d decided on this in case he was falling for her, as the media suggested. I couldn’t compete with her and I wasn’t going to try. That was more than my poor heart could handle.

Kayla sighed. “Okay. I’ll support you in whatever you do. But I really hope it works out for you two. You’re perfect together.”

If only Nolan’s fans agreed with her. “I know. But it is what it is. I’m just happy for him no matter what he ends up doing.”

We continued talking as I wheeled the suitcase to my car.

“Let me know if you need anything,” Kayla said as I approached the trunk. I scanned the area for crazed Nolyssa fans. Other than an elderly couple I recognized from the floor below mine and a sleek blue car pulling into the parking lot, no one else was around. The late afternoon sun peeked from behind a random cloud.

At my parents’ house, I parked my car in the driveway. My parents had taken a cab to the airport, and their BMW took up most of the space in the two-car garage. I glanced at the neighbors’ houses but did my best not to look at the one that would cause me the most pain.

A memory slipped in from the last time I’d been in the house. It was a memory that I had forgotten until now. Dad had called me, asking if I could find some legal documents in Nolan’s house. He didn’t have time to come back to find them, and wanted me to take a look.

That’s when I had accidentally found the letters I wasn’t sure Nolan had known about. The letters from his mother to her lover.

Unease spread through me at the memory, but I couldn’t figure out why.

Still avoiding looking at Nolan’s old house, I removed my suitcase from the trunk and wheeled it to the front door. I unlocked the door and entered the house I hadn’t visited for a few weeks now.

I couldn’t tell if anyone was at home in the houses on either side of my parents’. Not that it mattered. The neighbors I’d grown up with had long since moved away. I hadn’t yet met the ones who now lived there.

After putting away the groceries I’d brought with me, I went upstairs. My room had changed since I’d left home. Once decorated with posters of my favorite bands and actors, it had long since been converted into a guest room. But Mom had gotten slightly carried away after watching a home decorating show, and the room now resembled one from a fancy bed-and-breakfast. The alarm clock was off by over four hours. I walked to the nightstand and adjusted the time.

After unpacking my suitcase, I went down to make dinner. Like the alarm clock in my room, the microwave clock was also behind by over four hours. There must have been a power outage after my parents left. I reset the clock.