by Alison Stone
* * *
The fluttery feelings in Sarah’s stomach had only intensified over the past few days, a mixture of excitement and pure dread. Now the day had come, and she and Nick were headed to Buffalo to visit her mom. All had been quiet in Apple Creek since the snake incident—perhaps the increased sheriff’s patrols by her rented house had been a deterrent—but Sarah couldn’t help but feel like going to Buffalo was poking a hornet’s nest.
“You haven’t been home in six months?” Nick merged the sleek compact car onto the road after stopping at her mother’s favorite bakery to pick up some pastry hearts. He had borrowed it from his parents’ fleet of executive vehicles that were registered in Buffalo, not Apple Creek, one of the many precautions they had taken. The other was leaving after nightfall.
“No, I haven’t been back.” Sarah threaded her fingers and twisted her hands. “At the next light turn right.” At this hour, she envisioned her mother sitting in her favorite recliner watching whatever police drama was running on cable. She had tried to show her mother how to use Netflix so she could binge-watch her favorite shows whenever she wanted, but all the controls and choices were too much for her. Her mother liked things simple.
Sarah laughed to herself. Her mother had always made the best of things, until cancer and Jimmy Braeden infected their lives. Some things were too hard to overcome. Sarah hoped her surprise visit didn’t negatively affect her mom, making it even harder for her mom once she had left again.
Oh, maybe this isn’t a good idea.
As they approached her old neighborhood in Buffalo, Sarah’s nerves vibrated with anticipation. She longed to see Mom, but she couldn’t shake the foreboding that something bad was going to happen—really bad. Ever since Sarah’s panic attacks started, she struggled to separate real danger from perceived danger.
She sent up a silent prayer that her fight-or-flight response was off-kilter considering she was home for the first time in half a year.
“I live—my mom lives,” she corrected herself, “on this street about ten houses in on the left.”
Nick must have sensed her unease. “Everything is going to be all right. This car is registered to my parents’ company, which has a Buffalo address. It would take a huge leap to connect it to Apple Creek and you, for that matter.”
“So, remind me of this great plan.” Sarah’s tone came off as sarcastic, but inside she was trembling and nauseous. She prayed she’d be strong for Mom. And she prayed her mom was doing better than Nick’s friend had led her to believe. Matt didn’t know her mother, so what basis did he have to make that call?
That’s the lie she had been telling herself since Nick had suggested they visit her mom. And what she was quickly learning about Nick, when he made a decision, he didn’t waste time putting it into action.
“We’ll park on the street a house away so as not to draw attention.”
“What if someone sees me?” Sarah’s legs started to shake, and she couldn’t stop them.
“Did you bring a hat?”
Sarah nodded and pulled out a university baseball cap. It had her college logo on it, a large public university where she’d earned her master’s degree. She couldn’t recall ever having worn it. She looked goofy in hats.
“Tuck your hair up in it.”
Sarah did as Nick had instructed as he came to a stop at the light at the corner of her street. Nostalgia bit at her insides when she remembered how many times she used to ride her bike around the block in this neighborhood. How she and her friends would make a hopscotch board with chalk or play on the shuffleboard court painted on her best friend’s driveway.
All a lifetime ago.
The light turned green, and the car in front of them proceeded through the intersection, allowing Nick to turn right onto her street.
Sarah’s heart plummeted and her mouth went dry. Rescue vehicles were parked near the house. Sarah couldn’t find any words. Are they here for my mom? No, no, no...
Nick reached across and touched her hand, sensing her unease. He parked across the street and down two houses. Sarah stared at the fire truck on the street and the ambulance in her mother’s driveway. Her stomach knotted, and she feared she was going to throw up.
“My mom,” she whispered, her voice hoarse with emotion. She pushed open the door and climbed out, her legs unsteady under her.
Nick scrambled out of the car and jogged around to her side and grabbed her elbow. “It’s okay. Let’s go in and see what’s going on.”
