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“Yeah, c’mon.” He hitches his chin in the direction of the crash.
I follow closely behind, not wanting to waste any second of whatever time we have here. Lying down on my stomach, I crawl in. It’s a woman in the driver’s seat. Her dark hair covers her face. The top of her head is sticky with blood and I immediately know there’s a head wound. In the back, I catch sight of what looks to be a car seat. “We might have a kid in here,” I yell out to them.
“Where at?” Gauge asks, trying to wedge in next to me.
“Back passenger side. Doesn’t that look like the high edge of one?”
“Sure does, let me get some guys over there. Just need to take a look at what you’re seeing.”
With him out of the way, I have more room to work.
“I’m Chance, an EMT, and I’m here to help you,” I tell her as calmly as I can. I’ve found that when you’re working with patients who’ve been in situations like this, it’s best to not let them hear the pain in your voice. Carefully, I reach in and put the c-collar in place. Once I have that secured, I push the hair out of her face in order to assess what’s going on.
When the light from one of the firefighter’s flashlights illuminates the space, the breath whooshes from my lungs.
My wife.
The one that left me.
I’d gone to work and done my job to the best of my ability before coming home. When I’d walked in the door, I knew something was wrong. It was the silence.
No radio playing, no TV on.
But I hadn’t realized it right then. It’d taken me a bit to put my finger on it. To figure out why things weren’t the same as they’d always been. I’d gone through the house calling her name, but when I went into the bathroom, I’d seen it.
All the stuff from her side of the sink was gone.
Then I’d headed to the closet.
Fucking empty.
No note, no explanation, and not a peep since the day she left.
Now here she is. In a wreck on the side of this mountain with a child. Glancing back, I do a double-take. Cam is holding the kid and he looks just like me.
“Liv, what the fuck did you get yourself into?”
Looking down, I realize I’m gonna have to wait for her to wake up in order to find out.
EPILOGUE 1
Cameron
“Go Trinity!”
It’s the last game of the year and the girls are hoping to get a trophy. If they can score one more run, this game will be called and they’ll be the winners. Glancing over at Natalie, I grin. The two of us are standing at the dugout, dressed up as proud parents of the star player of the game. Natalie’s got Trin’s number on her cheek, her hair spray painted in the colors of the team, and a shirt that reads Trin’s Mom on the back.
I’m not exactly sure when we made the transition from calling her Nat to Mom, but it’s happened. Three weeks ago, she moved in with us and it’s as if we’ve lived this way our whole lives.
“She’s laying back, just like I told her to.” Natalie’s voice is full of excitement as she watches Trinity at the plate. “She’s gonna do this.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I take a much more practical approach. “If she doesn’t, it’s okay. We’ll still love her.”
“Of course we will, but she’s a little baddie. She’s got this.”
It’s not that I don’t have faith in her, but I don’t want her to be disappointed if she doesn’t make this run. Therefore, I keep my face impassive as I watch her swing and miss.
She looks over.
