by Thianna D
The airport was no longer an issue. Open. Closed. They weren’t going to be boarding a plane today. He’d be spending the evening at the hospital. If anyone found him before he ran out of gas and froze to death.
Obviously, the SUV wasn’t easy to see from the road, since nobody had seen them yet. He struggled out of his parka and, opening the door again, shook it out to remove as much snow as possible. Dragging off his boots, he knocked them against the bottom of the door and then tossed the clothing in the backseat and the boots on the driver’s side floor. With the door closed again, he would be warm enough.
For now.
He managed to lift his right leg enough to roll up his pants, shove down his sock, and examine his ankle. Swollen and already black and blue, but he couldn’t feel any broken bones. In his far less than expert opinion, he had sustained a bad sprain.
Still...it hurt.
Roy turned on the radio, hoping for a weather update, and remembered the dash system. He might not have his phone in hand, but if it had landed enough to be within range, he could use voice commands to call for help. 911, at this point. Even if he could miraculously get back up to the road, he couldn’t drive with his injury. Right leg, of course.
“Call 911,” he ordered.
Nothing.
“Call 911”
A sexy male voice replied. “Out of range, darlin’”
Unreasonable rage lit him up. He sat in Teri’s car. Who was calling his wife darlin’? Reaching for the touchscreen, he moved his foot, and pain shot up his leg again. Once it abated, back to dull throbbing, he chuckled.
He’d caused himself a lot of hurt over a mechanical voice in a car dashboard—hardly a threat to his marriage. Still, when he got home, he would suggest, firmly, Teri change to a female voice. Or change the settings so it didn’t call her affectionate pet names.
And the phone…he didn’t think it had flown far enough to be out of range, but it might very well be damaged. Another brilliant plan bit the dust.
He settled back in the seat and wished for ibuprofen or something to kill the pain. Not sharp, it was irritating and made him cranky.
Half a tank of gas should be enough to keep the engine running and the heat on for a while. When he didn’t show up, and Teri couldn’t reach him, she would call 911. Had she already tried? He hated to worry her.
But halfway to Denver—who would look for him? He hadn’t said a word about his plans, thinking he’d be right back.
Damned coyote!
“I drove Roy’s likely route home from work on the way here, Teri.”
Of course, he had. Kirsten’s husband, the big bearlike man with the deep chuckle and inner strength was also practical. He offset Kirsten’s slightly flaky but fun-loving side. “Thank you so much for helping me find my husband.” Her voice shook a little. “I cannot imagine what might have happened.” Or, rather, she could imagine a thousand things that might have happened.
And they terrified her.
In the City, they’d never been alone, surrounded by thousands, millions of people at all times, but if he’d left Corbin’s Bend proper, he might be all alone and in danger.
Teri reached for the seatbelt then stopped to remove her parka and toss it into the backseat of Ronnie’s toasty warm jeep. She fastened herself in and faced the side window, prepared to search for her husband. “So where do we go, then?”
Ronnie put the car in gear and pulled out onto the street. “Since we can’t reach him by phone, and since he didn’t tell you he had anywhere else to go…guesswork is involved. But Corbin’s Bend is a small enough place we should be able to cover the streets in a short time.” He drove to the end of the cul-de-sac and turned around.
Teri stripped off her gloves and tucked them into her handbag. “Okay, sounds good. But where can he be that he couldn’t just get out of the car, knock on a door, and call to let me know what’s going on?”
“In town…nowhere I can think of.” They lapsed into silence while Ronnie drove up one street and down the next, crunching over deeper snow each time. The darkening skies of early afternoon triggered the streetlights to turn on, and their glowing orbs lit the whirling flakes. Few cars were parked at the curbs even on Main Street the storefronts appeared nearly deserted.
“With weather this severe, everyone who can heads for home. If it gets any worse, the commuters who haven’t already left will stay in Denver overnight.
