Overheated

by Barbara Dunlop

  Then he met her gaze above the kids’ heads. He was worried. She was worried, too. She tried to be like her mother, but a sick feeling of dread wormed its way through her system. She indulged herself in ten seconds of complete despair, then she forced herself to rally.

  “Rufus is waiting in the car,” she told the kids, taking their hands. “We might have to run through the rain.”

  As they headed down the hall, she turned back to mouth the words “call me” to her parents. She didn’t doubt they would. But it made her feel better to clarify the request.

  When they got to the main doors of the emergency department, a young police officer fell into step with them.

  “Are you heading for the parking lot, ma’am?”

  Crystal nodded.

  “I’ll walk along with you.”

  Maybe it was the officer’s presence, but an eerie feeling crept along Crystal’s spine as she hustled the kids through the dark rain. She was glad when they were in the car-doors locked, engine running and Rufus taking a post next to David.

  When she drove up to the drop-off zone at the airport, three men in black vests, with SECURITY emblazoned in yellow across their backs, all but swarmed her vehicle. One took the keys and whisked the car away. The other two guided them, Rufus and all, to a private lounge. There, one of the men stayed outside the door while the other introduced himself to the kids, chatting cheerfully while he showed them a small side counter with muffins, fruit and soft drinks.

  A few minutes later, the security guard who’d taken the car showed up. He gave Crystal the keys and produced a new T-shirt for David. It was a bright blue tourist special, with North Carolina embroidered across the chest. But David was thrilled.

  When Larry walked through the door, Crystal felt a rush of relief. He hugged both the kids.

  “You guys okay?” he asked them.

  “We wore our seat belts,” said David. “Just like jet fighter pilots.”

  She met Larry’s gaze, and her gratitude nearly staggered her. Amber hadn’t been wearing her seat belt. Who knew if she would have insisted the kids wear theirs?

  A split second later, Crystal was wrapped in Larry’s arms. She all but melted against his strength, feeling like she could finally share the load of emotion.

  Too soon, he was easing back from her. “Anybody been in an airplane at night?” he asked the kids.

  “Not me,” said David.

  Jennifer shook her head.

  “Then you’re in for a treat.” He ushered them toward the door.

  LARRY’S ADRENALINE WAS STILL at a steady hum when they got the kids to sleep around two o’clock. Closing the door of Nash’s upstairs bedroom, he had to stop himself from taking Crystal in his arms. It was bad enough when she wasn’t around, but with her here-and beautiful, and vulnerable and hurt-it was almost more than he could do to keep his emotions in check.

  “Your bedroom’s next door,” he pointed to another doorway. “Bathroom’s at the end.”

  “What about you?” she asked, those wide green eyes gazing at him in the soft light.

  “I’ll be downstairs.”

  Nash’s bedroom was on the main floor, and Larry was going to take the pullout couch. He could have gone to his own house next door. The odds of Zane showing up in Myrtle Pond were astronomically low, but Larry couldn’t shake the instinct to put himself between Crystal and the kids, and any potential danger, no matter how remote.

  “You want a drink or something?” he asked.

  “I think I’ll go straight to bed.”

  He nodded, but his mind was straying to thoughts of crawling into bed beside her and drawing her sweet body up against his own, wrapping her in his strength and working like hell to make her feel better, if only for a little while.

  “Anything more from your parents?”

  She shook her head. “They expected the surgery to take hours. She has some broken ribs, but they’re most worried about…” She raised trembling fingers to her mouth. “Internal bleeding, and the head wound.”

  He took her hand, almost desperate to hold her, but terrified he wouldn’t be able to let her go. “You call me if you hear?”

  “I will.”

  “And let me know if you need anything. Anything at all.”

  The depths of her eyes told him what she needed, but it was the one thing he couldn’t give her. Now wasn’t the time to flaunt logic. Decisions made under emotional duress were inherently dangerous. A powerful hormonal cocktail was at work in his body, dilating his blood vessels, heightening everything he was thinking or feeling, making even insignificant issues seem of paramount importance.

