Page 40 of Hit the Ground
The nurse’s mouth tightened as she rubbed her hands together. “Sir, she’s under observation for a concussion and has a fresh fracture. Besides, we’re waiting for the police to—”
“She can rest at home,” I interrupted, impatience prickling my skin. “You can send whatever paperwork she needs with us. The police can talk to her there.”
The nurse hesitated, glancing between me and Alice.
“I’ll get the doctor,” she said finally, leaving the room.
Fifteen minutes later, after a brief, albeit tense, conversation with Dr. Tennison, they released her. They insisted on a wheelchair, and Alice kept her eyes clamped tightly shut as I guided it down the hall and out through the automatic doors into the early morning air.
At my truck, I lifted her easily into my arms. Her cheek pressed against my chest as she curled closer to me with a small, broken whimper.
“It’s okay,” I murmured against her hair, tightening my grip. “You’re going home now.”
“Thank you so much,” she whispered. “Thank you, Caleb.”
I set her gently in the passenger seat, buckling her in like I used to with Jesse when he was little. Right before I closed the door, she released a shuddering breath of relief.
Climbing behind the wheel, I started the truck and pulled out of the hospital parking lot. I glanced over at Alice. She was curled into a tight ball against the passenger seat, but more alert now that she was free.
I’d been questioning whether I was doing the right thing, but she was breathing easier. Steadier. Her tears had stopped. Shewas pulling herself together. If I’d forced her to spend another minute in that place…no, I couldn’t have.
I reached over and took her hand in mine, squeezing gently as the ranch fences came into view in the distance.
“You’re safe now, Allie,” I whispered, not really sure if I was saying it for her sake or mine. “I promise. You’re safe.”
Chapter Fourteen
Alice
OnceIwasoutof the hospital, I could breathe and think clearly. Well…sort of. My body held a whole host of aches, my head was throbbing, and I was more exhausted than I’d ever been in my life.
All those things were distracting. What was consuming me was being in Caleb’s house.
The moment he’d carried me over the threshold and settled me on his couch, I’d felt like I’d been wrapped in one of his worn-in flannels. Rugged wood floors stretched under my feet, scuffed and sun-kissed in the paths he and Jesse had been making for years. The couch was a simple corduroy in mushroom brown and smelled faintly of leather, grass, and him. Tucked in the corners were a couple mismatched throw pillows, dented in the middle from the two heads that must have regularly lain on them. Everything else was neat and tidy, like he didn’t own anything he didn’t need.
Caleb was written into every surface and quiet corner. Practical. Steady. Rough around the edges but deeplycomforting. A sweet place for a father and son to live their lovely, beautiful lives.
In the back of my mind, I wondered if I was concentrating on Caleb’s decorating style so I didn’t have to think about what had happened to me. An act of avoidance if I’d ever heard one.
Caleb brought me a glass of water then paced the length of the living room while I sipped it. It seemed like I should have been saying something.
“You were right.”
He stopped in his tracks, his head swiveling in my direction. “I was right?”
“Yes.” I put my empty glass down on the coffee table, wincing from the stretch. “You were right about dating apps.”
His brow dropped low, a storm gathering behind his gaze. “You think I wanted to be right? Christ, Alice. I would have been glad to have been proven wrong.”
He lowered himself to the couch, keeping a full cushion between us. I tipped my head back, studying him in the light of his home. Something I never imagined I’d get to see.
Oh, yes. I was definitely not focusing on the right things. But the way the sunlight streaming through the picture window glinted off Caleb’s beard, turning the rough, tawny hairs into threads of gold, was so much more pleasant.
“That was a stupid thing to say.” I rubbed my sweaty palms along my legs. I’d been given scrubs because the police had taken my clothes to test for—
Oh god.
I brought my trembling hand to my mouth. “This could have been so much worse,” I rasped.
