Page 75 of Here With Me

Lottie’s muscles started to relax, and her breathing deepened.

“Stay awake, Lottie.” David jogged toward the house, his jeans sticking to him, stinging his skin, his legs burning with cold.

Red lights flashed in front of the house as an ambulance sat in the midst of the cars, its back doors open. EMTs ran to him and pulled Lottie from his grasp. He staggered after, refusing any medical treatment. “I’m fine. Check Lottie. She was underwater for a while. I don’t know how long.”

“Mom!” Lottie’s strangled cry whimpered as Sadie pushed through the crowd and hugged her soaked daughter.

An EMT allowed the embrace then guided them toward the ambulance. “I’d like to take her to the hospital just to be sure everything is okay.”

Sadie nodded, and David held her hand, needed to feel her warmth, to make sure she was okay, too. But the comfort, the friendship he’d come to expect during the last few weeks was gone. Her expression shuttered, blocking him out.

“Thank you for finding Lottie. Good luck on your trip.” She pulled her hand, but David squeezed tighter.

“Let me change, and I’ll meet you at the hospital.”

Sadie watched as the EMT picked Lottie up and set her in the ambulance, wrapping a new, dry blanket around her. “No. I have it under control.”

“Sadie—”

“I’ll text you that she’s okay.” Sadie shook her head and tugged her hand again. David let go. “No. I need to focus on Lottie. On the disaster that is my life.”

“I want to be a part of that life.”

“No, you don’t. At least not fully. And that’s not enough.”

“Sadie—”

“Don’t come.”

“Sadie?” David’s voice broke, as he let his hand fall to his side. She couldn’t just jump in the ambulance and leave him.

She looked back at him. “This isn’t your problem, David. It’s my problem. There is nothing you can do to fix it. This is my family. My responsibility.”

The door closed, and the ambulance pulled forward, its lights flashing. David stood there until the vehicle turned out of his driveway. It drove away, his heart inside.

A warm blanket wrapped around his shoulders and gentle hands tugged it closed. Dawn, Sadie’s mom, stood in front of him adjusting the blanket. “I don’t know what happened tonight. But go change. You’re no good to anyone if you’re sick. Meet us at the hospital.”

“But she said?—”

“I heard her. But that little girl will expect to see you. I’m not sure there is hope for you and Sadie after what she just said, but don’t break my granddaughter’s heart, too.”

She patted his chest and hurried to her car. He spun on his heel and headed to the house. Dawn was right—he needed dry clothes before he went to the hospital—and he had to let Lance know he didn’t make his flight.

Did he ask Lance to rebook it? Everything in him screamed no—Sadie was his home. But if she was serious, and there was no room for him in her life, what future did he have here in Heritage?

fifteen

Awarm shower and fresh clothes could change a lot for a guy—except the words still ringing in David’s mind. This is my problem. My family. Maybe he should have stayed home, but Sadie’s mom had said Lottie would expect him. He couldn’t let the little girl down. Not again.

The air whooshed as he walked through the automatic sliding doors into the sterile waiting area at the ER. People sat in clumps around the quiet room. Several of them stared at a TV with the closed captioning turned on. Some decorating program played as a couple looked at their stylish deck overlooking the ocean.

In the far corner, Gary and Dawn Hoover sat together with Nate. The older couple held hands, their heads bowed, as Dawn wiped at her cheeks. David waited until they finished and looked up.

Dawn’s smile broke through any of the doubts he’d had about coming. But before he could join them, the doors opened and Sadie stood, searching the room, until her eyes landed on him. Heat crept up his chest as she came closer.

His hands stretched out to touch her, to hug her, to pull her close, but she brushed them aside, her voice sharp. “I told you not to come.”

“Sadie, that is not how you talk to the man who saved your daughter tonight.” Dawn intervened, her hand holding Sadie’s, which looked ready to strike him.

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