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“Just a little farther.”
Not an answer. I sank lower in my seat, arms crossed.
A few minutes later, we reached a ridge that looked out over the valley. It was a turn-off tucked away from the rest of the world, where we could look down on them, but no one would see us.
Hunter put the car in park and turned to me. He forced my gaze to his. “You can’t keep doing this.”
“Doing what?” I didn’t like the harsh tone.
Lines creased his forehead and he searched my face. “Your friends, all of us, need you. Don’t doubt that for a second. But what you’re doing, stretching yourself thin like this, it’s not good for you.”
“I don’t have a choice. There are things that need to be done, and I promised to do them.”
“I get that. And you don’t have to do them alone. The people around you will help. I’ll help.”
But I’d promised to see them through. The idea of dropping anything, the way I had with this afternoon’s promise to Lyn, made me sicker. “People are counting on me. You don’t understand.”
“I do understand.” He traced gentle lines along my jaw as he held my chin. “I’ve been where you are.”
I clenched my mouth shut, and braced myself for a story that proved he didn’t get it at all.
“When I started college, I was working with my mom’s organization—volunteering. And then Ramsey got into student government. It didn’t matter that he was at a different school, I had so many ideas to help him. I was balancing all of that with being a freshman. With a course load I’d been told was too much. I was running on less than four hours of sleep a night.”
I winced at a story that could have been mine, but kept my mouth shut.
“Things started to slip,” Hunter said. “Little things. I was late to an appointment here or there. I overbooked a few obligations. And then I let my mom down. And I missed getting some critical information to Ramsey. And it all came crashing down around me. I pushed so hard, I landed in the hospital for a few days.”
“Ouch.” I was sympathetic. Maybe he did get it. A little. “But that’s not me. I’m not that kind of physically ill. I’ve got this.”
Hunter’s frown deepened. “You do. Right now you’re keeping almost every ball in the air by yourself. How can I help?”
“I can’t ask you to do that. These are my obligations.”
“I’m not offering to do anything for you,” Hunter said. “You tell me what needs to be done, and I’ll do it.”
“I… I can’t.”
He gripped my chin harder, and stared me down with a fierceness that stole my breath. “This is destroying you. I won’t make a plan to ease up your workload, but you have to.”
“The plan is, I’ll take the week Lyn gave me, make sure everything else is in order at the shelter, and then I won’t miss any more appointments.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
It didn’t matter. It was the best I had.
Twenty-Two
When I woke up in the morning, I almost felt worse than after that last hangover. The one where my world fell apart. My clock said it after eight in the morning. I didn’t remember the last time I’d slept so late.
Besides Vegas.
I peeled myself out of bed. Every inch of me was exhausted. Things were strained last night with Hunter. We’d brought the sandwiches home. I ate with him, to prove I was taking his advice and trying to relax, but I hadn’t known what to say.
As I stumbled across the room, something caught my eye. A folder sitting near my closed bedroom door. There was a Post-it note on top, with Hunter’s neat script handwriting
Sorry I missed you before work. We’ll talk about this, I promise. I wanted you to know they exist.
I opened the folder. The top page was a court document with Hunter and my names at the top, andPETITION FOR DIVORCEunderneath.
