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“But you like Derek, right?” Jillene asked.
“Yes. I like him a lot.” Why was that so hard to say out loud? “I don’t know what I’m doing with my life anymore, and everything’s happening so fast.”
“It seems to me,” Audrey said, “you need to do some figuring out of things. And soon.”
“I know,” Kylie murmured.
No one spoke for another few minutes until Steph tried to break the silence by saying, “And speaking of town gossip, did anyone hear what Randy did to the Bridger’s front yard with his lawn mower?”
Audrey slammed on the breaks as a huge buck ambled into their lane from the forest beside the road. They all screamed. She swerved to miss him, but the tires caught on the gravel shoulder and spun out, depositing the car into the ditch.
“Oh my god!” Audrey shouted.
Kylie clutched her chest. “Is everyone okay?”
“Yes,” Steph said.
“Yes, I’m fine,” Jillene said.
“Jillene! Were you bumped or jolted at all?”
“No, I’m fine.” She teared up.
“Are you fine? Why are you crying?” Audrey looked at her in alarm.
“Because you put your arm out to protect my baby when we crashed.” Jillene blubbered. “You’re such a good friend.”
They all got out of the car. The buck was already gone. There was no real damage to the car, and they’d driven into bushes which was a much softer landing than if they’d hit any of the trees.
“I have to give you props, Aud.” Steph put an arm around Audrey’s shoulders. “That was the softest crash in the history of crashes.”
Kylie breathed a sigh of relief. It could’ve been much worse. They were all fine.
“I’m not going to be able to get the car out of this ditch though. Damnit. Jillene, can you call Nick to pick us up?” Jillene was still sobbing uncontrollably. “Never mind, I’ll call him.”
~ * ~
Derek sped down the main road toward Hampton, lights flashing, with Nick’s car close behind. Audrey said on the phone they were all fine, but Nick’s anxiety over getting to Jillene seeped into Derek as well.
Not that she was a delicate flower, but it was always better to be safe than sorry when dealing with pregnant women and their precious cargo.
Rounding the bend, he spotted them in his headlights. Audrey’s car was fully in the ditch, the entire front of it hidden in the bushes. But the visible part seemed fine. No dents or broken windows.
He wrenched his car to the side of the road, and Nick almost rear-ended him, squealing the brakes. He’d probably spent the entire drive there imagining the worst.
Before Derek had even hopped out of the cruiser, Nick had jumped out and run to Jillene without even closing his car door. He wrapped his arms around her.
“I’m fine,” she choked out while he squeezed her tight.
“Then why are you crying?”
“Because I’m eight months pregnant, and it was scary.”
“Is the baby okay?” His voice was strained.
“If by okay you mean doing somersaults and punching my liver, then yes. The baby is fine. We’ll call the midwife tomorrow to be sure, but honestly Audrey got us out of the way of the deer safely.”
They stood there, holding each other. It was such a tender moment Derek looked away, not wanting to intrude.
