I nodded and started paddling in as the wave began to build behind us. We both stood within seconds of each other and rode the wave closer and closer to shore. It was aperfectrun, and a weight came off me for a moment. “I wish we would have had twenty more of those this morning,” I said as we walked the rest of the way in.
Ethan nodded. “Hopefully, we can bring Adrianne back out,” he said.
Hope was going to strangle me. It was like I couldn’t pull back anymore. I’d let those words out—even if they weren’t to Adrianne—and now I needed to be able to tell her.Please let me be able to tell her, I thought.
I dug out my phone from my bag on our towel. I had six missed calls from Callan. Panic threaded through me, but I kept calm while I called him back. “We just finished,” I said when he answered. “What’s wrong?”
Ethan’s head snapped up at the wordwrong. “She won’t come out of her room,” Callan said, “and the hotel won’t give me a key, despite the fact that I’m her security.”
“We’re coming back now,” I said. “Sit tight.”
“I’m two seconds from breaking down the damn door, so you’d better hurry up.” He hung up, and I started shoving things into my bag.
“She locked herself in her room, and Callan’s freaking out. He wants to break down the door.”
Ethan rolled his eyes. “He’s so damn dramatic for no reason.”
I wasn’t sure about that, but it did seem a little extreme. If Adrianne had drug problems or something like that, I would agree with breaking down the door. But she seemed to just need some space. It scared me, but ultimately, it wasn’t harmful to her.
Ethan and I drove back to the hotel and rode the elevator back up to the top floor where our rooms were located. Callan was in the hallway, stationed outside her room. “Adrianne, come on!” he said, knocking. “Princess, I need you to open up.”
Ethan stalked down the hall, waving him away. “She’s not in danger, Cal. Take a damn breath.”
Callan glared at him. “I don’t like that she won’t talk to us, Merc,” he said.
Me neither, I thought. “Let’s just get her to open the door, okay? Then, we can get this all figured out.”
Ethan knocked on the door. “Adrianne? Come on, you’ve got to open the door now, okay? We need to talk.”
There was some movement on the other side of the door, and then it slowly opened by a crack. “Can we just—”
“No.” Ethan cut her off, and perhaps wisely, stuck his foot in the door. “We’re not going away. Whatever happened, whatever you’re feeling, we need to talk about it. Right now.”
We could hear her breathing for a second, and then the door swung open, and I got a glimpse of her back retreating into the room. Adrianne crawled back into bed and drew the covers up around her shoulders. The room wasn’t a mess—I didn’t think this was a depressive episode or something like that—but there was obviously something wrong.
“Adrianne,” I said and sat on the edge of the bed. I wanted to reach out to her, but I wasn’t sure if that was allowed right now. “Baby, what’s wrong? Please talk to us.”
Tears filled her eyes. Her shoulders began to shake as she cried. Ethan sat beside her and opened his arms, and after a moment of hesitation, she crawled into them, clutching at him. I felt a weight come off my chest to see her just as desperate to touch us as we were to touch her. But that begged the question—why put us through any of this?
“I’m sorry,” she murmured against Ethan’s chest. “I am so, so sorry.” She raised her head just enough and pressed her mouth to his. Ethan cupped her neck, holding her close. When they broke apart, she turned and crawled over to me, and my arms were full of Adrianne.
“You’re not leaving us, are you?” I asked, and her arms squeezed around my neck. Adrianne shook her head.
“I wouldn’t,” she said, pulling back enough to look in my eyes. “Icouldn’t. I love you too much.”
Relief washed over me. “I love you too,” I told her and kissed her. Her answering smile was everything.
Adrianne turned back to Ethan, who looked a little deflated. “I love you too, Ethan. I hope you don’t think otherwise.”
He grinned. A relieved expression swept over his face. “I was hoping, but I’m glad you said it.”
Callan stepped in, and I allowed him to take her from me. “You scared the shit out of me,” he said sternly.
Her eyes went soft and sad. “I’m sorry,” she said, and I wished that she would stop. Whatever drove her from us was obviously hurting her too. Callan seemed to agree with me because he shook his head and shushed her gently.
“Just tell us what’s going on,” Ethan said.
She let go of Callan. “I have something to show you all.” She went to the bathroom and came back with a small pink box. My heart fell into my stomach.That can’t be what I think it is, I thought. “In Coober Pedy, I was feeling off, like I had a hangover, but I didn’t drink anything... and Ryan made a snide comment that if I was having sex, he’d suggest that I was pregnant, and something about that just sent up all of these alarm bells, you know?”