I shrugged one shoulder. “It is what it is. We made the best of it, because we were just happy she lived. Our animals became our kids. I guess it was a blessing in disguise, though. When she died, she didn’t leave any children behind.” That truly had been a blessing. I couldn’t imagine raising kids without their mom.
“Did the cancer come back?”
“No. It was a car accident.” My grip tightened on Lana’s hand as old anger surged. “One of our local politician’s sons drove drunk. He came around a bend on a dirt road and struck her vehicle at sixty-miles-per-hour. It sent her into a tree.”
Lana gasped.
“She died on impact. The coroner said she probably didn’t feel it.”
“Oh my gosh. That’s awful. I’m so sorry.” Her other hand came up to clutch mine. “At least you know what happened and they caught the guy.”
I couldn’t stop the scoff that broke free.
She lifted her head to look at me. “They didn’t catch the guy? You know who it was, though.”
“Right, but did you miss the part about him being a politician’s son? Tate Newman walked away from the crash with a slap on the wrist, thanks to his dad’s friendship with the local police. He paid a thousand-dollar fine and did ten hours of community service.”
“What? That’s terrible!”
“Yep.” A slightly coy smile lifted one side of my mouth. “He might have met an accident of his own after that.” My smile died. “In the shape of my fist in his face.”
She winced. “Ouch. Did you get in trouble?”
“He tried. But the police chief knew enough to know that if he tried to press charges on me for assault, I’d hire the best attorney I could find and take both cases as high as I could. And I’d drag his entire department down with me. Hebelievedmy story that Tate tripped and smacked his face on a tree. My scuffed knuckles were just from working.” I chuckled at the memory before I sobered. “It didn’t bring Cara back, nor did it avenge her death, but it brought me a small measure of peace.”
“Did he ever drive drunk again?”
“Actually, no. He went to AA after that. As far as I know, he’s been sober since.”
“I suppose that’s good.”
It was. I still wished the guy was behind bars, though. “Yeah.” I pulled my hand from hers and tucked it under her shoulders, pulling her close. Another yawn cracked my jaw, surprising me. Usually, thoughts of Cara—especially talking about her—wound me up.
Probably just more of being exhausted from our ordeal. “Let’s get some sleep, yeah?” There would be enough time for talk and thoughts about what all this meant tomorrow, after we slept off the adrenaline crash. I had a feeling those thoughts would hit me harder than I liked.
Chapter 25
Lana
“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay? Or that you don’t want to come back to my place after you grab some clothes?” I stood at the front of my Subaru as Toren limped toward the front porch of his cabin on his crutches.
“I’m sure. Walker brought my truck back.” He gestured to the black vehicle now sitting beside the house. “If I need something, I can go get it. I can drive fine.”
I chewed on the corner of my bottom lip. He’d been a little distant since we woke up this morning. Not that I blamed him. Yesterday had been a little wild. And intense.
Honestly, I could use some space, too, to sort out my feelings. A lot had happened in the last few days.
“Okay. Well, I guess I’ll talk to you maybe tomorrow, then? You need a ride to Juneau for your surgery on Monday, right?”
He glanced back after he clomped up the steps. “Yeah. I can call Walker, though.”
“Oh.” My heart cracked. Just a little. I wanted to help, but it seemed like he just wanted me to go away.
Pushing away from the hood, I rounded to the driver’s door. “Call if you need something.” I wanted to add, “Or another booty call,” but I didn’t. Getting angry wouldn’t help anything. Weboth needed time to sort things out. Him probably more than me. From our talk yesterday evening, I suspected he had some unresolved feelings about his wife’s death he needed to work through before anything could ever happen with us.
Getting in my car, I shut the door and started the engine, pulling out of the yard as I fastened my seatbelt.
I felt the press of tears behind my eyes and ground my molars together. I would not cry. Not yet. Today wasn’t goodbye. It couldn’t be. What I felt last night—that didn’t happen often. I refused to just walk away from it without a fight.