Unable to speak around the lump in her throat, Sarah nodded. Please don’t be dead. Please don’t be dead. Then she closed her eyes and prayed in earnest. Dear Lord, watch over my mom. Let her be okay. Let me be able to see her again.
“Are you okay?” Sarah opened her eyes to find Nick close to her, studying her face.
“I need to see my mom.”
“Come on. I’ll be right there with you.” He took her elbow. Sarah turned toward the house and noticed the outline of a man in her mother’s doorway.
Broad shoulders. Thick chest. Flat buzz cut.
Jimmy.
It couldn’t be.
It had to be. She’d recognize his stance anywhere.
Sarah yanked away from Nick’s touch, her world tipping off its axis. She flattened her hand against the cool metal of the passenger window and ducked her head.
“It’s him,” Sarah whispered. “Jimmy Braeden is standing in my mother’s foyer.”
* * *
At the alarmed expression on Sarah’s face, Nick’s gaze snapped to the front door. A tall, broad-shouldered police officer stood in the doorway. Nick couldn’t be certain if the man was watching them or the EMTs loading the ambulance.
“Are you sure it’s him?”
From her semicrouched position, Sarah glanced over the roof of the car. “Yes.” She visibly shuddered. “It’s him. I’m sure. I don’t know why he’s here. He’s not a Buffalo cop. He’s in a neighboring suburb.”
Nick gently took Sarah’s trembling hand. His heart shattered for her. “You’re safe. I’m here.” She looked up at him, and her eyes glistened under the white glow of the moonlight. Sarah nodded slightly. Unsure. He hated that a man had done this to her. Made her afraid. He tamped down his anger. He had to keep calm if he didn’t want to raise any red flags.
“Get inside the car and lock the doors. Stay low. I’ll be right back.”
Sarah stared at him, uncertainty flickering across her face. “Don’t leave me here on the street. Alone.”
“It’ll be okay. Lock the doors,” he repeated. “We need to see what’s going on with your mom.”
Sarah spun around and clutched his arm. “Let’s follow the ambulance to the hospital. Don’t waste time talking to him.”
“Sarah, trust me.” Nick brushed his thumb across her cheek, and she leaned into his touch. “I won’t jeopardize your safety.”
Sarah nodded slightly and slipped into the car. Nick handed her the keys. “Stay in the car. Don’t get out no matter what. And if things go south, drive away.”
She opened her mouth to protest. Nick locked gazes with her. Trust me.
Wide-eyed, Sarah nodded in silent agreement. He trusted she wouldn’t leave the car. He straightened and placed a hand on the doorframe. “Hand me the bakery bag.”
Sarah twisted around and grabbed the bag from the floor in the back of the car.
Nick watched the man still standing in the doorway. “What church does your mom belong to?”
“Saint Al’s?” Sarah answered, a question in her voice.
“Okay...now lock the doors as soon as I close the door.”
Sarah nodded ever so slightly. Nick closed the door and heard the click of the automatic locks. He crossed the street with the bakery bag in hand. He glanced over his shoulder at the car. In
the darkness, Sarah wasn’t visible inside. Nick made a straight line toward the ambulance, but the man who had been standing in the doorway strode out to the driveway and cut him off.
The man matched the image of Officer James Braeden that Nick had pulled up on the Orchard Gardens Police website.
“Can I help you?” Jimmy asked, his eyes piercing and dark. Anger and entitlement rolled off him in waves.
Nick tamped down his growing dislike for the man, afraid it would show on his face. He relaxed his shoulders and tried to act like he wasn’t former military or current law enforcement. Nonthreatening.
“Is that Mrs. Gardner? Is she okay?” Nick put on an air of concern consistent with being a long-time friend.
