The Second Time is Sweeter, page 22
“Are you going to stay much later?” she asked.
“Nah, I just thought I’d check in.”
“It sure is going to be nice to see you go home from now on instead of being the last one here every night. I put all your messages on your desk.” Then she was out the door into the cold night.
He flipped through the messages. One from the mayor, asking him to call in the morning. Another from a city council member who wanted to discuss Mr. Schwanbeck’s traffic light presentation. That phone call would be fun. He almost laughed now, remembering all the charts and Venn diagrams.
Somehow, he was living a dull and boring life and still as happy as he’d ever been. Never would have thought that possible. Moving here had initially been about Sophia and Lucy. But now that he’d settled in somewhat, he could see that he was making a difference little by little. The youth group was growing, citizens were getting to know him and respect him for his efforts and his stupid open-door policy, for which he’d have to thank Bert…someday. It made a difference when he simply listened, even if he couldn’t change a thing.
He texted Sophia. I’m on my way home.
I’m here waiting.
Riley put his phone away and stopped wasting precious time. He closed up the station, pulled out his car keys and strode to his Harley. He’d been riding less than five minutes when he got jumpy again. This time, though, a truck seemed to be tailing him, and had been with him for a few blocks. Could be his imagination. But no, in the next second the driver shone his lights, and came up behind him, hitting the back end of his bike.
With nothing to insulate him from the shock, the impact reverberated through his body. He swerved, trying to regain control. The truck came up on his right, and turned into his lane, shoving his bike off the road. He caught a glimpse of Dick’s eerie smile as Riley tumbled off the Harley, hitting the pavement and skidding toward a tree. The helmet flew off his head and he hit the ground. Hard.
He was an idiot. Should have seen this coming. The truck kept going.
And Dick had just tried to kill him.
But he hadn’t. It was just a little blood. Sure. His head hurt but no way would that Neanderthal kill him. Riley wouldn’t die on principle. Oh no.
Sophia. No, no, no. Yeah, no, she couldn’t find out about this. This would kill her before it ever killed him.
He couldn’t die now. Bad timing. They were going to have babies. She had a plan. He wasn’t going to ruin that plan. Not again. Riley tried to assess his injuries, the agonizing pain slicing through his arm. Or was that his shoulder?
This was it. The mother lode of fights.
“What do you mean you ‘volunteered’ for another deployment?”
“They need me.” A Marine didn’t back down from a fight and he didn’t have kids like some of the other men did.
“I need you.” Sophia picked up a plate and threw it at him.
He ducked and she missed.
She picked up a book and threw it. Missed again.
Obviously, she needed him for target practice. “I’ll come back. I always do.”
“It’s the chief. Did you see that guy? He ran him off the road. On purpose!”
Another voice he vaguely recognized. One of the kids from his group. Riley opened one eye.
“Don’t worry, I got his license plate number.”
Eric, head troublemaker and so-called graphic artist of fences, which were an empty canvas to him. Riley drifted off again.
“No, Riley. I’ve got a bad feeling about this. I can’t let you go. You can’t go again.” Sophia pulled on his arm, and, hell, when had she become so strong? She was pulling his arm straight out of its socket.
Killing him. “That’s not going to happen to me. My men have my back.”
“What about me? Don’t you love me anymore?”
She was crying. Done throwing things at least. “I love you, baby.”
“No, you don’t.” Sophia slid down the wall and fell in a heap on the floor. “You want to die. That’s not love.”
“Blood pressure one sixty over one hundred and twenty.”
“Color pale. He’s concussed and shocky. Let’s get him out of here.”
I don’t want to die. No.
“Good thing those kids saw it happen and called for help.”
“Hey, you,” Riley said to the fuzzy paramedic.
“Responsive,” the paramedic called out to someone then turned back to him. “You’re going to be all right.”
“Don’t tell my wife, okay?”
“Don’t tell your wife you’re going to be all right?”
“No, stupid. Don’t tell her I got hurt.”