  If ever there was a time to let cooler heads prevail, this was it. And he’d had a cooler head on Sunday. He had to trust that he’d made a good decision then.

  He let go of her hands. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  She nodded, and he turned to head down the stairs.

  Nash was typing on his computer, a headset on one ear, his voice low into the microphone.

  He spotted Larry, then turned to search the room, obviously checking for Crystal.

  “Roger that,” he said into the microphone. “Call me when you know.”

  Then he leaned back in his wheeled desk chair. “Got a few friends lending a hand with the police in Charlotte.”

  “I like your friends,” said Larry, taking a seat nearby.

  “They’d like you, too. They’re following up on a couple of leads, checking out the local bars and hospitals. It looks like Zane left enough blood at the scene to test for blood alcohol. The jerk was plastered.”

  “Yet he tosses his own kids in the backseat for a joyride. The man ought to be shot.”

  “You serious?”

  No, Larry wasn’t serious. “We can hardly hunt him down and shoot him.”

  Nash slid his mouse pointer across the screen and clicked on an icon. “Apprehension mishaps happen all the time, my friend.”

  “I’d settle for a long stint in a detestable prison.”

  “Odds are with you, then.”

  LATE AFTERNOON, Crystal stood at the rail of Nash’s deck watching Larry tow the kids on an inflatable raft behind Nash’s speedboat. Amber had come through the surgery well, but she would be in intensive care for the foreseeable future. She’d also have months of therapy ahead of her for a shattered ankle and a broken pelvis.

  She hadn’t regained consciousness yet, which was probably a blessing. It was going to be a long, painful haul, and the best they could hope for was one day at a time.

  They’d glossed over the details to the kids, and Larry had spent the past two days valiantly distracting them with games, water sports and renovation projects on the Victorian house. They’d even taken a shopping trip into Asheboro to pick up a few clothes.

  Nash appeared next to her, handing her a glass of iced tea. She hadn’t even heard him approach.

  “Thanks,” she told him, taking the cool, slippery glass.

  He gave her a nod in response.

  “And thanks for the security guards at the airport. I didn’t realize how rattled I was that night.”

  “Not unusual,” he said.

  It wasn’t the first time Nash had piqued her curiosity. “How would you know that?”

  “You’re human.”

  She supposed that was true enough.

  “You did everything right,” he assured her.

  “Thanks.”

  The outboard motor whined as Larry made a turn, David squealed as he came flying off the inflatable raft, skimming the surface before bobbing under for a split second then being righted by his bright orange lifejacket.

  He waved his arms, giving a thumbs-up.

  Hanging on tightly to the inflatable herself, Jennifer shouted, “We’re coming around for you!”

  “He sure knows how to show them a good time,” said Crystal, wishing for the thousandth time she was ten years older or Larry was ten years younger.

  “You going to be okay?”
asked Nash in a gruff voice.

  She looked up at him for clarification.

  “Spending time with him. Like this. While he stomps all over your heart?”

  “He’s not stomping-”

  “Maybe not intentionally. But I see the way you look at him.”

  Crystal felt an embarrassed flush rise in her face. Pity from a man like Nash was really hard to take.

  “It’s the kids that count,” she said.

  “Agreed. But you have to live with the aftermath.”

  She swirled the iced tea and ice cubes. “I have a plan.”

  There was amusement in his voice. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. I’m going to start a charitable trust for abandoned animals and employ myself. I already have a lawyer working on the details. It’ll be worthwhile, satisfying work. Next, I’ll get a new apartment.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  “I’m going to be fine.”

  “Okay.”

  “No man is that important.”

  Nash gave her a look that said she was deluding herself. Maybe she was. But it was all she had at the moment.

  David shrieked again, as Larry pulled up to the dock. He tied off while the kids pulled the inflatable out of the water and up onto the beach.

