Last Good Man (A Crown Creek Standalone)

by Theresa Leigh

  Sleep closed over me almost immediately, bringing with it a tumble of dreamlike images. Willa's white hoodie. Her splayed fingers curled skyward. The red shine of the ambulance lights as they reflected off the wet pavement. Her skeptical expression and the way she'd rolled her eyes when Liam suggested she ride with us. And how I'd been so shitty. Yeah, we didn't get along, but what was a ride? It was such a simple thing. I could have at least told her it wasn't a big deal. I could have fucking pretended, if not for her sake, then Liam's. But mostly hers.

  I turned that conversation over and over in my head, wishing. Wishing that I'd acted differently. Wishing I'd just nodded when Liam suggested it. Then Willa would be okay.

  If I could just live that moment over again, I'd jump at the chance to help her.

  * * *

  Chapter

  Chapter Ten

  Cooper

  My eyes snapped back open a second before my phone buzzed in my pocket. Grateful for the distraction from my overwhelming guilt, I checked the caller ID.

  "Shit," I hissed in a long exhale. "Shiiiit." Then put it to my ear. "Hey."

  "Don't hey me," Liam growled at the other end.

  "I know." I pinched the bridge of my nose between my thumb and index finger and tried to massage the bleariness away. "I'm sorry I didn't call yet, I kept meaning to and -"

  “I called to tell you I landed hours ago. Left you a voicemail blathering on all about the bumpy takeoff and how fun that was with a hangover. Figured you’d get back to me when you heard it but...” He trailed off and then suddenly, ferociously, he growled, ”Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

  I swallowed and glanced around. There were no nurses listening in, no sign of Chrissi anywhere.

  I decided to risk it. "We're not actually engaged," I muttered, lowering my voice almost to a whisper.

  "Yeah. No shit." Nobody could cut you with sarcasm quite like Liam Mulligan. "I'm not even touching that yet. We can deal with that later. What I want to know is why I had to hear she was hurt from Ethan!?"

  My blood ran cold. The word "shit" froze on my lips in an inaudible whisper.

  Liam kept shouting. "You know what I did? Yeah, I called him to find out if his cousin would share his secret recipe for Old-Fashioneds because I am already going through withdrawal. Do you know how big of an asshole that made me? Here I am calling E and badgering him to con his grumpy cousin into giving me a cocktail recipe, because my big plan for tonight is to give it to the bar down the street from here and get homesick drunk all by my lonesome. Only to find out he's leaving the hospital after visiting Willa?" His voice rose louder. "Who got hit by a car?"

  I was rubbing my eyes so hard I saw spots. But still, everything seemed blurry. "I know." It was all I could say. "I started calling you a bunch of times, but was cut off every single time."

  "What the hell happened?" He wasn't shouting anymore, and there was heavy, worried pain in his voice. "I thought you were taking her home? What the hell happened to her, Coop?"

  The worry in his voice. The fucking love for her that was still there all these years later, even after she broke his heart. It made no sense. It still made no sense. I swallowed down my knee-jerk reaction and answered his question through gritted teeth. "I wasn't taking her home. She wasn't in the truck with us."

  ”Bullshit."

  "It's the truth. You were so shitfaced you just thought she was there, but she never came with us."

  "You said... of course she was. You promised you'd get her home."

  "I know," I exploded. "I promised you and I fucking kept my promise. I went back to the party." It was suddenly hard to catch my breath. I squeezed my eyes shut, but the terrible memory of that night was seared into my brain. "And when I found out she'd walked home, I went looking for her, Liam." I took a deep breath. "I was the one who found her."

  From the sound of it, he had collapsed into a chair. He was silent for a long moment. "Jesus."

  "I stayed with her. Rode the ambulance and everything. I was right there." I felt something sliding on my cheek and was surprised when my fingers came away wet. I gritted my teeth and tried to force my breath to come at slow, regular intervals, but the panicked adrenaline made it hard to keep from gasping. "I made sure she was okay. Like I said I would. You know I keep my promises."

  I listened to his silent, gasping breath as he processed this. Was he crying? Shit. "Liam?"

