Page 41 of What it Takes
But before he could try to figure out how to explain that to his less-than-sober friends, his phone vibrated in his pocket.Shit.It was late for a call.
“Gotta go,” he said, standing as he typed a quick reply into his phone. A side-by-side rollover with two passengers, no helmets, and at least one possible head injury. He wasn’t too far from the location they gave him.
About 200 yards past the turnoff to the old Dabney hunting camp.
And that was why the town of Whitford had scrounged up enough money to lure Ben back from the city. He was probably the only paramedic on the planet who could ride a four-wheelerandknew where to find the overgrown path that led out to a remote hunting cabin that had burned down in 1987. In the dark.
On my way. ETA 20 mins.
“What’s going on?” Andy asked.
“Rolled a RZR.”
“You want me to go with you?” Josh asked. He asked out of habit, but a second later, he looked down at the beer can in his hand. It wasn’t his first. “Shit.”
“I’ll text you an update,” he said.
He was almost to his four-wheeler when he thought of Laney. It didn’t seem right to leave without saying goodbye to her. But walking into the group of laughing women to specifically say goodbye to her would only fan the flames of the Kowalski matchmaking fire. And he didn’t really have time.
After buckling his helmet, he fired up the machine and, after plugging in his phone, put it in its mount. If somebody from dispatch or the cell phones programmed into a certain list reached out to him, a small red light on the side of the mount would flash. Going down the trail, it was easy to miss a vibrating phone in the pocket. He hit the switch for the flashing red light, mounted on a short pole behind him so it wouldn’t interfere with his vision, and then headed for the tree line.
* * *
The women all paused when they heard the four-wheeler start. There had been a lull in the laughter, so the engine sounded loud in the night.
“It’s probably Ben heading home,” Rosie said. “I forgot he met up with them on the trail, so he’s on his ATV.”
Laney hoped the sinking feeling of disappointment she felt didn’t show on her face. She knew it didn’t make any sense. It wasn’t as if they were going to hang out together when the women got bored with the Dirty Scrabble game—she’d noticed the scorekeeping went downhill over the course of the night and she wasn’t sure how the game technically ended—or hook up after everybody else went to their campers. But just knowing he would be gone sucked some of the joy out of her night.
Then a red light started bouncing around the trees as the engine revved and she couldn’t help standing up. After a few steps she could see around the RV well enough to watch him disappear down the trail. Even though he was out of sight, except for the occasional flash of red, she could still hear as he gave it more gas to increase his speed.
“Be careful,” she whispered, her stomach clenching at the thought of him driving through the woods in the dark. He had lights. His ATV even had more lights than some of the others because his had aftermarket LED lights mounted on his front grill.
“He’ll be fine,” Liz said, resting her hand at the small of Laney’s back.
She tensed, suddenly feeling ridiculous. And conspicuous. But there was no hiding now that she felt something for Ben, even if she didn’t know what it was. Not from these women. “It must be so dark in the woods.”
“It is. But Ben’s been riding in these woods his entire life. He and Sean and my brothers—and Katie because she was a huge tomboy—used to ride dirt bikes and ATV through those woods so fast Rosie hadthe Northern Star kidsadded to the Whitford church’s prayer list as a standard weekly feature.”
“It’s true,” Rosie said.
“He lived in the city for years. Just because you did something as a teenager doesn’t mean you can do it now.”
“Laney.” It was Rosie again, and she waited for Laney to turn and look at her before she continued. “The first thing Ben did when he got back was ride every mile of the trails with Andy. And again with Josh. And by himself. He studied maps and spent a lot of time reacquainting himself with the woods around Whitford. But he’s also a smart guy, and he’s not going to be reckless.”
“It sounds like he was going so fast.”
“You ride my machine and it’s a lot smaller and a lot quieter,” Beth told her. “His has a big engine and it’s not only a lot louder, but it has a different tone when he gets on it a little bit. He wasn’t going as fast as you think he was.”
“I’m being a total idiot right now. Sorry.” She laughed, but it sounded high-pitched and a little hollow. Then she sat back in her chair, hoping the heat in her cheeks didn’t show in the dim light of the lanterns.
Liz sat down, too, but she wasn’t done trying to make her feel better. “I hate when Drew gets called out at night, too. It’s usually for an accident and around here, I don’t worry too much about violence, but I worry about him speeding to the scene in the dark. You just have to trust that experience has taught him his limits and that he knows what he’s doing.”
Laney was uncomfortable with all the focus being on her. And she wasreallyuncomfortable with the idea that she’d accidentally exposed feelings she preferred to keep secret because she didn’t even want to be feeling them herself.
“We’re just friends,” she said quietly, anticipating them laughing at her and probably teasing her until she could escape without looking like she was running.
“And we worry about friends,” Mary said, no laughter in her voice. “You probably would have been concerned no matter who left going fast with ATV lights flashing because you’re not used to it. We’ve all been four-wheeling and riding snowmobiles for most of our lives, so it doesn’t bother us as much.”
