Daylight, a Timeless Series Novel by Lisa L Wiedmeier Page B

guests Maes had purposely mentioned last night. Koda . My stomach began to churn again.
    “Sweetheart, you can handle this,” he assured me.
    “I’m not ready for Koda.” I curled onto my side, pulling away from him.
    He leaned over me. “You have to face it sooner or later.”
    “Callon,” my voice shook.
    “There will be more,” he warned me.
    “Why?”
    “Because we need them. We can’t fight this alone.” He placed a tender kiss on my forehead. “Rest, I’ll be back soon.” He rose, but hesitated. “I love you, Cheyenne.”
    I gave no reply as he headed for the door. I couldn’t say the words yet, not when saying them made me feel like I was betraying Colt, and not knowing if my love were truly toxic. I couldn’t face another painful loss.

    “Cheyenne, Colt’s here!” I heard Dad calling.
    “Give me a minute!” I yelled back; I was in the kitchen, taking a sheet of cookies from the oven.
    “Hey , Colt, hope the drive up wasn’t too rough?” Dad was talking with Colt in the hall. “What are you two up to tonight?”
    “Movies,” Colt replied cheerfully. “The new one that everyone’s talking about, The Gate .”
    I smiled. We’d been waiting weeks to go see it, and tonight was opening night. Colt had pre-purchased the tickets, in celebration of finishing finals and Christmas break, and I was really looking forward to it.
    “Mom,” I said. “The cookies are done. I’m gonna leave them—”
    “Did someone say cookies?” Colt rushed beside me, staring hungrily at the baking sheet.
    “They’re hot!” I slapped his hands as he tried to pull one off. “You can have them when we get back.”
    He pouted.
    “Oh, stop it, you know the cute routine doesn’t work on me. Let’s go.”
    With a playful grin, he trailed behind me as I grabbed my gray coat.
    “Have fun ,” Dad smiled.
    “We will,” Colt grinned, opening the door.
    “Be safe, Cheyenne,” Mom added. “I love you.”
    The door closed and I sighed, the taste of snowflakes rich on my tongue. The snow had been falling all day, and I could barely find the driveway. As I stepped towards Colt’s truck, it crunched deliciously.
    “Here, let me.” Colt opened the truck door and helped me in.
    “I can’t believe you got us tickets,” I said as he climbed into the driver’s seat.
    “It wasn’t easy,” he replied, pulling out onto the highway.
    “Yeah right , it wasn’t easy,” I teased. “All you ever have to do is bat an eyelash, and the girls would fall over to do anything for you.”
    “Hey, that’s not true . I have to smile too, you know.”
    I laughed, and he winked.
    We continued down the icy roads until we reached the movie theatre. The parking lot was packed, but we managed to squeeze into a space. Colt hopped out quickly and caught me before I slipped on the ice.
    “You just can’t do anything right, can you?” he snickered.
    “Oh whatever!” I pushed his hand away only to latch onto his arm again as I lost my footing once more.
    “Told you so.”
    I rolled my eyes. “You parked there on purpose to make me hold onto your arm.”
    “Oh yeah, nothing to do with t he fact this was the only space.”
    Once we were on the sidewalk, I let go of him. Ahead, a long line had already formed. We secured our spot and then waited. I began to shake and blew on my hands.
    “Cold?” Colt asked.
    “I’m fine.”
    He shifted a little closer.
    “I’ll be glad to have a huge bag of popcorn though.” I grinned. “I can warm my hands in it.”
    He chuckled and the line moved. Now I could see the posters, and I rubbed my hands together. The movie was based off a novel that Colt had given me as an early Christmas present. He’d laughed because I’d read it so fast he said it made his head spin. Even the movie trailers I’d seen looked awesome. I couldn’t wait.
    “This is going to be so great, Colt. Do you know how long we’ve been waiting for this?”
    “Forever.” He smiled down on me. “Hope it’s as