Denver. Even if Roy turned up in the next few minutes, the roads were so bad, they’d have a heck of a time getting to the airport. Which, according to the local news station murmuring from the dash, was still open, for the moment.
“I can’t even imagine how they are getting flights in and out,” she said, desperate to talk about something besides her growing panic.
“Around here, if we shut down every time it snowed, there’d be no point in even having an airport in winter.” He made a left turn. “But it won’t stay open much longer.”
The windshield wipers shoved off a heavy load of snow with each swipe and the headlights lit nothing but white. Suddenly, there were no longer buildings around them. “Where are you going?”
“We’ve searched every street in town, and I think it’s time to check the highway.”
She bit her lip, not liking that the unflappable man thought they needed help. “I don’t…that is, why would he leave town? If we’ve checked every street…”
“I can’t say, Teri. But it’s so cold, we’re dropping toward ice storm temps.”
As they approached the highway, glaring lights in red and blue flashed in the distance and her heart leapt into her throat.
“Oh God, an accident!” She leaned forward, trying to see through the snow building up on the windshield faster than the blades could handle it. The jeep crept along the road, closer and closer. Finally, Teri saw headlights and emergency vehicle spotlights illuminating the accident, and she could breathe again.
“Oh thank God.” Then guilt overrode the relief. “I shouldn’t be so grateful someone else’s accident…”
Ronnie patted her hand. “There’s no ambulance and those two guys standing by the sheriff’s vehicle appear to be yelling at each other in a pretty healthy way.” At the accident site—blocked by the plethora of vehicles, they paused to see two sedans with their bumpers locked. “Nope, they look fine.”
“Do you want to talk to the deputies while we’re here? Maybe they can phone it in?”
He tapped a finger on the steering wheel. “These fellas are pretty occupied. Let’s try the highway.”
“Isn’t it going to be blocked?”
“We’ll give it a try. I think they keep it as clear as possible for the officers, and the four-wheel drive should manage most of it anyway.” Ronnie worked his way past the accident and drove along, slowly and carefully, long minutes passing. Teri wondered why Roy would have left town at all…but what other options did they have? “Ronnie, do you think we should turn back?”
“Not yet, let’s just go a little farther in case.”
In case…in case they found another accident? This one fatal and including yet another person she loved? Teri breathed deeply, clutching her phone. He would call…and they would turn around. But anything was better than sitting home and worrying.
She scanned the roadway and the shoulder to their right sloping down into a shallow ditch edged with evergreen lodgepole, bristle-cone pines, bulky and white and aspens, bare branches piled with snow for any sign of the SUV. Several cars were pulled off to the side and they passed two fender benders, but the drivers were out of their cars and didn’t seem to be hurt.. On the other side of the road lay the forest, still home to so much wildlife, rabbits and coyotes, wildcats and bears and…
“Watch out!” A deer bounded across the road in front of them and Teri covered her eyes, but Ronnie held the car firm, not braking or jerking the steering wheel as she would have in his place, and when she peeked, the animal was no longer in sight and they were still on the road.
“I thought we were going to hit him for sure!”
“Glad we didn’t,” said Ronnie. “A big buck could have come right through the windshield.”
“You didn’t hit the brakes.” She clutched the dashboard with shaking fingers.
“Course not. That would have sent us right into the…” He stopped speaking and let up on the gas. “Well, hello neighbor.” They stopped on the shoulder.
“Roy,” she breathed. Her brand new SUV sat, perfectly upright, about thirty feet from the road, up to its bumpers in snow. As tears blurred her eyes, the window rolled down and a hand waved at them. “He’s okay, he’s fine.” She’d been afraid to even examine the feelings lurking under the surface.
Melinda and Shane’s accident the previous summer had not had such a happy ending. She could have ended up a widow with a triple-orphan on her hands and would have been too much of a wreck to care for anyone for properly.
She grabbed for the door, but Ronnie laid a hand on her arm. “Wait a minute. Let me make sure it’s safe for you to get out.”
