White Witch (26 page)

I head for the closet, my feet feeling like they’re encased in lead. The time has come. Even though I’ve expected it, this seems too soon. Leaving without a goodbye seems harsh, wrong, selfish.

But it’s the only option—for both of us.

I keep watch as he changes, then as he edges down the corridor ahead of me toward the exit.

Outside, night is falling, and the temperature has dipped. It seems appropriate considering how cold I feel inside.

“You ready to do this?” Egan asks when we reach my car.

I hesitate a moment, blinking against tears and trying not to think about how hurt Toni and Keller are going to be.

“We’ve got to go,” Egan says.

I nod. He slides into the passenger seat with a grunt that tells me he still has a lot of healing to do. We’re quite the damaged pair. As I take one last look at Baker Gap, I accept the fact there is one broken part of me that will never heal.

I slip into my Beetle and start the engine. I’m careful not to break any traffic laws, but I hurry to the campground. I’m sorry to leave the trailer, but we have no choice. We load the car and bike and are pulling onto the road again within five minutes. Neither Egan nor I breathe normally until we reach the interstate and head north. We don’t speak, but there’s no need. We’re thinking the same thing.

Next stop—Salem.

(Continue Reading for more information about the author)

The first book Trish Milburn ever wrote was a romance. She just didn’t know it yet. That book
, Land of the Misty Gems
, was a class project way back in the sixth grade. She wrote the text, illustrated the book with colored pencils, even bound it with twine and pasted a fabric cover on her creation. And now—mumble- mumble years later—she still has that book. It was the beginning of her writing career, even if until the early 1990s that writing consisted mainly of research papers and essay test questions and then newspaper articles.

Trish was born and grew up in Western Kentucky and began reading so long ago she doesn’t really remember how it all started. She does remember loving a little book called The Runaway Pancake, then the regular treasures that would appear in her mailbox from the Weekly Reader Book Club, then books like the Little House on the Prairie series. The library was one of her favorite places. And even though being a bookworm didn’t do wonders for her social life when she was in her teens, she wouldn’t trade her love of books for the world.

After college, she worked as a newspaper reporter and magazine editor and still does some freelance writing and copy editing. But most of her writing now is fiction, and no matter what kind of story it is she can’t resist putting at least some romance in it alongside the paranormal or suspense elements. Her writing has finaled in Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart Contest eight times, winning twice. White Witch, her February 2012 release from Bell Bridge Books, was the 2007 Golden Heart winner in the Young Adult category.

In her free time, she loves watching movies and TV (she bought herself a TiVo when she made her first sale), hiking, reading and road trips.