An Everyday Hero

by Laura Trentham

  Ally nodded. “How is she?”

  The doctor glanced at Greer and Emmett. “I’m afraid medical information can only be given to family.”

  “I’m her aunt and he’s her uncle,” Greer announced without breaking eye contact with the doctor.

  The doctor narrowed his gaze on Emmett, who held his hands up in surrender. “You heard her.”

  “Physically she’ll recover, but her underlying addiction needs to be addressed.” He handed over several pamphlets. “I can recommend her for a short-term intensive inpatient treatment which will include therapy. Then it will be up to her to keep outpatient appointments.”

  “That sounds doable,” Ally said.

  “Will she be transferred directly from here to treatment?” Greer asked.

  “If she agrees.”

  “What do you mean, agrees? Can’t the state force her into treatment?” Emmett asked.

  “Unless she’s an immediate danger to herself or others, no. Frankly, we see higher rates of relapse from people forced into treatment. It’s much more effective when the person chooses a path of sobriety. She has to want to get better.”

  “You’re saying I need to make my mom agree to treatment.”

  “If you can. When I broached the subject with her, she became agitated. It seems she doesn’t want to leave you alone.” The doctor gave Greer and Emmett a pointed look. “She made no mention of an aunt or uncle who might be persuaded to look after her minor child.”

  “Can I see her?” Ally asked.

  “Of course. She’s awake but still groggy.”

  Ally took two steps toward the double doors that led to the exam rooms, stopped, and turned around. “Will you guys come with me?” Ally glanced between him and Greer.

  Emmett opened and closed his mouth, the ability to speak lost.

  “Of course.” Greer took his hand, making the decision for him.

  A nurse directed them to Karen’s room. The thick smell of antiseptic was cut by earthier smells of urine and blood. Even the strict order of the hospital couldn’t keep chaos at bay.

  Ally knocked softly on the door and let herself inside. Emmett shuffled to the side, staying against the wall and close to escape.

  Karen Martinez lay propped on two pillows, her face wan and her lips bloodless. She looked as if she had been sucked dry of life and the will to live. Emmett’s knees trembled, and he leaned into the wall, unsteady on his prosthetic.

  Ally half sat on the edge of the bed and gave her mom a kiss and loose hug. Greer stopped a few feet behind Ally, the strength she projected to support Ally palpable.

  “The doctor said you’re going to be fine for now, but you need help,” Ally said.

  “You’ll help me, won’t you, Ally?” Karen reached for her daughter’s hand. “We’ll get through this like we got through your daddy’s death. Together.”

  A tear trickled down Ally’s cheek, but she didn’t break the intense lock she had on her mom. “You need professional help, Mom. I’m just a kid.”

  “There are doctors and nurses and therapists trained for this.” Greer’s voice was husky and gentle.

  Karen’s huge eyes darted between Ally and Greer. “Who will take care of Ally?”

  Emmett’s legs carried him forward without conscious thought, drawing everyone’s attention. “I will. I’ll make sure she’s safe.”

  The color that came to Karen’s cheeks only underscored her pastiness, like rouge on a corpse. “And who the hell are you?”

  Who was he? The man who’d held her husband as life had leaked from his body into the dust. The man who’d buried himself under suffocating guilt and regrets. The man who needed to atone for the twist of fate that had left him alive while others had died.

  “Captain Emmett Lawson, ma’am. I was your husband’s company commander. He was a good man. A good soldier.” Emmett swallowed and forced the words out for a second time that night. “I was with him when he died.”

  Karen pressed back into the pillows, closed her eyes, and covered her ears with her hands. “No, no, no,” she repeated.

  Ally took her mom’s wrists and tugged her hands away. “It’s okay, Mom. It means Dad wasn’t alone. He had a friend with him.”

  “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Martinez. I should have sought you out as soon as I got home, but now our paths have crossed, I know I’m meant to help you and Ally.”

  “How can you possibly help?” Karen turned to Ally, her voice childlike and begging. “They want to send me away from you.”

  “You have to go, Mom.” Ally turned to Greer with a beseeching look. It was difficult for Ally to ask for help, and Greer didn’t want to let her down.

  “School’s almost out, isn’t it?” Greer asked.

  “Three more days, but my exams are done.”

  Greer moved closer to Ally and touched Karen’s knee. “Let Ally come back to Madison with me and hang out. It’ll be like summer camp.”

  Karen didn’t answer, but her resolve was cracking.

  Emmett stepped in to administer the final blow. “My family owns a horse farm, Mrs. Martinez. If Ally is interested, she can work there, earn some money, and ride whenever she wants.”

  “I don’t know how to ride a horse.” Despite her declaration, Ally’s eyes sparked with interest.

  “I’ll teach you. In between mucking out the stables, that is. It’s hard work, but you can earn good money. If that’s what you want, and it’s okay with your mom.”

  Everyone turned toward Karen. She shrugged and turned away. “Sounds to me like you’ve already decided so it doesn’t matter.”