  “Guess I’d better think about dinner,” said Nash, pushing his chair back.

  “Never would have guessed you were the domesticated type.”

  “There are a lot of things you wouldn’t guess,” he said with a mock, two-fingered salute.

  “Auntie Crystal,” David called, jogging across the lawn ahead of Larry and Jennifer. “That was cool!”

  “Really?” said Crystal. “I couldn’t tell you were having fun.”

  David made it to the top of the stairs. “We were having fun,” he confirmed, hopping up and down in place.

  “Glad to hear it. Coming up on dinner, so you better get out of that wet bathing suit.”

  He nodded, scampering for the glass door, remembering to wipe his feet on the mat before heading inside.

  Jennifer arrived, her skinny arms wrapped around her bathing suit-clad body. “We’re going to need a big dinner,” she announced.

  “I could eat a horse,” said Larry.

  “Eeewww,” squealed Jennifer, prancing into the house.

  Nash appeared in the doorway, his telephone headset in his ear.

  He looked at Larry just as Crystal’s cell phone rang.

  She turned to the table to answer it and thought she saw Nash give Larry a nod.

  “Hello?” she greeted.

  “Crystal Hayes?”

  “Yes?”

  “This is Sergeant Wilson of the Charlotte Metropolitan Police. I’ve been asked to inform you that a Mr. Zane Crandell was taken into custody today. He’s here at the Central Station.”

  A wash of relief fell through Crystal’s body, and she dropped herself into a deck chair.

  Larry approached, putting a hand on her shoulder.

  “Thank you,” she said to the man.

  “Do you have any questions?”

  “No.” There was nothing more she wanted to know. Zane was off the streets and that was all that mattered.

  “Very well,” said the sergeant. “Goodbye, then.”

  “Goodbye.” She gripped the little phone tight. “They got him.”

  “That’s great,” said Larry, with a squeeze. “Do you want to tell the kids?”

  Crystal pictured their dripping hair and laughing eyes. “Let’s do it later.”

  Larry nodded, and Crystal’s phone rang again.

  She put it back up to her ear. “Hello?”

  “Crystal?” It was her mother.

  “You heard? I am so relieved.”

  “Crystal.”

  Relief began turning to anger. “Whatever they give him. Whatever he gets-”

  “Crystal.” Her mother’s tone was uncharacteristically sharp.

  “What?”

  “It’s Amber.”

  Everything inside Crystal went dead still. “What?” she rasped from deep in her chest.

  “They had to do emergency surgery.”

  Time stopped while her mother took a breath.

  “She didn’t survive it.” Stella’s voice broke.

  “No,” Crystal moaned. “No.”

  How could it happen? How could it have gone so terribly wrong? The relationship should have run its course. Zane should have grown tired and left town.

  “It was the bleeding,” said her mother, regrouping. “They couldn’t stop the bleeding.”

  David’s laughter echoed down the stairs, and Nash immediately retreated inside, closing the door behind him.

  Larry’s arm went around Crystal’s shoulders as the first sob burst from deep in her soul.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  T HE FUNERAL WAS S UNDAY. While his family attended the NASCAR race in Michigan, Larry was in Charlotte, standing in a wind-swept cemetery with a cluster of Amber’s friends and family watching Jennifer protectively clutch her little brother who was sitting on a dark, folding chair between his sister and Crystal, tears streaking his cheeks. The little girl was dry-eyed, and had been that way since she heard the terrible news.

  Crystal’s face was stark white above the collar of her black dress. He knew she’d been busy with the arrangements for the past three days, but it looked like reality had now hit her with a sledgehammer.

  The preacher spoke of life, death and redemption, but Larry didn’t think Crystal was hearing a word. She stared straight at the polished coffin and its simple bouquet of white roses. Her parents sat next to Jennifer, while the rest of those assembled stood in the early morning sunshine.

