“Maybe. I still don’t want to be high-maintenance, though.”
“I don’t think you have a choice in the matter. You are what you are. I happen to love you regardless.”
She couldn’t help it. His earnest expression made her go warm all over. “I guess it’s okay that I’m high-maintenance. I would like you to agree that I’m a low-maintenance high-maintenance person, though. It’s not like I’m one of those reality show chicks or something.”
“You most definitely are not. I will give you that.”
“Okay.” She danced in her chair. “Did I mention I’m glad we finally get to eat at this place? I’m just relieved to have a few hours out and about, just the two of us.”
“I’m right there with you. How about we take a walk downtown when we’re finished?”
“We’re going to have to if we’re digesting that lava cake and all the appetizers you ordered. That’s not even counting the prime rib.”
“Good point.”
THEY WERE STUFFED TO THEIR GILLS WHEN they finally departed the restaurant two hours later. Cooper left an absolutely massive tip for the waitress, who Hannah had no doubt would’ve preferred his phone number more than the money. Still, the meal had been fantastic and they both agreed it was someplace they would revisit again.
“You were going to say something earlier,” Cooper prodded, his fingers laced with hers as they stood at an intersection. He didn’t plan to wander too far away from his truck, but the night was too nice to ignore.
“When?” Hannah was genuinely baffled.
“Right after we ordered drinks and appetizers. You said you didn’t want to be high-maintenance and then we went off on a tangent.”
“Oh, right.” Hannah chuckled. “I was just going to point out that the waitress had a crush on you and the wink could be construed as flirting.”
He was taken aback. “I wasn’t flirting with her. Why would you think that?”
“I said the wink could be construed as flirting,” she repeated. “I know you weren’t flirting with her. I thought maybe I could pick a fake little fight so we could make up later. We enjoy doing that sometimes.”
“Ah.” He nodded in agreement. “I do like a good fake fight if it leads to some robust making up.”
“We don’t really need a fight, though. We can just jump straight to the making up.”
“I love the way your mind works.”
She laughed as he lavishly grabbed her around the waist and dipped her low so he could kiss her. She was focused on the exchange and yet a hint of bright energy caught her attention out of the corner of her eye and she couldn’t stop herself from looking to the east.
There, slowly, a bolt of what looked like blue lightning spread across the sky. The air crackled, and the few people out on the sidewalk looked in that direction, too. That’s how Hannah knew she wasn’t imagining it.
“What is that?” Cooper asked, confused. He instinctively pulled Hannah flush against his chest as a protective measure, even as the lightning disappeared.
“Is it going to storm?” Hannah asked, glancing around. The humidity was high for this late in the night but not so high it felt like an incoming storm.
“I don’t think so. I ....”
The lightning crackled again, this time going directly toward the streetlight in front of them. Cooper yanked Hannah away from the sparks, pulling her toward a group of bushes to serve as protection.
Just at that moment, the light turned to green from all angles and the traffic started moving ... from every single direction.
The night air filled with sickening crunch after sickening crunch, the whine of metal echoing as Cooper shaded Hannah’s head and used his body as a shield behind the bush.
Helpless, they listened until the crashes stopped ... and the screaming began.
3
Three
As soon as the noise stopped, Cooper swung into action.
“Stay here,” he ordered Hannah as he cleared the bushes and raced toward the crammed intersection. He wasn’t certain where to start, but when Hannah appeared at his side despite his order to the contrary, his temper bubbled up. “I told you to stay over there.”
“You need help.” She was matter-of-fact, and the obstinate tilt of her chin — something Cooper found adorable under different circumstances — told him she meant business. “You can’t do this by yourself.”
“How do you even know what I’m going to do?”
“Triage,” she replied simply on a shrug. “You’re going to see who is in the most dire need of help for when the paramedics get here.”
“Maybe you should call the paramedics instead.”
She extended her finger to a group of women on the other side of the street. They were panicked, talking a mile a minute, but one was clearly on the phone barking out instructions for the emergency responders.
“Fine.” He threw up his hands. “Be very careful, though. More cars could join this mess if they don’t realize what has happened.” And that was what he was most fearful of. “Don’t pull anyone out of the vehicles unless you’re certain they don’t have a back injury ... or you smell gas and think it’s likely cars could start blowing up.”
“Are you serious?” Hannah’s face was immovable.
“Yes, I’m serious. You could blow up.”
“Not that. I’m talking about the gas smell. Take a whiff. It’s all over the place.”
She was right, he realized. When he took a moment to inhale, all he could smell was gas ... and oil ... and blood. It was the last one that had him grimacing. “Be very careful. If you find someone who looks like they’re in real trouble ....” He trailed off. What was she supposed to do under those circumstances? There was nothing. She wasn’t a doctor or nurse.
“It won’t take the paramedics long to get here,” she reassured him. “Until then, we’ll do what we can.”
“Okay.” He pressed a firm kiss to her mouth. “Stay safe.”
Hannah moved to the right and he moved to the left. She poked her head inside the shattered window of the nearest vehicle and met the grim gaze of the woman inside. She had dark hair and eyes and what looked to be a nasty cut across her forehead.
