Lucy just stared at him for a moment, as unshed tears prickled her eyes, until finally, they trickled down her face.
“Why are you crying?” Tucker asked, as he wiped the tears from her face.
“Because I never believed that I could be this happy,” Lucy smiled through her tears. “I never believed I would love someone, the way that I love you.”
Tucker wrapped her in his arms and held her tightly.
“Please don’t cry,” he whispered into her ear.
“These are happy tears,” she said with a giggle. “I promise.”
“Good,” Tucker replied, and kissed her forehead. “Now, let’s get you ready and get you up to see your father. I have the day off, and I plan on spending it with you, and there is so much I want to do with you.”
Lucy went and splashed her face with water, then reapplied her make-up. Before she left for the hospital, she tried to call Alison once again, but there was still no answer. She sighed as she slipped her phone into her pocket and hurried down the stairs to where Tucker was waiting for her.
“Are you ready to go,” Tucker asked when he looked up and saw her walking down the stairs.
“Sure,” she replied with a smile before she followed him out the front door.
When they reached the hospital, Lucy was surprised to find her father sitting in an armchair next to the bed, but he looked unhappy like something was bothering him.
“You’re out of bed,” Lucy beamed, as she hurried to her father and kissed his cheek. “I wasn’t expecting this.”
“I had my first Physio today,” Tom replied abruptly, without looking at his daughter or Tucker.
“How did it go?” Tucker asked, as he gave Lucy a worried look and she knew he too, saw there was something wrong.
“Not as good as I hoped,” he sighed miserably, still not making eye contact with either of them.
“You need to give it time, Dad,” Lucy said, as she crouched down in front of him. “It’s your first day.”
“It’s my last one, too,” he huffed as he finally looked up at his daughter. “I am not doing it anymore. I need to face the fact, I will be a cripple for the rest of my life. I am just an old, stupid man that is no longer any good to anyone.”
“Dad, you are far from old or stupid,” Lucy said, as she took hold of his hand. “I know today was hard, but tomorrow will be better.”
“No,” Tom replied sharply. “It won’t, because, I won’t be doing it.”
He turned and looked up at Tucker before he continued.
“I have contacted head office,” he sighed. “I have informed them that I will hand over the reins to you, Son. You are exactly what this town needs. We need some young blood in charge, and I know I can trust you, and that you won’t let me down.”
“Chief, I…” Tucker began, but Tom cut him off.
“It’s settled and done, Tucker,” Tom cut in, abruptly. “I am retiring, and I am leaving the town in good hands.”
Lucy looked at Tucker, and her heart sank. She could see the struggle in his face. He was torn between keeping his promise to her, and doing his duty for the man that saved his life. The one man that was there for him, when no one else was.
Her heart broke.
Lucy loved Tucker more than anything else in this world. She knew she couldn’t ask him to turn her father down because she knew he felt an obligation to him. It was part of what she loved about him. Tucker was a good man, a man of honour.
She just didn’t know if she had what it took to be the woman he loved and stay here with him.
Lucy let her eyes meet Tucker’s and he gave her a look that almost shattered her. She knew what she needed to do, even if it broke her heart.
“You’ve been very quiet today,” Tucker said, as they drove back from the hospital. Neither of them had mentioned her father’s request, and Lucy knew it was because they both knew what it would mean to them.
“I hadn’t realised I was,” she replied, without taking her eyes from the road ahead.
“I would love to know what you’re thinking,” Tucker said cautiously. “You have me worried.”
Lucy looked over at Tucker and smiled, but inside her heart ached. She wanted to beg him to pick her, to come to New York with her, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t ask him to make that choice, no matter how much she wanted him to.
“I’m okay,” she said, deciding to keep her thoughts to herself. “I guess I’m just tired.”
She didn’t trust herself not to cry if she said what was in her mind, so instead she decided to say nothing.
“Are you sure?” He asked, and Lucy knew he wasn’t convinced. “Because you know you can talk to me about anything.”
“I know,” she smiled, before she returned her gaze to the road ahead. “I’m okay, I promise.”
When they reached the house, Lucy excused herself and went up to her room to change. She pulled on some leggings and a baggy t-shirt, then caught her hair up in a bun on the top of her head.
Before she went back downstairs, she tried Alison’s number once again.
Lucy was concerned that she hadn’t heard back from her friend. It was so unlike her. Lucy just wanted to talk to her and tell her she was sorry for bailing on her the night before.
She also wanted to make sure that David was okay. She had no idea what to think.
“I ordered pizza,” Tucker said, as she walked back down the stairs. He was walking from the kitchen carrying two glasses and a bottle of wine.
“Sounds good,” Lucy said, as she forced a smile, but inside her heart was completely broken.
“Okay, Lucy,” Tucker said, as he set the glasses and the bottle of wine on the table in the hall, took hold of her hand and led her into the living room. “What is going on?”
Much to Lucy’s horror, she just burst into tears. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed.
“Lucy, you’re scaring me,” Tucker said, as he wrapped his arms around her. “What the hell is going on?”
