Bruises of the Heart by J. J. Nite Page A

stiff from lying on the swing so long and it had gotten really cold. I changed as quickly as I could, then crawled under my covers, trying to keep my head as clear as possible.
    For once I was able to and, to my surprise, I slept a dreamless sleep.

Chapter Ten

    I woke late the next morning, feeling relaxed and refreshed — until the memories of the day before came crashing through my present thoughts. I groaned and pulled the covers over my head, hoping to keep them away just a little while longer.
    I heard my mom moving around in the living room and decided to get up since my brain was already working overtime in the worry department.
    "You're up early. Did you sleep well?" she asked.
    "Yeah, I did, actually. What's with it being so cold?"
    "I have no idea. I had to start a fire this morning, which I was glad to be done with, but apparently I celebrated a little prematurely. Do you have any plans for the day?" she asked over her shoulder as she moved to the kitchen.
    "No," I replied, sinking down on the couch. "Have you turned the phones back on yet?"
    "I turned the house and my cell back on before I went to bed last night. What about you?"
    "Not yet. I don't think I will until later, either. I really don't want to hear from either of them right now," I said, sounding childish even to my ears.
    I saw her smile, but she held whatever opinions she had to herself. I turned on the TV and flipped through the channels, but didn't find anything I wanted to watch, so I turned it back off.
    "What are you doing today?" I asked.
    "Well, I'm going down to the house in a little while and then doing a run to the store. Want to join me?" she asked, smiling widely.
    I rolled my eyes at her in response. I hated grocery shopping and she knew it. Feeling very restless, I got up and paced around the cabin. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, and the feeling of being closed in was starting to get to me. I also had the sense of urgency I'd had yesterday and still hadn't figured out what all of that was about.
    "If you don't stop soon you're going to make yourself dizzy. The cabin is only so big, you know. What's going on with you? Is it about what happened yesterday?"
    "I don't know," I said, sounding whiny and exasperated all at the same time. "I feel like everything is coming apart and I don't know what to do about any of it. And to top everything else off, I feel like I don't have enough time to even be thinking about anything. Like everything is coming to an end or something. It's really hard to explain," I said, sinking down at the table where she had stationed herself during my tour of the cabin.
    "I would suggest, then, that you get out of here and go somewhere else. It sounds like you need to do some more thinking, but keep in mind that all of this thinking might just be taking you in circles. At some point you're going to have to talk to one of them. Maybe what you need to do is figure out who you want to talk to first and start there," she suggested.
    "Maybe you're right. I just feel like I don't even know where to begin. I mean, I have all of this stuff with Noah and then there's Will and I feel like I'm caught in the middle of them, which makes no sense at all," I said, dropping my head to the tabletop.
    I heard her chuckle, then felt her pat my head as she got up to get another cup of coffee. "No one ever said that life was easy, but it sure is a fun ride if you let it be. And no one ever said that you have to solve the world's problems — or your own- for that matter — in a day. If Will really cares about you, he's going to give you the space and time to figure it all out. And I, for one, would like to remind you that you're only seventeen and you're going to college next year. Who's to say you won't find the love of your life there?"
    I picked my head up from where it rested on the tabletop to see her retreating from the room. I groaned, then went to my room to get dressed. Maybe some time down in the barn would