“Are you okay?”
The woman nodded. “I think so. I was just doing a mental inventory. All my toes and fingers work. My back hurts a little bit but ... otherwise I think I’m okay.”
“You have a cut,” Hannah countered, glancing around the car for something to use to stem the blood. “Here.” She retrieved what looked to be fast food napkins from the passenger seat and reached in. “Keep these on your forehead. Paramedics are on the way. I have to check on the other vehicles.”
“How many people were hurt?” the woman queried, hissing out a breath as she made contact with the cut.
“I have no idea. I think it’s ten vehicles.”
The injured woman was dumbfounded. “No way.”
“It’s bad. People are coming, though. Just sit tight.”
Hannah moved to the next vehicle, bracing herself for more carnage. Instead she found a mother and her teenage daughter fighting. Both looked relatively unscathed, although the teenager was crying.
“This is not my fault,” the girl snapped. “I didn’t cause this.”
“I didn’t say it was your fault,” the mother yelled back. “You’re focusing on the most unimportant part of this, though. You’re okay. I’m okay. There’s no reason to freak out.”
“You’re the one freaking out!”
“No, you are!”
“That’s because they’re never going to give me my license.” The teenager started wailing, which Hannah figured was her cue to move to the next vehicle. If the two women could argue that way, they were likely okay. It was in the next vehicle, though, that her darkest worries came to fruition.
“Oh, my ....” Hannah instinctively tugged on the door because the window had somehow — miraculously — remained intact. It took effort, and there was a terri
fic grinding noise when she finally pulled open the door, her hands shaking as she pressed her fingers against the woman’s neck.
She almost cried out in relief when she felt the woman’s heartbeat. It wasn’t steady — more thready than anything else — but it didn’t feel as if she was going to die any second. Because Hannah had no idea what to do for the woman, she moved to the other side of the vehicle. That window was missing — she could feel the glass crunching beneath her feet — but she had to contort to reach the man behind the steering wheel. He also had a pulse, although it was much weaker than that of the woman sitting next to him. His breathing also appeared to be shallow.
“Are they going to be okay?” a cracking voice asked from the back seat.
Hannah jerked up her eyes, surprised, and met the terrified countenance of a teenager. The girl looked to be sixteen at the most, maybe even younger, and tears were swimming in her eyes. “I don’t know,” Hannah replied. She didn’t think lying to the girl was a good idea, so she went with the truth. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t think so.”
Alarm bells echoed through the depths of Hannah’s brain. “What hurts? Are you bleeding? Where are you injured?”
“Everything hurts.” The girl started openly sobbing. “I want my mom. Why won’t she wake up? I’ve tried talking to her, to both of them, but they don’t say anything. I think she’s dead. That’s what you’re not telling me, right?”
Hannah emphatically shook her head. “Her heart is still beating. I swear it.”
“Then why won’t she answer me?”
“She’s unconscious.” Hannah forced herself to remain calm in the shadow of the girl’s apparent panic attack. It was no surprise that her emotions were all over the place given the enormity of the accident. “What’s your name?”
“What?” The girl looked momentarily baffled as she wiped her nose on the sleeve of her hoodie. “Oh, um, it’s Angel. Angel Bright.”
Hannah smiled. “That’s a very cool name.”
“My mom used to be a hippie or something. Or maybe her mom was a hippie. Somebody was a hippie and that’s how I got such a weird name.”
“It’s not so weird. It’s pretty. My name is Hannah Hickok. The police and paramedics are on their way. I need to know if you have significant injuries. I’m trying to put together a mental list for the paramedics when they get here.”
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. Just worry about my mom and dad. I ... just ... they’re all I have.”
Hannah’s heart rolled. “It’s going to be okay.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No,” Hannah agreed. “I have faith, though. You need to have it, too.”
CLEANUP FROM THE MESS TOOK AN excruciatingly long time. By the time Sheriff James Boone arrived on the scene, Hannah was officially exhausted. Because there was nothing more she could do to help, she’d moved to the curb to sit and watch the paramedics and Cooper work. That’s where Boone found her.
“You weren’t involved in this, were you?” he asked, alarmed.
Hannah shook her head. “Cooper and I had dinner at the restaurant over there. We were out taking a walk when it happened.”
“That’s good.” He realized what he said when it was too late to take it back. “I’m not saying it’s good there was an accident. I’m just saying it’s good that you and Cooper weren’t injured.”
Hannah’s smile was wan. “I knew what you were saying.”
Concerned, Boone put his hand on Hannah’s shoulder and leaned down to stare into her eyes, momentarily worried she was somehow in shock or something. What he mistook as glassy indifference was actually overwhelming weariness he realized after a beat and moved his hand to her hair to stroke it. For some reason — and he had no idea why because Hannah was an adult — she tickled every paternal instinct in his body. She was more than a decade older than his daughter and yet he looked out for her in almost the same fashion. “Where is Cooper?”
Hannah inclined her head to a spot across the street. “He’s helping. The paramedics have been through and they’ve already collected those who were the worst off. Now they’re doing a secondary run.”