“I’m just being silly again,” she sniffed, as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Talk to me,” Tucker pleaded. “Please don’t shut me out. This is about your dad, isn’t it?”
Lucy just nodded as she continued to cry.
“He will be okay,” Tucker assured her. “He is just having a bad day.”
“What if he’s not?” Lucy asked, as she looked up at Tucker. “What if he is right? What if he never walks properly again?”
“Then we will cross that bridge when we get to it,” Tucker replied, as he took her face in his hands. “Please don’t worry about this.”
“But if he can’t go back to work,” Lucy said, deciding it was best just to be honest. “I can’t ask you not to do what he has asked of you. I know what he means to you, Tucker. I saw it on your face today. But I can’t stay here. I wish I could say I would, but I can’t. And I can’t ask you to pick.”
“Lucy, I love your dad, like he was my own,” Tucker said, looking deep into her eyes. “But there is no choice here. You don’t have to ask me to choose because there is only one option and that’s you. I am honoured that the Chief would want me to step into his shoes, but I can’t if it means I lose you.”
“But…I thought…” Lucy said looking up into his eyes.
“When are you going to understand, My Silly Girl,” Tucker smiled. “It will always be you.”
Before she could reply, he sealed her lips with his and drew her into his arms. Lucy melted into his embrace, happy in the arms of the man she loved.
Chapter 26
Lucy woke with a start. She could hear a phone ringing, but she had no idea where it was coming from. She sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
“I’M UP!” Tucker exclaimed, as he too awoke suddenly and sat up in the bed. Lucy laughed as he looked at her with a confused expression on his face. “What’s happened? What was that noise?”
“I think my phone was ringing,” she replied, as she pushed back
the bedclothes and climbed out of bed. “It’s somewhere downstairs.”
“Is that what that noise was?” Tucker asked, as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “What time is it anyway?”
“A little after eight,” she yawned, as she slipped on her dressing gown and headed for the door. “You stay there, I will bring you some coffee once I have found my phone.”
“I wish,” Tucker sighed, as he too, climbed out of bed. “But I need to head to the station.”
“Okay,” Lucy said, and blew him a kiss from the doorway before she walked out of the room.
As she made her way down the stairs, her phone started to ring again.
“Okay, okay,” she called out as she picked up her pace and hurried down the stairs, “I’m coming.”
She found the phone on the coffee table in the living room where she had left it the night before. She quickly picked it up and hit the answer button.
“Hello,” she replied, as she brought it to her ear and sat down on the sofa to catch her breath. “Lucy Chance speaking.”
“Lucy!” David, Alison’s fiancé, exclaimed down the phone. “Where the hell have you guys been? I have been calling and calling you forever.”
“I was asleep,” Lucy replied, confused by his question. “Is everything okay, are you alright after the accident?”
“Accident!” He said, sounding almost as confused at Lucy was feeling. “What accident? I thought something had happened to you two. I have been calling Ali since yesterday morning, but I am just getting her voice mail. She still hasn’t returned my call, and I was getting worried, that’s why I called you.”
“What, I thought that you were in an accident?” Lucy said as Tucker walked into the room and gave her a questioning look. She mouthed to him that it was Alison’s fiancé.
He nodded and picked up the pizza box from the table and headed back out of the room.
“What the hell are you talking about, Lucy?” David asked sounding a little irritated. “There was no accident. Have you two been on the margaritas again?”
“No!” Lucy exclaimed as a wave of fear hit her. “I had to go somewhere the night before last. When I got home yesterday morning, I found a note from Alison saying you had been in an accident, and she had returned to New York.”
“Wait,” David said, as he tried to make sense of what Lucy was saying. “So she isn’t there with you?”
“No,” Lucy said, as a knot formed in her stomach. “And she isn’t with you either.”
“I’m still in Florida with my brothers,” David replied. “Why would she lie?”
“I don’t know,” Lucy replied as her heart raced, as did her mind. “I have been trying to get hold of her since yesterday too.”
“What the fuck is going on, Lucy?” David asked, and Lucy could hear the fear in his voice.
“I don’t know, David,” Lucy replied. “But I am going to find out. I am going to head back to New York.”
“I will be on the next flight home,” David replied.
“I will call you once I reach her apartment,” Lucy promised before she hung up the phone.
“What’s going on?” Tucker asked from behind Lucy.
“Alison isn’t with David,” Lucy replied, as she turned to him. She stopped the minute she saw what he was holding.
“I found this in the trash can out back,” Tucker said, as he held up what looked like a bed sheet. “There is something wrapped inside it.”
He pulled open the sheet and Lucy instantly recognised the clothes that Alison had been wearing Saturday night.
“They’re Alison’s,” Lucy said, as she stepped closer to Tucker. That’s when she noticed the blood on them. Her stomach heaved. “OH GOD!”
Before Tucker could say a word, Lucy pushed past him and ran to the kitchen. She barely made it to the sink before she violently threw up.
“Lucy,” Tucker said, as he suddenly appeared next to her in the kitchen. “Are you okay?”