“Okay. Sure. Sure thing, dude.”
Oh, man. He was in a lot of trouble. Should have been prepared for this. Now he was bleeding. Or something.
What happened, again?
Oh yeah. “He ran me off the road.”
“I know, I know. Just sit back. We’ll be at the hospital in a minute.”
Heads up, Jarhead. You know what you have to do. Let her go. She doesn’t have to be here alone waiting always for you to come home. It’s messing with her head. Do the right thing.
“I don’t have anything here, Riley! Not even you.”
“You’ve always had me.”
“No, I don’t because you’re making a choice.”
“I have no choice.” He wanted both lives, but she was forcing him to pick one.
Until his contract was up, he’d be damned if he’d spend his days playing Chicken Little. He had every intention of winning. Besides, he’d signed up for this and couldn’t back down now.
You signed up for her too. And you love her.
There is that.
“Blood pressure ninety over sixty.”
“Administering epinephrine—”
Jerky movements. Damn. His arm. Why had someone cut off his arm?
“What do we have?” Another voice. Strong. Authoritative. Was that his CO?
“Hit and run. Some idiot ran the chief off the road. The kids saw the whole thing happen.”
“Imagine the hubris.”
Someone had a dictionary. Definitely not his CO. The knucklehead was a hell of a warrior but could barely string two words together without using an expletive as a comma.
“Where am I?” Riley asked anyone.
Bright lights. Beeps of a monitor. Blood pressure cuff slapped on his arm. Lots of voices, and none of them talking to him.
He tried opening his eyes. “Hey! I said: where am I?”
“Why don’t you tell me?” A nice soothing voice of the female variety. Just not his favorite female voice.
“Kandahar.”
“No, honey. That’s not right.” She sounded unhappy, but she still didn’t sound like Sophia.
Sophia. He had to stay alive. That was his only job. He couldn’t screw that up.
He opened one eye. “I remember. I’m in Starlight Hill. Where my wife lives.”
With that, he closed his eyes and stopped fighting sleep.
CHAPTER 21
Ten text messages later, Sophia still had no replies from Riley. Ten! Sophia had now stepped outside half a dozen times in the past two hours and still no Riley. No lights on next door either.
“Where is he?” Sophia asked Hershee, who only licked her paw and had no response.
The sirens she’d heard about an hour ago just after she’d received a text from Riley that he was headed home had nothing to do with him. That would have been something the old Sophia would imagine, dreading and almost expecting that something horrible should happen because no one on earth deserved this much happiness. No one deserved to love someone like this and have him feel the same way. It was too perfect. Bad things happened all the time. People you loved were ripped from your life sometimes with no warning.
Nope, that was the old Sophia. Obviously, something important had held him up, and he’d have a good excuse when he arrived. Probably one of the kids from his at-risk group had called. Maybe they’d reached out and asked for help and knowing Riley, he’d gone straight there. Riley couldn’t text her and divulge the kids’ confidence. She’d just have to wait patiently.
A few minutes later Sophia heard the sound of a car door slamming outside and ran to re-light all the candles she’d lined up in the bathtub. But Riley didn’t let himself in. Someone was knocking on the front door. One peek through the eye wink and she could see who.
Scott.
Oh no. God, no. Scott would be the one to bring her the bad news, if there was any to bring. As a first responder, he’d hear about it right away. It was the civilian equivalent of having an officer knocking on her front door. She swung open the door because maybe, just maybe, this could still be about someone else. Diana. One of the girls had a fever. Anything else. Please, God. One look in Scott’s gloomy expression and she already had her answer.
“Go away! I don’t want to hear it.” She slammed the door.
Hershee sounded the alarm. Gave several desperate barks and yips and then jumped to her perch on the couch, growling and baring her teeth. Scott stepped inside anyway, determined to ruin her life.
“Don’t tell me! Shut up!”
“I’m sorry, honey. It doesn’t work that way.”
It was true. She couldn’t hide anymore. Hiding hadn’t worked for Nikki and it wouldn’t work for Sophia. The world just kept on spinning and taking everyone she loved away.