She jumped out of the car, slipping on a patch of ice and landing on her rump with an “oof.” Before she could suck in a breath, Ronnie was at her side, helping her to her feet. He held both arms and stared down at her, with a fierceness she suspected only Kirsten had seen before.
“I asked you to wait.”
In her panic, she jerked free and took the first steps off the shoulder and toward her husband. How long had he been in the car? Was he warm? Why hadn’t he called? Distracted and rushing, she stumbled and shrieked.
* * * * *
Roy stared out the window in dismay as Teri tumbled down the bank, landing in a heap next to the SUV. She lay still, and a surge of panic sent acid up his throat into his mouth. The slope wasn’t much, but if she’d hit her head on a rock or…
He shoved the door open and hopped out, collapsing next to her when his traitorous ankle refused to support his weight. The pain shooting up his leg didn’t compare to the fear he felt at seeing his wife lying face down with a streak of blood in the snow next to her forehead. “Teri!” He feared she might have some sort of injury moving her would worsen, but he couldn’t leave her in the snow. Especially with her face buried in it. “Honey, Teri!” He patted her shoulder. “Baby, can you hear me?”
For a long moment, he waited, heart thudding in his ears, unsure what he could do if she was badly injured before a low moan assured him she was conscious and she rolled over on her own. “Oh, ow.” Teri lifted a hand to her forehead and pulled it, away damp with blood. “What did I do?”
“You ran off without paying attention to the possible dangers.”
Roy’s eyes lifted to see their neighbor Ronnie extending a hand to him. In his focus on his wife, he hadn’t seen him there. “Thanks for bringing Teri. I’m glad she wasn’t out here all alone.”
“I thought I’d keep her safe. I didn’t do a very good job.” Ronnie helped him lift Teri to her feet and Roy checked her for damage.
“I never thought anyone would figure out I’d driven way out here.”
Teri shivered and he felt guilt. In attempting to keep her safe by checking the road, he’d put them both in danger. And their neighbor.
Ronnie chuckled. “We checked everywhere else, only the highway was left.”
The lights from the interior of the SUV, with its door still open, showed a small scrape on her forehead, but no lump, to his great relief, and he turned his attention to getting them out of there. Still, he wanted her checked out. “We need to get out of the snow and to the clinic, I think.”
“No,” she protested, sitting up. “Roy is hurt. We need to get him to the hospital in Denver.” Accepting Ronnie’s offered hand, she stood and brushed off the worst of the snow. “Roy?”
He turned and used the doorway of the SUV to lift himself to his feet, but he’d never be able to make it up the slope on his own. Leaning against the passenger seat, he grimaced at the renewed ache in his lower leg. “Well, first of all, I am not taking no for an answer. You hit”—he frowned to still her protest—“or at least scraped your head on something, and we can’t take a chance on concussion.” Pushing himself to his feet he tested the ankle and grimaced. “And I need an x-ray. It’s possible my ankle is broken.” The clinic in Corbin’s Bend could handle that easily, but a head injury was much more serious and he wanted her in a big hospital if she was hurt worse than she looked. “Ronnie, do you think you can get us to Denver?”
Ronnie shrugged. “I’ve lived in this part of the country my whole life. The news says the road is open…and if it is, we can get there.”
Teri’s face crumpled and her lower lip trembled. “Oh, honey…broken?” Teri’s face crumpled and her lower lip trembled. “And why are you in your socks?”
He flexed his toes in the snow. “I forgot I’d taken them off.” Sitting on the edge of the seat, he tugged off his socks, snowy and useless, and replaced them with his boots.
“Let’s get in the jeep where it’s warm and dry. The weather is getting worse.” Ronnie put one arm around Teri and offered the other to him. “The roads are getting more dangerous by the moment, and I want to get you both checked out.”
