Page 24 of Unsteady in Love

PRUE

The weather had beenbad for the past two weeks, and Atticus and I needed supplies. I was down to the last can of soup, so when it finally stopped raining and flooding, I decided to venture out to go shopping. I hated to leave Atticus locked up in his crate, but I didn’t know how long I’d be gone and didn’t want to find pee spots all over the floor once I got home. I headed to Riverside because Fairlane's shopping options were so limited. Riverside had a PetSmart and Target along with a Trader Joe’s to get all my shopping needs completed. The only problem was that it was a little over thirty minutes away from my house, and when I finally finished shopping, the sky had darkened drastically. I thought the rain was done for the foreseeable future, but I guess I’d been wrong. There was a river running through the parking lot, but I thought nothing of it. I was ready to get home, put everything away, curl up on the couch, and read a book. Hopefully, later I’d hear from Holden, but I wasn’t holding my breath. I was barely a mile down the road when the sky opened up, and the road instantly flooded. The water rushed over my windshield, making it even more difficult to see. Turning my windshield wipers on high, I drove carefully, trying to stay away from the side of the road; the water that had built up in the undercarriage of my car threatened to overtake my steering.

Not everyone on the road was as concerned for themselves or others, and I got nervous when I saw more than one car pulled off on the side of the road before passing a three-car pile-up. I was used to driving in bad weather and rain, but I couldn’t see two feet in front of me. In most places, there wasn’t a shoulder big enough for a car to pull off the road without potentially going over the side into the steep ditch. Each time I found an open shoulder with enough space, another car would take the spot before I had a chance to pull over, leaving me frustrated and concerned.

Distracted and nervous, I was focused on pulling over and not on the cars on the other side of the road coming toward me. My eyes flashed up and to the side when a blaring horn caught my attention. From the other side, a large truck had lost control and was headed right for the car in front of me. All my driving sense flew out the window; I slammed on the brakes in panic. My car fishtailed, and when I tried to correct it, I realized I had put myself right in the trajectory of the truck that was now barreling toward me.

All I could do was brace myself as tires screeched and horns blared. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. When the truck hit the driver side of my crappy Ford Taurus, my head snapped back as my seatbelt dug into my skin and the airbag deployed in my face. Glass shattered, cutting into my exposed skin. When I opened my eyes, my vision was blurry, and as I tried to rub them to see better, my fingers came away red. Blood. There was blood everywhere.

I exhaled and my eyes blinked heavily. All I wanted to do was sleep. Each blink took a little longer to achieve.

“Miss, can you hear me? Can you tell me your first name?” Someone yanked away the seatbelt, searing my skin.

“Prue,” I rasped out.

“Prue, we’re here to help you. You’re going to be fine. We’re going to take you to the hospital. Do you know what happened?”

Strong hands lifted me from the car; pain shot through me as gravity pulled on my injured body. “Wreck.”

“Yes, you were in a wreck. Please don’t try to move. We need to keep you stable until we’ve determined nothing is broken.”

Bright lights shone above me. My eyes drifted closed, no longer able to stay open as the gentle sway of the ambulance rocked me to sleep—even as the EMT urged me to stay awake.

* * *

When I woke up,I was in a hospital bed with a nurse taking my blood pressure.

“Good morning,” she chirped. “How’s our patient feeling today?”

Morning?

“What time is it?” I croaked out, my throat dry from misuse.

“A little after seven in the morning,” she answered back with a sweet smile.

Shit! Poor Atticus had been home alone overnight. He was going to think I left him.

Sitting up, I tried to swing my legs off the bed but stopped when I got woozy.

“Miss, you need to lie back down. You’ve got a nasty bump on your head and a concussion.” The nurse helped me lay back down and covered me up with a thin blanket, all the while watching me out of the corner of her eye.

“I need to get home. My dog’s been alone since yesterday afternoon,” I cried out weakly.

“Do you have anyone you can call to help take care of your dog until you’re home?” She placed her hand on mine, smiling down at me.

“No one. My friend’s out of town.”

I had no one.

“What about your husband?” She patted my left hand, reminding me that I was indeed married.

But still alone.

“He’s deployed,” I started to shake my head but stopped as it started to throb.

“Well, God bless him and you. It must be tough being so young and separated.”

She had no idea.

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