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Chapter 1

Nothing chased away nightmares and anxiety like nachos At least, that hat Tara Hunter hoped

“Anything else?” Matt asked frohborhood

“A ru the scarf from her neck She settled both on the stool next to her It was eleven o’clock on a Sunday night, and the bar was as quiet as she’d hoped it would be

Having placed the order, though, she was back to having nothing to distract her fro couldn’t quite calm She knew exactly why her central nervous syste out—because to tea didn’t ht into all the ways her brain was ot her so far

So Tara forced a deep breath and counted backward from five

Five things she could see Her reflection in the , carved bar Her long wavy hair pretty much looked like she’d rolled out of bed, because she had Without any ht of the bar

What else?

The rows of bottles glinting gold and white in the spotlights all along the bar A couple tucked into the last booth, sitting on the same side and totally wrapped up in each other Outside the front , unusual late-winter flurries blew on the night wind

Tara took another deep breath

Four things she could hear The alternative rock song playing on the juke box Ice clinking in a glass She peered around, her gaze following the sounds of the other diners Aon his phone, loudly, one of those people who talked louder on cell phones as if he thought he needed to force his voice down the line At the other end of the bar from where she sat, a customer thanked the bartender as he slid off his stool

That time, her breath came deeper, slower, calmer

Keep going

Three things she could feel Her nipples against her sweater, because her anxiety attack hadn’t been able to abide taking the tione for a walk in the late-February air

Matt delivered her drink, and Tara took a long pull fro she could feel The slass in her hands—that was the third