“W-what happened to him?” She took a deep breath and held it.
“Someone ran him off the road. Motorcycle accident.”
Sophia fell to the floor. That couldn’t happen. Why would anyone run him off the road? “Is h-he dead?”
“I don’t know how he’s doing, but two of the boys from his youth group found him and called for help.”
“He’s going to be okay?”
“Let’s go find out. I’m sure he’ll want to see you.”
A few minutes later, Sophia had thrown up in her toilet, rinsed her mouth out with water, brushed her hair, dressed and was riding with Scott to the hospital. Much as she’d feared and worried over this day, Riley had never been hurt before, and it seemed as though she moved in a nightmare, everyone’s movements hazy and surreal.
When they were directed to the hospital surgery floor, they found a small crowd in the waiting room. Sophia recognized Jennifer. Even Bert was there, sitting next to her, his arm draped around her shoulder. The mayor sat next to Bert, furiously typing into her phone.
A uniformed police officer approached Sophia. “Name’s Luther, ma’am. He just got out of surgery. He’s got a bad concussion, some broken ribs and road rash. Painful, but he’s going to be all right.”
Sophia felt Scott squeeze her shoulder.
She struggled to make sense of the information. “He’s not dead? Is that what you’re telling me?”
Luther squinted. “Right. He’s alive.”
Sophia took a deep breath of cautious optimism. “Thank you.”
The mayor rose from her seat. “Sit down before you fall down. You don’t look well.”
Imagine that. “Can I see him?” she asked Luther.
“The nurse said in a little bit,” Luther said. “And it’s only going to be immediate family in the ICU. So that means you.”
“And Lucy.”
Lucy. On the second floor, her brother on the fifth. Did she know? Should Sophia be the one to tell her? Because she didn’t know that she could do that to Lucy. Not when her legs felt like they’d give out on her any minute.
“Someone. Someone should tell her,” Sophia managed.
“I will.” Luther nodded.
“Who did this?” Sophia asked, though she was afraid to know. Knowing would give her one more thing to fear. The person that did this, who might still be out there. “Why? Has he made that many enemies here?”
“No, honey.” This was from Scott. “People like Riley. He’s tough and tough gets respect.”
“One person doesn’t like him at all, Scott.”
“Thankfully, the kids saw it happen, and one of them took down the license plate number. We’re running it now. This is attempted murder. Guys going away for a long time.”
“Sophia.”
She turned around, and there stood Billy Turlock, retired pitcher for the Oakland Sliders, one of the three brothers she’d inherited when Daddy-o married Eileen. Standing next to him was his wife Brooke. Both of them looked rumpled and disheveled, like they’d just woken up, thrown on some clothes and driven to the hospital.
“Who’s watching the kids?”
Funny to have that thought right now but the distraction helped. How she craved her normal life back. Sure, maybe it had been somewhat boring and lonely but she didn’t have this awful stone in her throat. She’d been comfortable. Safe. If Riley hadn’t shown up again, hadn’t taken the job as chief of police, he wouldn’t be lying in a hospital bed right now. And maybe she’d be babysitting tonight, instead of feeling like her heart would give out on her at any second.
Brooke gave her a funny look. “We left all the kids with Diana and her mother. Wallace and Gen are on their way too.”
“You didn’t have to come.” All these relatives in one place, reminding her of a wedding or a funeral. No one was dying! “He’s going to be all right.”
“We know,” Billy said, flipping his baseball cap around. “We’re here for you.”
Billy clapped Scott’s back and together he and Brooke headed over to the empty seats. No sooner had they sat down than Wallace and Gen stepped out of the elevator.
“Oh, Sophia.” Gen pulled Sophia into a hug.
“He’s okay.”
“Oh good but this is so hard.”
“No. It’s absolutely not hard. I’m fine.”
“Yeah?” Gen narrowed her eyes.
“That’s my girl.” Wallace squeezed her shoulder and went to join his brothers.