  Ally tugged her mom’s arm until she garnered her attention again. “It does matter. I want you to be able to concentrate on getting clean so we can be together. Greer and Emmett will take care of me so you can take care of yourself.”

  “It’s been the two of us since your dad died,” Karen said.

  “But it doesn’t have to be just the two of us, does it? We don’t have to do it all.” Ally sounded like an adult reasoning with her teenager and not the other way around.

  Karen pressed into the pillows and tipped her head back, blinking away tears. “Fine. I’ll go to rehab while you go to Madison. But what happens when I get out? You’re not keeping my daughter.” She lifted her head to pin Greer and Emmett with her glimmering eyes.

  “Geez. I’m not a dog they’re adopting from the pound,” Ally said with enough hot teenage angst to fry an egg.

  “We’re not trying to take Ally away from you. I promise. Emmett and I want to help out until you’re back on your feet.” Greer was so calm and collected, Emmett could imagine her handling a classroom with ease.

  Karen sighed and found a small smile for Ally. “Working with horses and learning to ride sounds fun.”

  Ally held her mom’s hand for a few seconds in silence. “They want to move you straight to the rehab facility.”

  Karen’s face crumpled into sobs, and she pulled Ally close.

  Emmett caught Greer’s eye and nudged his head toward the hall. They retreated, giving Ally and her mom privacy.

  “Offering her a job was sweet.” Greer leaned against the wall, shoulder to shoulder with him.

  “The least I can do. Where will she stay? I would offer up my cabin, but it’s only a one-bedroom. How long does rehab last?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know. I think my parents would be open to having her stay a few weeks. Then what?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Karen gets out with no job waiting, and we send them back to a duplex in a shady part of Nashville? That’s putting her on the same spiral to end up right back where they are now.”

  “What is she qualified to do?”

  “Waitressing? Reception? I don’t know.” She chewed her thumbnail before throwing her hands up. “Who would take a chance on hiring her?”

  Emmett hummed. “Wasn’t Ryan looking for help at the vet clinic?”

  She shifted to face him and took his arm. “You think he
would hire her?”

  “Maybe if it’s framed as a favor to me. Or even better, to you.”

  “I don’t have any pull with him, but you might, seeing as you’re both former Madison High jocks.”

  He gave her a half smile. “I don’t know about that. If you agreed to have dinner with him, he’d probably hire Charles Manson.”

  She gave an embarrassed laugh and tucked her hair behind her ear. “I can’t in good conscience have dinner with him because I’m taken.”

  “Damn right you are.” Emmett slipped an arm around her waist and tugged her close, breathing her in.

  Guilt still nipped his heels like a starving dog, but he was starting to outrun it. “I thought my life was over when I came home,” he whispered.

  “I thought my life was over when I came home too,” she whispered back.

  A laugh snuck out of him. “I guess we had to prove each other wrong, huh?”

  “Seems like that’s what happens when two hardheaded, stubborn people butt heads. And other stuff.” Her laugh was tired but held notes of relief.

  Ally slipped into the hall, her eyes red and puffy. “Can you run me by my place so I can pack up some clothes and toiletries for Mom?” The hesitancy in her voice reflected her hatred of being a burden.

  “Of course. You can pack your own bag too, because you’re coming home with me,” Greer said.

  “No. Absolutely not. I can stay by myself until school is out. I’m not a toddler.”

  “If you’re finished with exams, then you’re finished with school. I’ll call them tomorrow morning to let them know the situation. Your summer is starting early.” Greer tempered her decree with a smile.

  Ally shot a look at Emmett through her lashes. “Were you serious about the job or just blowing smoke for my mom’s sake?”

  “Totally serious. In fact, you’d better pack clothes you don’t mind getting dirty.”

  Ally’s attitude made an appearance, but it held an impish quality. “How much will I make per hour?”

  Emmett rubbed his chin. “You can start at eight dollars an hour for a week trial. If everyone is happy—including the owner, my dad—then I’ll bump you up to ten. Sound fair?”

  “More than fair.” Ally stuck out her hand and Emmett took it in a shake.

  When she tugged, he held on and murmured, “Your dad would be proud of you, Ally.”

  A veil of grief came over her face, and for a heartbeat, he regretted his words, but then she said, “I hope so. I think about him every day.”

  “I do too.” While helping Ally and her mom wouldn’t bring his sergeant back, helping them would honor his memory.

  Greer herded them toward her car and drove to Ally and Karen’s duplex apartment. The white noise of a pop song played low on the radio. Greer parked at the curb. As Ally slid out of the backseat, she said, “You guys can wait here. I don’t need help.”

  Emmett could see the indecision threading tension through Greer’s body. He put a hand on her leg. “Let her go. She’ll be fine.”

  Greer settled back in the seat and rolled the windows down. The night was warm but not unpleasant. Honking horns and street noise drowned out the subtle sounds of nature.

  “Will she be fine?” Although her focus was on the front door of the duplex, Greer’s question encompassed more than whether Ally would remember to pack underwear and shampoo.

  “We’ll make sure if it.”

  Greer shifted her gaze to him. “How are you holding up?”