“And you are?” Jimmy asked, not offering any information. Nick wondered why he was here when he wasn’t a Buffalo cop.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Nick held out his free hand, offering to shake the man’s hand. “I’m Nick—” he purposely didn’t give a last name, even a fake one. Harder for the officer to catch him in a lie. “My mother and Mrs. Gardner are friends from St. Al’s. My mother wanted Mrs. Gardner to have these baked goods.” Nick lifted up the bag as evidence. “Thought they’d cheer her up. But now I see she’s taken a turn for the worse.” Nick turned toward the street and noticed the taillights of the ambulance disappear. He knew Sarah must be going out of her mind stuck inside the car, wondering what was going on with her mother.
With Jimmy.
Nick hoped she took comfort in seeing the ambulance didn’t have on its lights and siren. That had to be an encouraging sign.
Unless she suspected there was no longer any sense of urgency.
Nick turned back around and found Jimmy staring at him, the two men squaring off eye to eye. “As you can see, Mrs. Gardner has been taken to the hospital.”
“Did she call the ambulance?” Nick asked, trying to glean some information to share with Sarah.
“A neighbor did. Happened to stop by to check on her. When Mrs. Gardner didn’t answer, she peered through the window and found the old lady flat on the floor. Unconscious.” Jimmy looked past him to his vehicle parked in the street. Nick had purposely made sure he didn’t park under a streetlamp so as not to draw attention to the details of the car. Now, he was especially glad because Sarah was nothing more than a shadow.
“My mother’s a friend. She’ll be concerned. Is there any news I can give her?”
“They’re taking her to Buffalo Mercy.”
“Did she regain consciousness?”
“Yes, but she’s confused.” Jimmy turned his focus to Nick’s car. “Is someone waiting in the car?”
Nick lifted a hand, he tried to act casual, but he was on high alert. “My wife. We’re on our way out tonight. Once she saw the ambulance, we knew we wouldn’t be visiting with Mrs. Gardner.” Nick frowned. “I suppose I won’t be leaving these baked goods. Any chance anyone else in the house would enjoy them?”
“If you knew Mrs. Gardner, then you’d know she only has one daughter. She’s currently out of town.” The tight set of Jimmy’s mouth must have been his “I’m annoyed with the world” tell.
“It’s my mother who likes to visit with her friends after church. Me, I’m more a get in and get out and I’m good for another week.” Nick shrugged. “Just hope lightning doesn’t strike me dead while I’m there.”
Behind Jimmy in the house, Nick heard a Buffalo police officer instructing another officer to make sure the house was secure before they left.
“It’s a shame her daughter is out of town. Has someone contacted her? Let her know her mother has fallen ill?” Nick let the question hang out there.
Jimmy scrubbed a hand across his cropped hair as he studied Nick. Nick had to resist the urge not to put this guy in his place. He didn’t want to trigger Jimmy’s temper.
“Someone from our department will be sure to track her down,” the Buffalo cop said.
Nick nodded curtly. “Night.” Nick made eye contact with the Buffalo cop and then Jimmy. Nick turned and jogged across the lawn. He waited until Jimmy climbed into a large SUV parked in front of Mrs. Gardner’s house and pulled away. He didn’t want to open the car door and allow the dome light to reveal his passenger.
In the briefest of seconds before he pulled his door shut and the dome light went dark, he saw tears shining on Sarah’s pretty face. His heart went out to her.
Given a chance, he’d punch old Jimmy in the jaw. No man had the right to treat a woman as poorly as he had treated Sarah. Now she had lost time with her mother.
He hoped they weren’t too late.
Undoubtedly, Sarah would insist they go to the hospital to check on her mother. Given the circumstances, he couldn’t deny her.
He only hoped he could protect her.
SEVEN
Sarah and Nick waited two hours and then entered the hospital through the emergency-room doors. Under normal circumstances, Sarah would have never hoped for a busy ER when her mother was somewhere inside awaiting treatment. The crowded waiting room allowed her and Nick to slip in relatively unnoticed by the busy medical staff once Nick and she got past security with a flick of his badge. The wait was excruciating, but they had hoped the initial chaos of her mother’s arrival—and the chance of running into Jimmy—had gone down exponentially.