  "You didn't call me?" he shouted. "Jesus Christ Cooper, you let me just blithely move all my shit and settle in a city, hours away from her while she's lying in a damn hospital? I knew you hated her, but I didn't think you hated me too!"

  Stunned, I took a breath. "I don't hate you. Shit, I went through hell just to keep a promise I made to you when you were so shitfaced I figured you’d never remember asking for it.” As quickly as it came, the anger rushed back out of me. "And I don't hate her, either."

  "Could have fooled me," he snarled in a half-strangled whisper.

  "I hate what she did to you," I reminded him. For the millionth time.

  "Yeah well..." He trailed off and went silent. It sounded for a moment like he'd hung up on me until his voice came back strong and loud. "It was never what you thought."

  I opened my mouth. Shut it. Closed my fist and squeezed until my knuckles were white. "What else could it be?" I asked.

  He took a deep breath. Blood thumped in my ears. After five years, was he finally realizing where his loyalty should have always belonged? Who had his back even when he didn't want to believe it? Was this it? The moment he finally thanked me for bringing him the truth? I held my breath, waiting.

  Liam cleared his throat. "Is she awake? I want to FaceTime."

  My breath came out in a whoosh like he'd punched me in the gut. Squeezing my eyes shut, I felt the sting of angry tears and then the shame that came right after. I needed to hang up before I lost it. "My battery's almost dead," I informed him. "And she was asleep last I saw. Her mom is here.”

  "Ah jeez, poor Mrs. Harlow must be shitting herself."

  "She's holding it together well." Clipped. Neutral. Bye, Liam.

  He knew me well enough to hear it. "Okay, well, I'll let you go. Just one more thing."

  "Yeah." My finger was already sliding to the End Call button.

  "Does Mrs. Harlow think you guys are engaged too?"

  My finger fell away. Shit. I dragged my hand through my hair and then sighed as my anger drained away, leaving in its place a deep longing for a sit down at Crown Tavern for a beer with my best friend. "Shit man," I sighed again. "I need your advice. I think... I think I might have really fucked up."

  * * *

  Chapter

  Chapter Eleven

  Willa

  The creek sounded like voices sometimes. Like your parents’ low voices on the floor below you, while you lay awake upstairs straining to make out individual words from the murmur.

  I listened to those murmuring, muttering voices now with my eyes closed, tilting my face up to the sun. "What are they saying?" Liam asked. He was sitting next to me, his fretful hands breaking a stick into small pieces. I could hear them now, snap snap snap.

  * * *

  I listened again and caught the words, "asleep." "I think they want me to wake up," I joked, opening my eyes again to look down at his hands.

  But they weren't Liam's long, delicate piano-playing fingers. These hands were stronger, the fingers thicker, with a sheen of golden hair at the wrists. I dragged my eyes up, already knowing whose face it would be, but when I saw Cooper's blue eyes, I was startled anyway. "What are you doing here?"

  He looked right at me.

  I snapped awake.

  The murmur of the creek in my dreams really was voices. A whole, whole lot of voices. And the warmth of the sun on my face was my mother's hand as she patted me gently. "Baby, you have visitors."

  "What?" I stretched awake and groaned as all the pain in my body flared to life. Like it had been lying in wait, ready to pounce as soon as my eyes
opened. "Oh!" My head fell back, throbbing, and I tried to gasp, but the pain in my ribs made that impossible. "Shit that hurts."

  "I'm so sorry this happened to you, honey," said an unfamiliar voice.

  No. Not unfamiliar at all, just... unexpected. "You're here?"

  Roxane Ryan was standing in my hospital room, wearing her trademark pearls, trademark grin, and trademark pink pantsuit. On TV it looked bubblegum, under the unflattering yellowish fluorescents, it really looked more salmon-colored. "I'm here, honey."

  "Wait... why? What the hell is that camera doing here?"

  "Honey, Roxane wants to help us track down the person who did this to you." My mom was patting my hand, but watching the news anchor with a slightly unhinged smile on her face. Even minor local celebrities were enough to render my Mom completely star struck and Roxane Ryan was not minor. "She's here to help us!"

