Page 220 of In Somnis

A couple in matching costumes crosses right in front of the car, and they glance at Ridge and Derek curiously. Ridge’s gaze lowers, and his shoulders curl inward.

Shit, have I asked for too much?

Derek crouches beside the open door, but whatever he says has Ridge shaking his head. Hard.

As if he can feel me watching, Ridge’s eyes snap to mine. I smile at him, and his face shifts. It’s not relief exactly, not even confidence. More like… resolve.

He draws in a slow breath and rolls back his shoulders, then he reaches for the door frame. Derek moves out of his way immediately, but still hovers, ready to help.

Ridge ignores him.

His fingers tighten on the frame as he transfers into the wheelchair. It doesn’t look graceful or easy, but stubbornness gets Ridge exactly where he means to be.

By the time I realize I’m moving, I’m already halfway down the steps. When I reach the bottom of them, Ridge is rolling up the path toward me, jaw set, eyes fixed straight ahead as if he lets himself look anywhere else, he might falter.

I walk faster, and when his gaze flicks to me, one corner of his mouth lifts. “Nice costume, sweetheart. Very you. I particularly like the⁠—”

A hand closes around my arm, and Paul spins me around. For one second, my brain simply produces the word no, not because I don’t want him here, but because it’s too much.

Paul, Ridge, and Nevan are all here, within approximately thirty feet of each other and of me, and I’m shivering in a yellow dress on the edge of a breakdown, and…

“Lennon.” Relief moves across Paul’s expression. “I’m so sorry I’m late, I tried to call but…” He balks when he sees my face and drops his hands. “Are you all right?”

I try to produce a normal expression. “You’re here.”

“I’m here. I wanted to be here earlier, but I had to stay with Mrs. Vaughn for a bit. She wasn’t doing well. Tessa had an episode.”

The world drops out from under my feet.

Everything else goes thin around the edges. The porch, the party, the stupid yellow dress.

All of it.

“An… episode?”

“With her breathing.” He searches my face, and that quiet clinical attention I usually find steadying is unbearable. “They’re talking about managed oxygen in a hospital setting…” He pauses, almost looking like he regrets telling me. “I know that’s a lot to process. Do you want to go somewhere and talk about it?”

My throat closes so fast it hurts.

No. I want my best friend.

I want my mom.

I want the people I would call about this.

I want to be the kind of person who knows what to do next.

“Hello, Dr. Bennett,” Ridge says from beside me. “Fancy meeting you here.”

Something crosses Paul’s face that isn’t quite surprise but is close to it.

“Ridge.” There’s a beat, long enough for the air to fill with tension. “I didn’t know you’d be here.”

They know each other?

Of course they do. This town probably has a group chat.

Ridge tilts his head. “Didn’t know you ventured out after dark.”