Page 17 of The Moment You Know

“And that’s how Paige ended up on the floor?” Hale’s voice was flat.

“Yes.”

Hale’s gaze met Ashley’s again, this time with contempt. “It must have been one hell of a push.”

She set her jaw. “It was an accident.”

“An accident would have been if she’d actually tripped. But it seems more like you assaulted her.”

“Assault? She called me a cunt—”

“She did?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I’m thinking she was probably right about that.”

Ashley’s response was halted as the main restaurant doors opened and a small group of people came in, talking loudly and laughing. When they saw Paige lying on the floor, their exuberance turned to shock and with overlapping cries of “Oh, shit!” and “Oh, my God!” they rushed forward.

“Stay back,” Hale told them brusquely, then with another contemptuous look at Ashley, added, “You, too. I don’t want you anywhere near her.”

David barely heard him because his attention was completely on Paige, who was still unresponsive. What if she was seriously injured? He didn’t know much about head injuries, but he knew they could be bad. She wasn’t bleeding, but he could feel the goose egg on the back of her head and the possibility of her having a skull fracture was uppermost in his mind. At the very least, a concussion was on the table, but the longer she stayed unconscious, the more he panicked.

“Paige. Come on, open your eyes,” he begged. “Please.”

Just then, the hostess returned, along with a heavy-set man in his fifties who pushed past the people that had gathered, and as he lowered himself down next to Paige, he dislodged Hale a little bit.

“I’m Steven, the manager,” he announced. “How long has she been like this?”

“One minute, maybe two,” David said, just as the sounds of an ambulance could be heard in the distance.

“What happened?”

David gave Steven the same brief explanation he’d given Hale and was just finishing when the ambulance arrived. In a matter of moments two paramedics were rushing into the restaurant with a wheeled stretcher. Steven cleared the onlookers out of the way—which seemed to have grown exponentially—and David found himself pushed off to one side.

The paramedics seemed to know what they were dealing with, making David hopeful that Ashley had given the 911 dispatcher accurate, if not completely forthcoming, information. He watched as they gave her a quick exam, talking quietly to one another as they worked. When they appeared to be done, one of the paramedics said, “Let’s get her up.”

As they were lifting her off the floor and onto the stretcher, Paige began to stir.

So relieved he almost pissed himself, David shot a look at Ashley and found her … fucking around on her phone.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

Hale smirked. “Googling affordable lawyers?”

If it wasn’t such an ugly situation, David would’ve thought that was funny.

Ashley ignored Hale and gave David an aggrieved look. “Carrie texted to see if I was busy tomorrow. I was just texting her back, that’s all.”

“I hope you didn’t make plans. Because you might be busy with the police, instead,” Hale told her. “And don’t even think about giving me that resting bitch face again. It’s a real possibility, since you’re responsible—” he pointed at Paige on the stretcher, “—for doing that. And that’s a problem.”

Ashley didn’t say anything, although she looked like she wanted to. David thought it a damn shame that she hadn’t had such restraint with Paige.

“You don’t think so?” Hale asked, when he got no response. “If that was you, would it be a problem? Would you maybe want the person who did that to you be held accountable?”

Even though she was still ostensibly ignoring him, for the first time, Ashley actually looked a little anxious and Hale tilted his head. “Oh, good. You’re finally getting it.”

“David,” Ashley began.

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