  "That's right," Roxane agreed, with a smile that made my mother's hand tighten over mine. "I know you're probably worried about not looking your best..."

  "It's not that -"

  "But trust me, you look lovely," she kept right on talking over me. Her voice was as warm as it was when she reported the news, and for some reason, hearing it made me want to cry. "When I asked at the front desk, they sent me right up. They didn't tell me you were sleeping."

  I sat up straighter and tried to grin stoically through the throbbing pain in my head. "It's fine. Of course." My mother patted my shoulder, asking a silent question, and I nodded in answer. "I'm awake."

  "We're going to try to appeal to the audience tonight. For anyone with information to come forward." I knew it was all trained schtick, but damn was she good. I was starting to believe she really took this personally. "I just wanted to ask you a few questions.”

  I licked my lips and nodded.

  "Great." She turned and waved over her camera guy's head to someone I couldn't see. "Just go in and stand over there, okay?"

  Around the cameraman stepped Cooper Grant. He lifted his gaze from the floor as he stepped towards me, and met my eyes. Something instinctual and uncontrolled inside of me panged helplessly at the dark circles under his sunken, bloodshot eyes. Even the normally brilliant blue looked faded and washed out. A scratchy line of blond stubble glinted on his cheeks. I'd never seen him without a fresh shave before.

  "Get in there, honey," Roxane called. "Stand right next to your fiancée, there."

  I stiffened at the word and glared up at Cooper. What the fuck? I mouthed.

  Cooper smiled at Roxane. A big, bright, false smile. That faded into sheepishness as he looked back in my direction.

  "Let me get out of your way, I look a fright." My mother kissed me and leaped up, reacting to the cameras the way a vampire reacts to sunlight. "Don't film me, you're not filming, right?" She patted her hair as she dashed out of the line of sight.

  Leaving me alone with Cooper. "Fiancé?" I hissed at him. He still hadn't explained.

  Cooper kept his smile pasted on his face. "Hi," he said, settling into the chair my mother had so willingly abandoned. He put his arm up on the pillow behind my head.

  And leaned in.

  I gasped as his lips lowered towards mine. My whole body broke out into goosebumps and I felt like my blood was fizzing. On instinct, I shied away from the kiss even as a part of me was anticipating it... for some reason... wait...

  Just as I came to my senses, Cooper’s lips veered sideways, away from my mouth and towards my ear. "I'm sorry," he breathed. The warmth of his breath on my ear made me shiver. "I'm just... I'm sorry. Please. Just... play along?"

  "That's sweet. Get that," Roxane's voice urged.

  The bright lights hit us. I made a sound of protest and tilted my head to glare up at Cooper.

  He was looking down at me. His eyes, they were full of apology. I'd never seen him look like that before. Penitent. Begging. "Please," they said. "Help me out here."

  And to my surprise, I suddenly wanted to do just that. I ran my tongue along my teeth. Then gave him the barest of nods.

  Relief flooded his face and for a second I thought he really might kiss me.

  But instead, he reached out and gently laid his right hand over mine.

  And we both turned to face the camera. "Just a few questions, for human interest," Roxane explained, her warm voice all coolly clipped and professional now. "It's going to be cut in with snippets from Jim Crowthers." She turned her head and hissed something at her cameraman who nodded quickly. Then her warm smile returned as she counted down. "I'm here at Reckless Falls Hospital, where hit and run victim, Willa Harlow, is now recovering under the watchful eye of her fiancé, Cooper Grant." She turned and smiled at us. "How long have you two been engaged?"

  Cooper felt me flinch and patted my hand. Reminding me to stick to the story. Why? Well, I intended to find that out. He looked at me, and then carefully spoke. "Well, we've known each other forever."

  That was... Not a lie. I nodded, adding, "It just sort of...happened."

  Also not a lie, though not true in the way Roxane probably understood it. She was nodding, her warm smile looking more genuine than ever.

  Holy shit, it was working. "Honestly, I was completely blindsided," I went on, giving Cooper a significant look.

  He was giving me a look right back. Another one I'd never seen on him.

  Was it... fondness? His fingers jerked a little, then pressed more strongly over the tops of mine. The pressure felt... nice.