“Where is she? Nurse, for the love of God, where’s your waiting room? This place is like a maze! We’ve been wandering this hospital for forty years. I need to find my daughter. Stat!”
“Honey, don’t talk like you’re a doctor. You’re not a doctor.” Eileen’s voice, coming around the corner.
Just what she needed. Daddy-o and Eileen, rounding out the nuthouse. The cast was now complete.
“He’s going to be all right!” Sophia yelled.
Daddy-o took a step back and clutched his chest. “Thank God!”
A funny thing happened then. Somehow, and for reasons Sophia didn’t fully understand, she took one look at Eileen and burst into tears.
“What happened?” Daddy-o asked. “I thought you said he was okay! Eileen, we need a doctor. Stat!”
“Oh, for God’s sake. Can’t you see she’s just upset? I’ll handle this,” Eileen said.
Sophia found herself drawn into Eileen’s warm and soft arms and shepherded over to what turned out to be another waiting room. Good. It was empty in here, the TV tuned to some inane reality show on home improvement. If only real life were that simple. Slap a new coat of color on the walls and put in hardwood floors. Renovate the kitchen with new cabinets. Ta-da! All is well. Sophia’s sobs had turned into shuddering hiccups. She couldn’t catch her breath. Eileen didn’t ask questions but rubbed her back in large circles and told Sophia over and over again that it would be all right.
Mama had done the same thing once upon a time. Of course, that time Sophia’s fish had died. Rainbow had never paid much attention to her, swimming around the tank until the day he jumped out of it. After school, she’d found him lying on the carpet next to the tank, dried out like a twig. That was the first time her heart had broken. The second time was when Mama died. The third time was when she’d left Riley.
And right now.
“Shush, darling, shush.” Eileen finally said. “He’s going to be all right, you said so.”
“I-I can’t do this,” Sophia hiccupped. “I’m so scared.”
“Loving someone is scary.”
“I don’t think I can do this. It’s too big for me. The way I love him…I think I might love him too much. Can a person do that?”
“Yes, of course,” Eileen said. “When they have a big heart. And you, my darling, have the biggest heart I’ve ever seen.”
“Maybe I’d like a smaller heart. Because I have to go in there and see him. Hurt. This is my biggest nightmare and I’m living it.”
“You can do this, and you will. He needs you, and you’re no longer the young lady that you were years ago. You grew up.”
“How can you say that? I’ve been stuck all this time. Sure, I stopped crying. Eventually. But what have I done with my life? I haven’t moved on. I haven’t loved anyone since him.”
“Deep breaths, dear. You’ve loved all my sons like they were your real brothers. Their wives. Their children. While you weren’t looking you learned to love. Just a different kind of love.”
“Remember when I wouldn’t tell you about everything that happened when I left Riley?”
“Sure, honey, but some things are hard to talk about. I understood.”
“I want to talk about it now.”
“Now?”
A flood of words fell out of Sophia. Nikki’s friendship on Riley’s deployments. David’s death and the unexpected shock of it all. Watching strong Nikki, who reminded Sophia so much of herself, fall apart.
“I don’t know why we were surprised. We shouldn’t have been. Neither one of us. Maybe we should have expected it.”
“Absolutely not. You girls did it right. Thinking positive and expecting the best out of a situation. Nothing will change when you worry. But that must have been so hard for you. Watching your good friend go through such a heavy loss.”
“I kept picturing that Riley was next. I couldn’t stop praying enough or lighting enough candles.”
“I’m sure none of it did any harm.”
“Maybe if I’d done it right, but it didn’t seem to bring me any comfort like it did for other people. I never let it go. And then Riley did come home safely and I was so happy. Ecstatic. It was like we’d missed it, missed the lightning strike somehow. But he wanted to go back. I couldn’t take it anymore.”
“That’s understandable.” She patted Sophia’s hand. “I think you were right to come home. It’s a difficult life for most women, much less a young woman out on her own for the first time.”
