Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 72856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
I swung her around and set her down on her feet with a laugh on her lips.
“Me next, Uncle Tai!” Adam screeched in that high-pitched squeal only a three-year-old could hit.
Mia froze, the smile sliding from her face as I picked up Adam and turned to her.
“Mia?” I asked her.
She was lost in her own little world, however, as her eyes filled with tears.
I pulled her into my side, pressing my lips to her forehead.
I could feel the cautious gazes of both Jack and Winter, and I looked up at them to see their own private hell filling up their own faces.
Jack and Winter had lost two children, miscarriages, in their time together.
Cati was supposed to be a twin, but they’d lost the second baby in utero, leaving Cati to be brought into this world alone.
They’d also lost a baby early on in their relationship that I still didn’t know much about.
Mia took a shuddering breath as Adam leaned down and rested his head on top of hers, and whatever memory it was that had a hold on her let go.
“You okay?” I asked her.
She nodded, dislodging Adam’s head as she did.
She looked up, giving Adam a tremulous smile, and he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead, much the same as I had done only moments before.
“I wuve you, Ia,” Adam said in his sweet little cherub voice.
Mia’s smile nearly blinded me.
“I love you too, Adam.”
Jack laughed at something Winter said, but it was a series of words coming from the police scanner that had my attention right then.
I passed Adam over to Mia as I walked closer to the police scanner on the table in the corner of the room.
“Tai?” Mia asked.
I held up my hand and turned the volume up on the scanner.
“Hit and run on Main Street,” the dispatcher, Merry, said. “White 1957 Ford Pickup. Thirty-five-year-old male,” she continued. “Nurse on scene says that the male has extensive injuries and recommends Life Flight.”
“Shit,” I said, standing up and listening as the report came over the scanner. “Shit!”
“Tai!” Mia cried. “What’s wrong?”
“Stay here. I’ll come back for you,” I said quickly, running out to my truck without looking back.
I didn’t let it sink in right away.
The drive to the intersection was easy until about fifty yards before the light.
I pulled my truck into the first available parking lot, a McDonald’s, and ran.
And I prayed it wasn’t who I knew it would be.
But as I got closer and got my first good look at the truck, I knew I wasn’t going to be lucky.
A few officers were busy clearing a parking lot of all the cars, and I knew it was to make room for the Life Flight helicopter to land.
I was breathing too hard when I got to the police line that was being held by Downy.
He made eye contact with me, and I felt my heart leap into my throat.
“What happened?” I asked as I turned my eyes back to the scene.
“Hit and run,” Downy said solemnly.
He knew, too.
Everyone would.
It was the truck.
There wasn’t another one around that was anything like it.
It was Fatbaby.
Fatbaby had been involved in a hit and run on the main drag in town.
Fatbaby…Aaron…he was either gravely injured or near death if they were calling Life Flight in.
“Jesus,” I said.
The sound of boots on the pavement sounded behind me and I clenched my fists as the A shift team started to use the jaws of life on Fatbaby’s restored, mint condition, truck.
“No,” PD said, devastation clear in his voice.
I shook my head, fighting the urge to go up there and offer my help.
Someone approached me on my other side, and I looked down at their hands, knowing instantly that it was Bowe.
He’d heard, too.
My breathing quickened as I prayed that Fatbaby would be okay.
Because if I was being honest, it wasn’t looking so good.
Those were my last thoughts…before the truck exploded.
Chapter 20
Sorrow. It never goes away. All you can do is act like it’s fixed, when in reality all you’ve done is put a tiny Band-Aid over a gaping, bleeding hole that’ll never be repaired.
-Fact of Life
Mia
My stomach hurt.
My head hurt.
My heart hurt.
I was devastated.
Everyone was devastated.
The waiting room of Kilgore Memorial Hospital was jam packed with on and off duty firefighters, police officers, paramedics and dispatchers as well as nurses, and Fatbaby’s family and friends.
There wasn’t a single empty seat on the entire first floor of the hospital.
I walked carefully over to Tai and offered him a coffee from my cup holder.
He took one, and I moved on to the next man, PD.
He took one, too, giving me a nod of thanks.
I continued that until I caught up with Winter who’d been offering drinks to the guys as well.
There wasn’t enough coffee.
Not anywhere near enough coffee.
I tossed the paper holder into the trash and looked at Tai.