“No,” she cried, as she wiped her mouth with some paper tissues that were next to the sink. She could barely catch her breath. “No, I am not okay. It was Trent; I know it was him.”
“Lucy,” Tucker said, as he took hold of her hands. “You don’t know anything for sure. She could have left for a million reasons. I need you to stay calm.”
“HOW CAN I BE CALM?” She screamed. “This is all my fault. I brought her here, I left her, and he got her. THIS IS BECAUSE OF ME!”
“LUCY!” Tucker shouted and surprised Lucy. She stopped talking and just stared at him. “Good. I need you to listen to me, okay?”
She just nodded, and her eyes never left his.
“Good girl,” he said in a calm, gentle voice. “You don’t know what happened here, Sweetheart. I know you’re upset, but I need you to try and remain calm.”
Again she nodded.
“We need to go find Alison,” Tucker continued. “We need to make sure she is okay. But first, I need you to promise me, whatever happens, that you will remember, this is not your fault.”
“But…” she began to protest, but Tucker quickly stopped her.
“Promise me,” he repeated.
“Okay,” she nodded again as Tucker wrapped her in his arms. She buried her face in his chest and cried.
“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered as he softly stroked her hair. “If he has hurt her, I promise, this time, he will not get away.”
The drive to New York seemed to take forever. Before they left, Tucker called one of the other deputies from the station to come and collect the things he had found in the trash can, they were now evidence. He made sure they were bagged up properly and taken straight back to the station.
He also told him to go over the house and see if there was anything else he and Lucy had missed.
Lucy called her father and told him that she was needed back at the office in New York and that she would be back later that night. She had decided not to mention what had happened with Alison to him. He was already worried, and more worry wouldn’t help his recovery or do anything to improve his current mood.
The whole journey there, Lucy’s mind was racing. Why did she have to leave Alison alone that night? She was sure that Trent had come looking for her, and instead he found Alison. It didn’t matter what Tucker said; this was all her fault.
Memories of the night, all those years earlier crashed into her mind over and over again. As much as she fought them, they were there; he was there. Every sound, every smell, his vile breath against her skin.
What did he do to Alison?
“Lucy,” Tucker said, pulling her from her thoughts.
“Yeah,” she said, as she glanced over at him.
“You’re very quiet,” he said, as he glanced back at her quickly before he turned his focus back to the road. “Are you okay?”
“I was just thinking,” she replied, as she too returned her gaze to the road ahead. “I’m fine.”
“Lucy,” Tucker said. “Please don’t shut me out again.”
“I…I just want to get to Alison and make sure she is okay,” she sighed. She wanted to say that she was beyond scared. That the memories she had fought so hard to put out of her mind for so long, where now all she could think of.
Lucy wanted to let Tucker in, but she didn’t know how or where to begin.
“We will be there soon,” Tucker assured her. “I promise.”
“I know,” she replied, and forced a smile on her face.
When they reached the city, Lucy gave Tucker the direction to Alison’s apartment.
She had no idea what to expect once they got there, but with each turn they took, each block that brought them closer to Alison’s apartment, Lucy could feel a knot of dread form in the pit of her stomach.
She remembered the Christmas Eve her dad had made this journey, the night she tried to end her life.
Had this been how it felt for him too? An overwhelming feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. She hated that she had put him thro
ugh that. It was one of her biggest regrets.
“What if we’re too late?” Lucy asked, as the thought occurred to her.
“Too late for what?” Tucker replied, confused by her question.
“What if she drank the vodka and found the box cutters?” She said without looking at Tucker, as she remembered how she had believed it was the right thing to do that night, all those years before. “What if we left it too late? I should have come after her yesterday.”
“Lucy, you didn’t know…” Tucker began to reason with her, but she stopped him.
“But I did,” she insisted. “I knew something was wrong. She just vanished, and I did nothing. I should have come after her yesterday. Now, maybe it’s too late.”
“You need to stop this,” Tucker said, surprising Lucy with his sudden anger. “None of this is your fault, and I won’t listen to you tear yourself apart anymore. Is that clear?”
Lucy didn’t respond. She just nodded and turned her attention back to the road ahead.
Five minutes later, they pulled up outside Alison’s apartment.
She lived on the first floor of a three story walk up. Alison always complained that it was too small, but Lucy always loved her friend’s apartment. It was full of history and character.
“Do you think I should try to call her one more time?” Lucy asked as Tucker switched off the engine.
“I don’t think she will answer,” Tucker replied as he looked over at Lucy. “But it won’t hurt to try.”
Lucy pulled her phone from her pocket and brought up Alison’s number on the screen. She hit call and waited, but once again, it went straight to her answering machine. Lucy hung up without leaving a message.
“Let’s go in,” Tucker said, as he pushed open the door and climbed out of the truck. Lucy sighed before she followed him. She knew he was angry with her, and it just made everything worse, somehow.
They climbed the front steps of the building, and Lucy pressed the buzzer on the intercom. They waited, but there was no reply.
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