“Okay.” Boone stroked her hair one more time. “I’m going to talk to him and then I’m sure you guys can get out of here. Just out of curiosity, though, do you know what caused the initial accident?”
Hannah pictured the odd lightning and hesitated. “I don’t know what it was. I thought it might be a storm but ... I just don’t know.”
Boone furrowed his brow. “Do you think it was paranormal?” He kept his voice low.
“I think it’s very likely that it was paranormal. What sort of paranormal, though, I can’t say.”
“Okay.” He straightened. “We’ll leave that part of the discussion for later. Don’t include it in your report in case one of my guys questions you.”
“Other people saw it,” Hannah offered. “I know because they were all looking in the same direction as me right before it happened.”
Boone hesitated and then nodded. “Fine. Mention the lightning but don’t use the M-word.”
“Mustache?”
“Ha, ha.” The smile he offered this time was warm and legitimate. “You’re a funny girl, Hannah Hickok. I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Right back at you.”
Boone let his smile drop as he crossed to Cooper. The younger man’s face was streaked with sweat and grime and he looked as if he might fall over at any moment. “Are you okay?”
Cooper lifted his chin and nodded, relief coursing through him when he caught sight of the sheriff. “I’m fine. I wasn’t part of this. I just saw it happen from the sidewalk.”
“So Hannah told me.”
As if remembering Hannah for the first time in what felt like forever, Cooper jerked his eyes to the sidewalk, sighing in relief when he caught sight of her familiar blond head. “Is she okay?”
“She seems tired,” Boone replied. “I don’t think she’s in any danger of falling apart, though. Once you get her home and put her to bed, make sure she gets a full night’s sleep. I think she’ll be perfectly fine.”
“That’s good.” Cooper dragged a hand through his hair. “I think most of the people are out of the vehicles.”
“They are. I got a report from my men when I was in en route.”
“Did anyone die?”
Boone worked his jaw, as if he wasn’t going to answer, and then nodded. “A woman died. She was in her fifties. I’m not sure which vehicle belonged to her.”
Cooper pointed toward one of the ones in the back. “She only hit one other car. Her vehicle didn’t look all that bad. I know who you’re talking about, though. She was one of the ones I checked on.”
“This isn’t your fault.”
“I know. I still feel bad for her. It happened so fast, out of nowhere. I still don’t know what we’re dealing with.”
Boone lowered his voice to make sure none of the bustling paramedics could hear him. “Hannah said she thinks something magical happened right before the initial crash.”
“The lightning?”
Boone nodded. “I told her she could mention the lightning in the report but not the M-world.”
“Mullet?”
Boone made an exasperated face. “You two are perfect for one another. Has anybody ever told you that?”
“No, but I’m open to hearing it for the rest of my life.”
“Ugh. You’re so sappy where she’s concerned.”
“If you think I’m going to take that as an insult, you’re dead wrong. I’m fine being sappy.”
“Good to know.” Boone blew out a sigh. “It’s a good thing you guys were here. The report I got said that bystanders helped direct the paramedics toward those most gravely injured first. You did a good thing here.”
“It still feels ... overwhelming.”
“I know.” Boone clapped Cooper on the shoulder and then glanced over at Hannah, who was rubbing her forehea
d. “You’ve done all you can for the time being. Why don’t you take her back to Casper Creek. If I have to, I can get your report myself tomorrow morning over breakfast.”
“That sounds good to me, but I know Hannah.” Cooper’s tone was even. “She’s going to want to check on the victims at the hospital.”
“That’s my job.”
“She won’t be able to sleep if she doesn’t see them for herself. It’s best to just go with the flow than pick a fight.”
“She’s really high-maintenance, huh?”
Cooper swallowed the absurd urge to laugh. “Don’t ever mention that to her.”
“Why not?”
“Because she’ll be annoyed.”
“Son, women always think they’re low-maintenance when they’re high-maintenance. It’s a regular thing.”
“Just keep it to yourself tonight.”
“If you say so.”
HANNAH INDEED WANTED TO CHECK IN at the hospital. Cooper didn’t offer up a single word of argument, instead automatically heading in that direction. By the time they were cleared for the third floor, which was where the teenager Hannah had bonded with had been sent with her parents, Boone was already there talking to the doctor.
“But you think they’ll make a full recovery,” the sheriff prodded, his gaze intense.
“I can’t make you any promises of course,” the doctor countered. “Their scans look relatively good. The father had surgery to correct a penetrating wound to his shoulder, although it missed all major arteries and organs, so it wasn’t that bad. They’re both still unconscious, and we want to keep them that way until the morning.”
“That’s good.” Boone flicked his eyes to Hannah and Cooper as they approached. “How did I know you guys would end up here?”
“Hannah wants to make sure the girl is okay,” Cooper explained.
“Angel,” Hannah volunteered. “Angel Bright.”
“I was just talking to the doctor about Mr. and Mrs. Bright,” Boone replied.
“Are they ....?” Hannah was fearful enough she couldn’t finish the question.
Dances With Witches (A Hannah Hickok Witchy Mystery Book 5) Page 3
