“A friend of yours?” I joke, reaching out to pat its side. The horse is silky soft, and a beautiful strawberry-blonde color. It’s clearly owned and loved.
“This is Lady.” Keets grins, glancing at me as he continues stroking her long nose. “She’s Shannon’s.” I didn’t think my eyebrows could move any higher, but I’ve just been proven wrong.
“Shannon has a horse?” I ask in disbelief.
Keets laughs. “Maybe if you left your house even once, you’d know that already.”
“It seems there’s a lot I’m missing,” I mutter, glancing around. “So, where’s Shannon?”
“I don’t know,” Keets admits, his brow furrowing in worry. “I thought for sure she’d be here.”
“Maybe she did go into town,” I say, running the beam of my flashlight along the walls as I search for any sign of her presence.
Keets shakes his head. “I just don’t believe that,” he says quietly. “Why would she leave her car behind?”
“Well.” I sigh. “She’s definitely not here.”
“Come on,” Keets says, his shoulders slumping in defeat. “Let’s check her house again before we go into town. I just hope the road’s not flooded.”
I start to follow Keets back down the row of stalls, but a flash of lightning lights up the stables and I catch a movement out of the corner of my eye and I turn my head toward it. I shine the flashlight out into the corral, feeling my heart beat faster as I see movement again. “Keets!” I yell, breaking out into a run. “She’s out here.” I reach her before he does. Skidding to a stop beside her, my heart feels like it’s been ripped in half as I see her badly bruised leg. I kneel beside her, not caring about the mud on my jeans as I carefully lift her head, cradling it on my lap. “Shan,” I say in a loud voice, leaning over her as my trembling fingers brush away strands of her hair that have come loose and are stuck to her cheek. “Shannon, can you hear me? Come on, babe, open your eyes.”
I’m back on the field, nursing my friend Jackson as he dies in my arms.
“Stone,” he says, grabbing the sleeve of my jacket desperately, blood pooling beneath him and sinking into the hot, dry sand. “Help me.”
Hot tears burn the back of my eyelids as I close my eyes. We’re miles away from any kind of help. There’s nothing I can do but stay with him until the end. “It’s okay,” I reply gruffly, holding him close as I stare into his terrified eyes. I feel so fucking helpless. One of my best friends is dying right in front of me, and I can’t do a damn thing to stop it. Jackson makes a strange gurgling sound in the back of his throat, and I wince as blood bubbles out of his mouth. He starts to shake, his face much too pale. It won’t be long now.Tears pour down both our faces as we lie in the sand.
“Stone,” Jackson says. His voice is quiet now, barely above a whisper. I have to lean close to him to hear what he says.
“Tell my wife I-I—”
“Shh,” I soothe, holding him tightly. “Save your strength. I know, I’ll tell her. You have my word.”
I feel his body go limp, and I throw my head back. A wail tears from my chest; it sounds inhuman. It’s the wail of a man who’s lost his friend . . . his sanity.
“Her leg’s hurt,” Keets says, kneeling beside me and touching it gently. She cries out and her face screws up in pain, but her eyes remain closed. “She’s passed out.” He leans forward, scrunching his nose. “She reeks of alcohol.”
“So call an ambulance,” I respond gruffly.
Keets pulls out his cell phone and shakes his head. “No reception. Storm must be screwing it up.”
“We can’t just leave her here,” I tell him, gently stroking her hair.
“Come on,” he says, getting to his feet. “Help me get her to the truck.”
I gently place her head down on the ground and stand. The grass is slippery, but between the two of us, we get her into the back seat of the truck. Thankfully, she stays passed out the whole time. I climb into the back of the truck with her, cradling her head on my lap. Keets starts the engine and slowly backs away from the stables. I’m overcome with guilt. This is all my fault. I never should have left her alone in the bar. I should have told her about Grace. I stroke Shannon’s hair off her pale face, willing her to be okay. “The road’s blocked,” Keets calls over his shoulder. “We can’t get into town to get to the hospital.” I look up and out the windshield. Keets is right—the road is completely flooded.
“Take us back to my place,” I say in a gruff voice. “We’ll call the doctor.”
Keets maneuvers the truck around and heads back toward my house. My eyes never stray from Shannon’s face as my trembling fingers brush her cheek, shocked by the cold. I carefully fumble around on the floor of the truck until I find a well-worn, dark blue blanket. I carefully tuck it around her and lean my head back against the seat. Today has been such a long day. I feel drained, exhausted. But more than anything, I’m worried. I’m so fucking worried. How do I begin to help Grace? How do I get through to my son? I feel as though the weight of the world is settling squarely on my shoulders, and I have no idea how to solve my problems. I wish Grandma were here. That tough old bird would’ve known exactly what to say, what to do. I could really use her advice right now.
But I’m alone. It’s a cold, empty feeling that settles in the pit of my stomach, making me nauseous. I find myself second-guessing everything. Am I doing the right thing, bringing a woman and child into my fucked-up life? I need help, but who can help me? Certainly not my friends. The only person who knows everything is Keets, and that’s only because he was there in Afghanistan with me. He knows all of my inner demons. He knows the source of my nightmares.
Right now, though, my focus is on the woman still passed out in my arms. I don’t know how she came to be this way, but I know that somehow it’s my fault. A plan starts formulating in my mind, one I know she’ll hate. Shannon is strong, independent. The last thing she’s going to want is to stay with Zeke and me until her leg is healed.
Unfortunately for Shannon, I can be just as stubborn when I have to be. She’s about to learn that the hard way.
My head is killing me, and there’s an intense burning sensation in my right leg.
I let a small groan escape my lips as I slowly crack open my eyes. I’m in Stone’s room. How the hell did I end up here? I know I drank a lot last night, but surely I’d remember hooking up with the handsome soldier again. I try to sit up, but it’s difficult. My right leg is completely immobilized in a tight bandage that stops just below my knee. What the fuck?
I carefully ease my left leg over the edge of the bed and sit up slowly. My hand goes immediately to my forehead as I feel the blood rush to my temples. The headache intensifies, and I stifle a small sob. I quickly give up trying to stand and settle back against the headboard, staring at the opposite wall.
Bits and pieces of last night start coming back to me: Effie and the Monopoly Man in the bar, Daddy’s debt, Grace and Zeke . . . Stone.
Stone’s married. I groan as I close my eyes. A part of me had hoped it was all just a bad dream, that I’d wake up and things would be back to normal. Unfortunately, the daylight only makes it worse. Stone is married to a dying woman, and I slept with him. Could it get any worse than this? I feel like such a bitch. I like to think Grace was quickly becoming someone I might have called a friend, and I royally screwed her over. I slept with her husband. And what about their son? Zeke had no part in this, but I still slept with his father. Great, I’m nothing more than a miserable home wrecker.