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“Trained in oncology and pediatrics but also spent a fair amount of time in the ED handling kids and young adults. Until recently…”
“What happened recently?” Judging by the tone of his voice, nothing good.
“I accepted the role as chief medical officer,” he answered, surprising her. That sounded like a good thing. At least to her. And he’d said he’dacceptedthe role. Which meant he’d had the option not to, didn’t it?
“That’s a high-level position, isn’t it?” Her understanding of hospital administration came from movies. Researchers were pretty accurate, but she didn’t know firsthand.
She watched the back of his head tip to the side in response. “It is,” he said. And that was all he said. She considered asking more questions but stopped herself. She didn’t know him well enough to pry, and if he’d wanted to tell her more, he would have.
“Here,” Asher said, handing her the sweatshirt from the front seat. “It’s clean and will make a good pillow if you want to rest a bit.”
“Trying to get me to shut up so you can focus on driving?” she teased as she took the clothing.
He chuckled. “Adrenaline crashes can hit you hard. Some people fall asleep. Others experience a sort of high. Whatever you need to do is fine with me. And I have no issues dividing my attention between you and the road if you’d rather talk.”
She smiled, aware of the relief that unfurled in her body at the answer he gave. She wasn’t a particularly chatty person. But the reality of what had happened to her—and whatmighthave happened to her had Asher not come along—was sinking in. And while exhaustion weighed on her shoulders, she also felt alive. And part of being alive was connecting with people.
“Thank you,” she said, rolling the soft material into a ball and setting it against the cool window. She didn’t intend to sleep, but it felt good to have something so cozy against her skin. And it smelled like him. Which was an odd thought since she didn’t really know what he smelled like. Except she did.
“I know there are a lot of cousins. Where are you in the lineup?” she asked.
“There are ten of us. I’m two months younger than Mitch, so number six. My brother, Ethan, is about a year younger and Cody is ten months younger than him. My two sisters are the youngest.”
“I’ve met them both. They graduated last year, didn’t they?”
Asher nodded. “From UCLA. They started an outdoor adventure business and retail store. It’s taken off quicker than they anticipated.”
“I love hearing that. They seemed like great young women. And of course, I know your brother Ethan from when all that stuff was going down with Sofia,” she said. Ethan worked for HICC, a private security company that had helped Sofia deal with a situation the year before. It was also the company that had stopped Ellie’s stalker several years ago—before Ethan and his cousin Chad worked there. Although Sabina, Chad’s wife, had been a part of the team.
“That whole situation was messed up,” Asher said. “But HICC got it sorted. And it brought Josh and Sofia closer together, so there’s a silver lining, I suppose.”
Josh and Sofia had already been seeing each other when the incidents at Sofia’s home started getting serious. But the threathadbrought them—and Josh’s adult son, Matt—closer together.
“Will dropping me off take you far out of your way?” she asked, hating that she was in the back seat. She understood his logic in putting her there, but she didn’t have to like it.
He wagged his head from side to side as he came to a stop at a red light, the first light within the city limits of Mystery Lake. The road to the right would take them to Sofia’s. With the roads deserted, obeying traffic laws seemed as if it could be optional. But she supposed it was more habit than anything else that had him stopping.
“Not far,” he answered, easing off the brake and letting the car roll forward around the turn. “Just a little detour down this road, then onto Sofia’s.”
The side road that Sofia lived on was a mile down. Then once they turned, they had another half mile to her home. On a normal day, it would add less than ten minutes to his drive. But tonight, she guessed it would be closer to twenty. Or even thirty if he helped carry her stuff in. At least it wasn’t too late, though. With the sky dark as pitch and the snowfall unrelenting, itfeltlike the middle of the night. But the clock on the dash had just ticked over to a quarter to nine.
“How long will it take you to get home?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Hard to say. The roads in town will be cleared, so that will help.”
She started to ask where he lived then stopped herself. In LA, addresses were a way to subtly convey—or discern—a person’s wealth and status. Where you lived said something about you. She didn’t think Mystery Lake leveraged the same ploy. But on the off chance it did, she didn’t want Asher to think she was trying to figure out his place in the pecking order.
“How are you feeling?” he asked again as they turned onto Sofia’s road. “Any soreness? Or a headache?”
A dull throb had started in her head not long ago, but she attributed it more to stress than a concussion. “The shoulder I had trouble with earlier is a little achy.”
He flashed a quick look at her in the rearview mirror and frowned. “I’ll take another look when we get to Sofia and Josh’s. My guess is that you got thrown against the door in the spin. If so, your head may have hit the window, too, and you may get a bit of a headache.”
“But no concussion?” she asked, her voice hopeful. She’d had a few of those in her lifetime and could do without another.
“Likely not. Not with your pupillary reactions and other responses.”
She breathed a sigh of relief as Sofia’s house came into view. She smiled when she saw the Christmas lights still wrapped around the eaves. Sofia was not a religious person, but sheloveddecorating for Christmas. And tended to leave her lights on all year if given the opportunity.