Sarah had worked at this hospital a few years back as an intern in social work. She was familiar with the layout of the ER. She showed Nick a photo from her wallet of her mother. Separately, they each traveled down each side of the long hallway of examination rooms. When she spotted her mom in the last room, her heart stopped and her vision narrowed.
Sarah stared at her mother through the glass on the top half of the door. Her mother looked old and frail under the white sheet. Her face sunken. Her skin papery white. Her eyes closed. Tears blurred Sarah’s vision, and she quickly swiped at them. She had to be strong.
Sarah glanced over at Nick, and he had just turned from looking in the last room on his side of the hallway. She nodded to him. Concern flashed in his eyes. He hustled across the hall to her and put a comforting hand on the small of her back. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to.
“I wonder if a doctor can answer any of our questions?” Sarah whispered.
“I’ll find one. You go in and see your mother.”
She nodded, suddenly feeling like the little girl who visited her dad one last time in the emergency room the night of his accident. She shoved the thought aside and pushed open the door. Her mother didn’t move. Cold fear pulsed through her veins. What if this was the end?
Dear Lord, please don’t let this be the end. I’m not ready. I need more time. Please watch over her.
Sarah moved to her mother’s side. She took off her baseball cap and set it down on the edge of the bed, letting her long blond hair cascade over her shoulders. She felt ridiculous in the cap, but understood she needed to hide her identity.
As an afterthought, she glanced around the room, hoping there weren’t security cameras and then decided for once she was going to put Jimmy out of her mind.
Dismissing her plight—she felt selfish at times—she took her mother’s smooth, cool hand in her own. She studied her mother’s wedding rings, something she hadn’t taken off even though she had been a widow longer than she had been married.
“Mom,” she whispered, emotion clogging her throat, “I love you.”
“Love you, too,” came her mother’s quiet, raspy reply.
Sarah’s eyes flashed to her mother’s face. Her eyes were still closed, but her mother squeezed her daughter’s hand. A faint squeeze, but a response all the same. A tear trickled down Sarah’s face.
“How do you feel, Mom?” Sarah glanced toward the door, hoping Nick would reappear with a doctor or nurse to answer her questions.
Her mother pried her eyes open a slant. “Oh, the light is bright.”
Sarah glanced around, but didn’t see a switch. Since this was the ER and not a private room, she figured her mother would have to deal with the lights. “I’m sorry.” She smoothed her mother’s hair off her forehead. “What happened?”
Her mother’s forehead creased. “I don’t remember...”
“Don’t worry. You’re getting care now.”
“How did you know I was in the hospital? Who called you?”
Sarah smiled. “Even sick, you don’t miss a beat, do you, Mom?”
A thin smile curved her mother’s lips.
“I snuck back home to see you. Good thing, too.”
“I didn’t mean to worry you. Is it safe for you to be here?” Her mother examined Sarah and noticed the bandage. “Your forehead? What happened?”
“Mom, you’re in the ER and you’re worried about me?” Sarah leaned over her mom and kissed her cheek, the smell of coconut lotion immediately making her homesick. “Just a little cut. I’m fine.”
“I’m fine, too. I must have forgotten to eat and passed out.”
A realization rolled over Sarah. “You can’t go back home. You shouldn’t be alone. You need help.”
“I’ve never needed help.” Her voice sounded sleepy, confused. Yet determined. “I can take care of myself. You need to live your own life.”
Loud voices sounded in the hall. Cold dread pooled in Sarah’s gut even before she heard Nick practically shouting his greeting to “Officer Jimmy Braeden.”
Sarah glanced around the room. A door to a small bathroom stood ajar. She pressed a kiss to her mother’s cheek. “Mom, a friend of mine may be coming into the room. He’s protecting me. His name’s Nick Jennings.” She glanced at the door, her heart jackhammering in her chest. “If he says you know his mother from church, go along with it.” She rushed to get all the information out.
Her mother opened her eyes wide for the first time. “I’ll never understand you, Sarah Lynn.”
“Pretend you know him, Mom. And don’t say anything about me being here.”