Given Time

♡40♡

I arrive at Tanner's house in record time and sprint to the front door as it's started to rain heavily again. I'm already drenched from the downpour before, but now I'm like a drowned rat. My clothes are sticking to me like a second skin, and my hair has matted together. I blame that crow on my car for today's dismal events. If I didn't see that fucking crow, then maybe all of this wouldn't be happening.

I can tell that someone is in because the lights are on to accommodate for the lack of light from outside at this time of the afternoon. I press the buzzer on the wall next to the double wooden doors and shuffle from foot to foot as I wait for someone to answer. The left door opens a few minutes later, and I see Mr. Cole standing on the other side with a friendly smile on his face. I notice he's dressed down in a pair of blue jeans and a white T-shirt for a change compared to the smart suits and designer clothes he normally opts for.

"Leah, honey. You're soaked. Come in from the rain." He stands aside so I can enter the foyer.

I walk into the house and feel the warmth hit me like a hug. I lean on one of the walls so I can remove my soaking wet sneakers one by one. When I get them off, I dump them on the shoe rack and then peel my soaked jacket off, seeing the goosebumps on my bare arms.

"I'll take that," Mr. Cole offers kindly.

"Thank you," I mumble as I hug my body and keep my head bowed.

After he hangs it up, he turns back around and gets a good look at me for the first time. His face changes to one of concern. "Is there something wrong, Leah?"

"I just need to talk to Tanner. Is he here?" I murmur in a daze as I continue walking to the staircase and sit on the bottom step. I have never felt so emotionally and physically drained in my life.

All I want to do is curl up in a ball and sleep the rest of the day away.

Mr. Cole stands a foot from me, studying me intensely. He knows something is up, and his brow furrows as he tries to figure out what it could be.

"Yeah. He's in the living room studying. I'll go get him." He takes a step in the living room's direction but pauses to look back at me.

"Can I do anything to help? If you're in trouble or something, I can help."

I shake my head and weakly smile. "No, I'm not in any trouble. But thank you, Mr. Cole."

He smiles back and heads off down the hallway that leads to the living room. I sigh and rest my head against the banister as I realize I'm taking Tanner away from his college work.

I hope he isn't in the middle of something important. I already feel bad about distracting him.

It's not long until I hear footsteps padding along the hardwood floor. "Babe, you're cheating. We said we were having a study day," Tanner jokes as he walks down the hallway.

The moment he sees my tear-stained face, he loses the grin and strides toward me. "What's wrong? What happened?"

I jump off the step and wrap my arms around him and bury my head in his chest, trying my best not to cry again. Tanner's hands come to rest on the small of my back and head and he pulls me tighter to him. "You're shivering." He runs his hands up and down my back to bring some heat back into my cold body.

"Leah, you're scaring me. Tell me what's wrong."

Reluctantly, I pull back from his hold and gaze up into his eyes. "Can we go upstairs to talk? I don't want your parents to hear."

"Sure," he says quietly.

He runs the pad of his thumb along my jaw and studies me just like his dad did. They even have the same frown lines around the corner of their eyes. "Your lips are turning blue," he says with a tinge of sadness.