Page 16 of At Last

I’d probably be able to drive my Jeep back, even if it limped down the highway, if it weren’t for the airbags having deployed. It hurts my heart to see half the hood of my car smushed like an accordion, and the bumper partially hanging off, but I’m thankful the safety cage did its job and kept us from feeling the brunt of the crash.

Tommy kneels into the backseat to unhook Jade, then grabs her and her booster. This section of highway is carved through the center of a mountain. High, jagged, barren rock faces to both sides of us. I suppose we got off lucky. Some sections have mountain to one side, but then only a railing, then drop off to the other.

Sly helps me from the vehicle, holding my hand while he leads me to a safer spot along the shoulder. He drops it when Tommy passes my daughter off to me, though he does it lingeringly so I’m forced to shift Jade’s bottom into one hand until he finally releases the last finger.

It’s unbelievably loud with the cars whipping past us, and there’s a choking stench of exhaust hanging over our heads. Jade holds tight like a baby spider monkey clings to its mother, so much that my pale yellow‘Trust me, I’m a doctor’T-shirt rides up the back exposing a large expanse of skin. I attempt to pull it down as we walk our way over to the police cruiser, to no avail.

Before we move to leave, I set my girl on the hood of Tommy’s car to perform a quick onceover. Eye check for dilation. Sound of her breathing. Any new bruising or pains. Everything checks out. The crash wasn’t that bad, more scary than anything.

Not a moment later, Sly leans inside my car to turn it on and set the gear to neutral in order to hook it up to the flatbed. “I got this,” he says to Tommy. “See you back at the shop.”

Back of the cruiser, Tommy drops Jade’s booster in the center and hooks her in, then holds open the passenger front door for me.

I slide in and buckle my seatbelt, watching as he rounds the hood of the car to fold himself behind the steering wheel. Starting the engine, he checks his mirror then pulls a u-ie. As he straitens out of the U-turn, he flips off the flashers. Day ruined, we head back toward Thornbriar.

“You don’t have to take us to the shop.”

Tommy raises an eyebrow at me. “Oh no? Do you need me to take you to the hospital?”

I shake my head. “I think we’re good on that front.”

“Right, then don’t want your car fixed?”

“Well yes, sure I do. But you can drop us at home. They can call me with the estimate. Maybe I’ll just get a new car.”

Blinker on, he merges with the off-ramp. “You got something against Ellis Auto & Towing? Don’t think I didn’t see your face when the truck pulled up.”

“No. It’s notmyproblem. For some reason, Duke doesn’t much like me. And Ellis’s is his company. So it would be better ifIwasn’t around.”

In that moment Tommy’s look goes from questioning to beautifully mischievous. “Is that so?” he asks. “No, I think I better take you to the shop. If nothing else, Boss would want me to take you there since his wife’s your friend. To make sure you’re okay, and all. Elise would freak out if he didn’t.”

On a huff, I cross my arms over my chest, wincing slightly from the movement. I probably have a bruise from where the seatbelt pulled taut. Rather be bruised than dead. Although we didn’t hit hard, an accident is an accident, which means it could have ended badly. “Really, I should just go—”

Up until now, Tommy had been friendly and a downhome good ’ole boy. That friendly, easy-goingness evaporated with the blink of an eye. “I said I’m taking you to the shop. So I’m taking you to the shop.”

Since I don’t know what to make of the finality of his words, his tone, I decide for the moment not to argue my point any further. Though I don’t engage him in anymore friendly banter, either. Why should he care so much if I see Duke or not?

The cab of his cruiser becomes an awkward place to be. Until, oblivious to all of it, Jade begins to sing her favorite song. Her little girl voice almost hits all the notes toYou Are My Sunshine. And I begin to sing along with her, turning to look at her face as I do. Surprisingly, Tommy Doyle begins to sing with us, too. He catches Jade’s eye in the rearview mirror, and they smile at one another.

Without thinking, I blurt the first thing that comes to mind. “You and Maryanne should have a kid.”

His eyes cut to me, then back to the road. “When she wants it, we will. ’Til then, I’m enjoying time, just me and my wife.”

Our conversation ends when Tommy clicks on his blinker once again, slowing to a snail’s pace, and turns into the lot of Ellis Auto & Towing. Standing out front of Ellis Auto & Towing, wiping his hands on a greasy rag, is none other thantheEllis of Ellis Auto & Towing, himself. Icing on the cake, the scowl forming across his face as we lock eyes.

Sgt. Tommy Doyle fixes his gaze on Duke, back on me, and chuckles while turning into a spot then cuts the engine.

In the time I take stalling to get out of the cruiser, Tommy has Jade in one arm, her head resting on his shoulder, while carrying her booster in his other hand.

Duke approaches. “Peaches,” he says to Jade. Not even a hello for me. But then he reaches his hands out to her, and because for some reason she’s taken with him, Jade reaches back, twining her tiny arms around his neck.

“You hurt anywhere?” He asks and soundsconcerned.

“No,” she answers, moving her head to lean, not on Duke’s shoulder as she had Tommy’s. But because of the sheer size of him, Jade places her head against his chest and snuggles to get comfortable. He’s so sweet to her. I don’t know what he says because he whispers in her ear, but her little head bobs up and down in agreement to whatever he’s said.

Nerves that I’d managed to keep in check during our ordeal finally catch up. I feel hot, my cheeks and the back of my neck. A nauseous feeling forms in the pit of my stomach. Water, I need to splash water on my face. “Is—uh—” I clear my throat. All male eyes dart to me. “Is there a restroom I can use?”

“Yeah, use the office one. It’s cleaner. In the lobby, through the door behind the desk. First door you come to,” The biker president offers.

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