  "What was it like?" Roxane's full attention was on Cooper now. She seemed a little taken with him. "Seeing her on the road like that?"

  His face crumpled. His jaw worked. If that was an act, he should win a damn Oscar. "It was... scary. So scary." My heart was lurching around in my chest as I watched him. His blue eyes shone unnaturally bright for a second. He blinked.

  Without thinking, I put my hand up on his shoulder. It rose and fell under my hand. He was warm, almost hot to the touch, but soothing in the same way a bonfire was. I could feel the way his muscles played under his skin and the feel of it fascinated me so much I almost missed the question Roxane directed at me. "And you, Willa? What was it like?"

  I blinked. "I didn't know anything until I woke up here but..." I looked at Cooper and exhaled the long, painful realization. "He saved my life."

  "And what about your ring?" Roxane asked.

  The tone of her question implied she was looking for a tragic reason as to why I wasn't wearing it. But Cooper stiffened anyway. I could feel the tension in his shoulders and had to resist the urge to rub it away with my one good hand. Instead I smiled at Roxane. "It kept slipping off, so he took it to be resized. I'm so glad I wasn't wearing it." I gazed up at Cooper who was watching me, amazed. "I'm really glad you thought my fingers were fatter than they are, honey!" He looked shocked as I lightly bopped him on the nose.

  From the other side of the room, where she'd apparently been watching the whole thing unnoticed, Chrissi suddenly lost control. "Oh my goodness!" she squeaked. "You're so devoted to him!" The cameraman swung around to catch her just as she was pressing her hand to her heart. She looked right into the lens with the practiced air of a born movie star. “They’re so good together. It’s been such an honor watching this young man caring for his beloved so carefully. Isn't young love so beautiful?”

  * * *

  Chapter

  Chapter Twelve

  Cooper

  The segment aired on the eleven o'clock news. We watched it from Willa's hospital room after a special dispensation from Chrissi allowed me to stay past the end of visiting hours, "So you don't miss your big moment." Of course she stayed right there watching it with us, sipping coffee from a Styrofoam cup as she sat next to Mrs. Harlow. The two of them were becoming fast friends, united by Mrs. Harlow's fierce love for her daughter, and Chrissi's fiercely misguided love of us as a couple.

  "Now once this is over, you have to promise me you're going to come by and have dinner with us," Mrs. Harlow pulled me aside and whispered.
"I know I work crazy hours, and it's none of my business who Willa dates, but I would like to know you more, you know? I feel so bad I barely know you. We're family now, son." She pressed my hands between hers.

  I was saved from one awkward moment only to be thrust into another one when Police Chief Jim Crowthers chose that moment to show up and offer me a ride back to my truck.

  "Oh, let me take you home!" Mrs. Harlow objected. "You poor thing, you look like you need to sleep for a year."

  I looked between the woman who thought I was to be her son-in-law and the man who had the power to throw me in jail if he wanted and decided the police chief was the less scary option. "Thanks, Mrs. Harlow. But you need to get home to Jakey." I smiled a smile that I hoped was winning but probably looked like that of a crazy person.

  Over the course of that very awkward ride in a police cruiser, Chief Crowthers proudly told me that the response to the evening news segment had been huge. The tips were starting to flood in.

  And so were the congratulations.

  "Everyone wants to help the two of you," Jim told me. It was pitch black as we slipped through the night with Chief Crowthers flagrantly ignoring the posted speed limit signs. But his face was lit by the glow off his dash, and I could see his impressive handlebar mustache curving the same way his smile did. "And everyone also wants to make sure the wedding is still on. I think you're gonna have to make it open to the public or we're gonna have some riots on our hands." I tried to arrange my face into an expression of something other than deer-in-the-headlights terror and he glanced at me and chuckled, mistaking my guilt for wedding planning jitters. "I told the girls answering the phones to let people know that wedding plans are not official police business." He lowered his voice conspiratorially. "But you can tell me, son. And if you need a venue, I've got some clout. You let me know if you need to rent the fire hall and I'll tell Danny Silver it's on me. He owes me one after he bet against us at the Firemen vs. Police Officers Softball Game last weekend."