Indeed, the soft, fluffy flakes were changing to a mix of snow and ice that stung his cheeks and hands. Roy shivered and reached behind him for his jacket. He shoved his arms in the sleeves and accepted his neighbor’s arm around his waist. The trio stumbled to the vehicle parked on the side of the road with the engine running. Ronnie settled him in the back seat and Teri in the front and moved around to the driver’s side.
Shivers overtook him, his teeth chattering, but he forced the reaction back as the warmth of the car’s interior settled him into a better state of mind and body. “I don’t suppose there’s any chance of getting the SUV towed out tonight?”
Ronnie shook his head. “I shouldn’t think so. Hang on a minute.” Punching a button on the dash, he announced, “Call Kirsten.” She answered on the first ring, and he updated her on the situation, promised to let her know what the doctors said about his passengers, and calmed her down when her voice rose to a high pitch. Disconnecting, he chuckled. “Hormones really do get her going. She wants a dozen kids but I am not sure how many pregnancies my nerves can take.”
“She’s a real trouper,” protested Teri. “Taking care of both kids while worried about all of us. And lending you to me to help find Roy!”
Ronnie chuckled. “I’m not a library book.”
Roy shifted in the seat, the throbbing seeming to respond to the warmth in a less than positive way. “Okay, Teri, do you have your phone?”
“Yes.”
“Please see if you can reach road service and at least get us on their list so hopefully we can get it towed to the garage in town. After landing it in a ditch, I’d like the mechanics to give it a good going over.” He rested his head against the seat and tried to think past the ache in his leg. “And let’s get going to the hospital. I’d like to get home sometime before dawn.”
Chapter Six
They drove on through the sleet and snow until the lights of Denver glowed in the distance. Teri wrung her hands in her lap the entire time, silent, while the men exchanged casual conversation about the weather and the likelihood roadside service would be able to retrieve the SUV before morning.
The wipers did their job, shoving the icy load off again and again. Few cars passed them on the other side, heading away from Denver, and none seemed to be going their way at all. Although early in the evening, the storm’s darkness and lack of other travelers on the road made it seem like the middle of the night.
“Here’s the exit, folks.” Ronnie changed lanes and exited, driving straight across the street at the bottom into the parking lot of the hospital. “I think I know where everyone who’s been on the highway is tonight.”
Teri gaped at the multiple emergency vehicles grouped around the emergency room entrance. Eight or ten ambulances, a few sheriff’s vehicles, even a fire t
ruck. “This isn’t from the accident we saw. Nobody even seemed to be hurt there.”
“No,” Ronnie agreed. “But in this weather, there are bound to be others.” He pulled into a space and put the car in park, but left the engine on. “With so much going on, it might be a while before they can see Roy—”
“And Teri,” Roy cut in from the back seat. “My ankle can wait until morning, but I don’t want to take a chance with a head injury.”
Teri parted her lips, ready to retort, but a glance at his leg propped on the seat silenced the protest. It wouldn’t kill her to let a doctor examine her and, if she argued, perhaps Roy would agree to go home until the next morning. Not on her watch. “Yes, dear.”
A long silence met her reply, and she lifted her eyes to his.
“What?”
“I expected a protest.”
She shrugged, unwilling to admit her real reason. “We could go to another hospital…?”
Roy held her gaze, his holding more questions than she thought the situation merited. “I hate to ask Ronnie to drive any further tonight, in this weather.”
Ronnie cleared his throat, and they both turned to him. “I don’t mind driving, but there’s no guarantee any other facility will be less crowded or that the roads would even be passable. I’d rather wait inside here, where we’re at least warm and out of the snow.”
“Makes sense,” Roy said. “Let’s go in and at least get in line. Maybe it won’t be too bad.” He sat up and stifled a groan. “If one of you would help me out.”
Teri hated to see him so pale. As stoic as he was when he was hurt or ill, it must be terribly painful. “I think we need a wheelchair.”
Ronnie cracked open his door. “Great idea. Let me see if I can get one and assess the situation in the ER at the same time.” He disappeared into the lighted entrance and for the first time since before her husband had disappeared, she had him to herself.
