Page 93 of Together

“No. That’s fine. But you can call me Ashley.”

“All right, Ashley.”

He turns to me, extending his hand for me to shake. “And you are?”

“Nik. Ashley’s…” I trail off, not knowing how to explain our situation. I’m way more than her baby daddy, which is a term I loathe, but I’m also not her boyfriend. Even though I want to be. I mean, I consider her my girlfriend, and there’s nobody else for me. I’m about ninety-nine percent sure there’s no one else for her, either. But we’ve never had the talk to make sure that we’re on the same page. That, in itself, makes my stomach churn.

Ashley saves me from my inner turmoil and clears her voice. “He’s my Nik,” she states. Her Nik. I can live with that. Not exactly the only title I want, but it’s enough for now.

Officer Luis nods in understanding.

“Okay, Ashley. This should be relatively quick. I won’t take up too much of your time. Can you recall anything from today’s events?”

“Yes. I had just picked up food from the drive-thru and was on the phone with Nik,” she says, pointing to me. “But it was through the Bluetooth function on my car so it was completely hands free,” she quickly adds. He jots it down on his little notebook.

“Then what?”

“I was at a red light and it turned green, Iknowit did. I was just going through the intersection when out of nowhere I was hit in the passenger side of my car. The impact caused me to skid across the road and hit another car, or actually, no, it was a truck. A big full-size one. I’m positive it was. And I think the first one was a big SUV. Pretty sure it was a dark red color. The truck might have been gray? I’m not sure on that though. I was pinned against the truck but not the SUV. I never saw where it went after it hit me.”

“What do you mean?”

Ashley shrugs slightly. “I guess I never looked for it. It all happened so fast and seeing where that car went wasn’t my priority, you know? My airbags had deployed but I had hit my head. I assume it was against my window because it was on the side, not the front, and the airbags deployed. I don’t know if the driver left or if they hit another car? I’m not sure. A guy came over and said he saw the entire thing and he was on the phone with police. Then the ambulance came and here I am.”

Officer Luis nods and writes down a few more notes. “You have a good memory,” he comments.

“I paid attention. My dad’s a retired cop. He taught me what to take note of. Sorry I didn’t remember what happened to the car that hit me, though.” Her lips twist and her eyebrows furrow. “That kind of annoys me. I don’t know why I didn’t look harder.”

I press my lips together to stop from laughing. Only Ashley would be mad at herself for not remembering every single detail of an accident that could have killed her. Officer Luis looks at me out of the corner of his eye and smirks.

“That’s all right, Ashley. This is a big help.”

“Yeah?” she asks, her eyes lighting up.

He lifts his notebook in the air and nods. “Yup.”

“Can you tell us more about what happened? Is everyone involved okay? What was the cause?” I ask him, eager for anything else to go on. It was a beautiful day so weather-wise there was no logical reason why the accident would have happened. It had to be a case of distracted driving, drunk driving, or worse yet — the driver could have become suddenly sick and lost control. I’ve heard of accidents where the driver has a heart attack or a seizure with no warning. Scary to think about.

“Nothing I can tell you yet but you’ll be hearing from us soon.” Damn. That’s not the answer either of us wanted to hear, if the expression on Ashley’s face is anything to go by. “Your car has been towed to Sam’s Body Shop. Insurance will sort that out for you. Your personal belongings like your bag and phone are here,” he says, lifting up a paper bag that I didn’t notice he brought in. “Considering you’re pregnant, I wanted to bring this to you now in case you had anything important in there for the baby.” He looks a little sheepish when he says it.

“Thank you, Officer. I appreciate it.”

“If there’s anything else you think of, don’t hesitate to give me a call. Here’s my card,” he says, handing her a business card. “If you don’t mind putting your number on this one, then I can let you know when we have an update for you.”

He hands her two business cards and a pen. She turns one over, scribbles her name and number down, and hands it back to him.

“Thanks for your time, Ashley. We’ll be in touch. Get well soon.”

“Will do.”

“Nice to meet you, Nik.”

“Same.”

And then he’s gone and we’re alone again.

Suddenly the weight of what happened earlier hits me and I have to sit down. “I could have lost you,” I whisper, my throat clogging up with emotion.

“You won’t lose me. I’m too stubborn.”

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