Page 108 of Midnight Valentine
Suzanne has already been out to bring me a change of clothes and have a breakdown at the sight of Theo. I had to take her into the hallway and prop her up in a chair so she could catch her breath.
Colleen and I have been talking on the phone every day. I have a feeling we’re going to become very good friends, no matter what the future holds.
Craig was charged with DWI and spent two days in jail. Depending on the outcome with Theo, other charges might be pending.
As for me, I’ve been sleeping in chairs and drinking too much coffee, and spending a lot of time on my knees in the hospital’s quiet little chapel, bargaining with God. Which is about as useful as trying to bargain with the earth to spin in the opposite direction, but it gives me something to pass the time.
Three days turn into four, four into seven. I check into a hotel near the hospital and rent a car. I receive daily updates from the doctors, but learn nothing new. I exist in a strange twilight zone of fluorescent lights and cafeteria food, endless terror and crushing guilt.
I crucify myself over all the things I should’ve told Theo while I had the time.
We always think we have enough of that precious commodity, until fate steps in and proves us wrong.
Then, on th
e tenth day after Theo’s accident, I get an early phone call from Coop.
“How’s it goin’? You been over to the hospital yet?”
“I was just on my way over. I’ve already talked to his doctor, though. Still no change.”
“Well, uh…I think you should, uh…” He clears his throat. “There’s somethin’ I want you to take a look at. Come on out to Seaside today.”
I’m combing my hair, still wet from my shower, but fall still when I hear the strange note in Coop’s voice. “What is it?”
Coop draws a breath. “It’s not somethin’ I could explain. You need to see this, Megan. I wouldn’t make you leave him if it wasn’t really important.”
“Is it the Buttercup? Is everything okay?”
“It’s not the Buttercup. We’re makin’ good progress on the house. This is…a lot more important.”
“Coop,” I say flatly. “I hate mysteries. And my nerves can’t take any more drama. What the fuck is so important that I have to come back to Seaside to see?”
Coop says quietly, “What I found in Theo’s barn.”
Goose bumps erupt all over my body. I think of that big, shiny chain threaded through the door handles of the ramshackle barn, and shiver.
“Theo uses his house as Hillrise’s headquarters—it’s like a showroom up there, just a beautiful example of his work—and I had to get some paperwork from the office for a client. Copy of an old invoice for their taxes. Anyway, I couldn’t find it in the computer, so I thought maybe we’d have it in storage in the barn.”
“And?” I prompt impatiently when he stops talking.
His answer is so soft, I have to strain to hear it. “And now I guess I know why Theo never let me go out there.”
“Coop,” I shout, “give me a slight fucking break, would you? What’s in the goddamn barn?”
He says simply, “You.”
His voice is so strange, it’s starting to scare me. “I don’t understand.”
“Me neither. I’ll meet you there at noon. I’ll text you the address.”
He hangs up before I can say I already have it.
* * *
I make the ninety-minute drive to Seaside in an hour and ten. When I tear into the driveway at Theo’s house, Coop is already there. He leans against his truck with his arms folded over his chest, gazing down at his boots. When he looks up and our eyes meet through the windshield, my heart stops.
Because my big, burly, confident Coop looks scared as shit.