  Larry knew there was nothing he could do or say that would ease her sorrow. The preacher finished, then the family bravely rose as the coffin was lowered into the ground. They each dropped a rose into the grave, then the other mourners filed by.

  Larry said his own goodbye to the woman he’d never had the chance to get to know, then he followed Crystal, catching up to her at the line of black cars waiting at the curb.

  While the kids got in, he gently touched her elbow.

  She turned.

  “If there’s anything I can do…”

  She nodded and gave him a brave smile, patting his arm. “I’m going to keep it low-key this week.”

  “Good idea.”

  “I don’t…” Her voice broke. “I don’t even know if I should take them home for some of their things, or buy them new clothes. Would familiar things be good, or would the trip traumatize them?”

  “Play it by ear,” he suggested. “You’ll know what to do.”

  She gave a little nod of uncertainty, looking small and tired and so alone in the world.

  His hands curled into fists, and he had to steel himself to keep from drawing her into his arms, lending her his strength, trying everything in his power to take away some of her burden.

  But he knew he couldn’t do that. Being half in, half out of her life was the worst thing he could do. He could still see the love in her eyes. It matched the adoration he felt in his soul. If there were no complicating factors, he’d whisk her and the kids off right this minute and keep them with him forever.

  But life wasn’t simple. Hell, there was nothing about life that was remotely simple.

  “Thank you, Larry,” she whispered, stretching up to kiss him on the cheek.

  And then she slipped away. The car door closed, and they pulled away from the curb.

  When the car disappeared around the corner, he turned to walk back to his own car. He put it in gear, drove home and headed straight to his study, forcing himself to take up his research, hoping against hope he could take his mind off Crystal and the kids.

  He worked relentlessly every day. But when he was forced to stop to eat, he’d think about Crystal. Several times he picked up the phone, only to slam it back down in self-disgust.

  But, as the days wore on, he weakened. He started asking him
self what would be so terrible about a call, or about a quick visit? At the very least, he wanted the kids to know he was there for them. And he was. He was prepared to offer anything they needed.

  Then, on Friday, he remembered Crystal’s overnight bag. It was still in the backseat of his car from the night they broke up. He could return it, say hello to the kids, maybe stay for coffee.

  Without giving his better nature a chance to protest, he abandoned his whiteboard and grabbed his car keys.

  IT HAD BEEN A QUIET WEEK for Crystal. The first couple of days were the worst, but they were slowly settling into a routine. Amber’s will had made it clear that she wanted Crystal to raise her children, and their grandparents supported that wish. The day after the funeral, Crystal’s mother had arrived with some of the kids’ clothes from their apartment, and wisely arranged to have their beds, quilts and stuffed animals delivered to Crystal’s place.

  Not for the first time, she appreciated her mother’s strength and practicality.

  Jennifer and David seemed comforted by the familiar things. David was on-and-off weepy, particularly at night, but Rufus seemed to give him great comfort. Crystal was grateful for the dog. It was the need to walk him that first got her back outside. Yesterday, they’d even done a grocery shopping trip.

  Jennifer hadn’t cried yet. Crystal had worried about that. But then she read that it was normal. Everyone’s grief took a different path.

  There was a knock at her kitchen door.

  Rufus immediately took up his post.

  “Can I get it?” asked Jennifer, looking up from her book.

  “Go ahead.” Crystal nodded. “But look through the window first.”

  Jennifer rose and padded across the room. “It’s Uncle Larry,” she called, joy in her voice.

  Crystal’s stomach clenched with nerves, while David skidded out from the bedroom. “Uncle Larry?”

  Jennifer opened the door, and Crystal came face-to-face with the man who’d been haunting her dreams.

  “Hi, guys,” he greeted, smiling at each of the kids.

  He looked to Crystal and held up her overnight bag. “I thought you might need this.”

  She’d completely forgotten about leaving the bag in his car. Rising to her feet, she crossed the apartment to take it from his hands. “It was nice of you to bring it by.” She felt ridiculously formal and awkward.