  “My leg hurts like hell.” It wasn’t what she was asking and she deserved a real answer. “My heart too, if you want to know the truth. I hope helping Ally and Karen will be the best kind of medicine.”

  She linked their arms and snuggled into his shoulder. “I hope so too.”

  A lull settled over the car after they loaded Ally’s two duffle bags and the guitar Greer had lent her into the trunk and returned to the hospital to drop one bag off for Karen. With the car eating up the miles to Madison, sniffles came from the backseat. Emmett and Greer exchanged a telling look, but Greer only turned up the radio, giving Ally as much privacy as possible in such a small space.

  By the time they reached the turnoff to the cabin, Ally was sprawled on the backseat asleep looking young and blessedly untroubled.

  Emmett leaned over the console to kiss Greer, softly and without any intent. “Can you bring her out to the farm tomorrow? I think we should keep her busy.”

  She glanced in the rearview mirror. “Agreed. We’ll be out as soon as she gets up and ready.”

  “Shoot me a text when you leave the house, and I’ll meet you at the barn.” He stood at the bottom of the porch stairs as Greer swung her car in a sweeping turn and headed to the road.

  A myriad of feelings shot up like new growth in the scorched ground of his psyche. For the first time, the cabin felt less like a refuge and more like solitary confinement. He’d missed having people he could count on, but he’d also missed having people count on him. Now that he’d regained both, he craved more.

  Chapter 21

  The strum of a guitar woke Greer. The chords were faint with a pause between each one as Ally searched for the proper strings with her fingers. Still, she had climbed the learning curve with impressive speed.

  Greer slipped out of bed and crept down the hall to where Ally’s door was ajar. The mirror of the dresser reflected Ally sitting on the edge of the queen canopied bed, her full concentration on her chording fingers.

  Her voice was soft but had a lovely husky tone that spoke of maturity and a life lived beyond her years. The tone was something innate and treasured, unable to be learned or taught. Greer didn’t have it.

  Ally got hung up on a key change leading into the bridge and tried out several chords before huffing and setting the guitar aside.

  Greer knocked and toed the door open, propping her shoulder against the jamb. “You might try C to A and take it up a half step. Do you know how to do that?”

  Ally narrowed her eyes, but instead of unleashing the storm brewing in her expression, she pulled the guitar back into her lap and strummed. “Like that?”

  “Like this.” Greer didn’t take the guitar but guided Ally’s fingers into the correct positions. “Try again.”

  Ally did and this time, the chords vibrated sweetly. She looked up and smiled a smile of simple joy. How long had it been since Ally hadn’t woken to a litany of worries? Any amount of time drowning in anxiety was too long when you were a kid.

  “Thanks.” Ally stared at the frets of the guitar where her fingers were moving from chord to chord even though she wasn’t playing. “For everything.”

  “I never would have thought we’d end up here based on our first meeting at the foundation.” Greer chuckled.

  “Me neither. I thought the whole songwriting thing was dumb.”

  “Me too.” Greer sighed and rolled her eyes. “I hate to admit it but my uncle Bill knew what I needed all along.”

  Ally set the guitar aside and tucked her hands under her legs. “What do we do now?”

  “Let’s head to the kitchen for some breakfast. Then we’ll mosey out to the Lawson place and see what Emmett is up to.”

  Ally popped up. She wore an old T-shirt, a pair of jeans that had been hacked off above the knee, and combat-style black boots, but her face was fresh and open. Absent was the heavy eye makeup that was part of her usual façade.

  In the kitchen, Greer’s mama was stirring pancake batter next to the griddle. Fresh blueberries stood at the ready. The smell of bacon hung heavy and made Greer’s mouth water.

  A wave of appreciation and love flooded Greer. Her parents hadn’t understood her desire to become a musician, but they had done their best to support her and hadn’t judged her when she’d crawled home.

  She came up behind her mama and put her arms around her shoulders, startling her. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

  Her mama laughed and patted Greer’s arms. “Not a better surprise in the world than a h
ug from you.”

  She turned and wiped her hands on the hem of her apron, her welcoming vibes worthy of a fifties sitcom matron.

  “Morning, Ally. I hope you like pancakes and bacon.”

  “Thank you for letting me stay here, Mrs. Hadley. I won’t be a bother, I promise.”

  “Please do be a bother. It reminds me of when Greer was a teenager.” Her mama picked up a spatula and shook it at Greer like an accusing finger. “On second thought, maybe I don’t want another teenager like Greer around.”

  Ally took a few stuttering steps closer. “Yeah? Did Greer get in trouble?”

  “You bet she did. She was a wild one.”

  Ally shot Greer a puckish half smile.

  “Mama! You’re going to make me look bad, and I’m supposed to be a role model.” Greer snuck a hand out to grab a piece of bacon. Her mama swung the spatula at Greer’s bottom and missed. Laughing like an evil mastermind, Greer moved out of swatting distance and took a bite.

  Ally wasn’t laughing along at their antics but her smile was genuine. She perched on the edge of one of the chairs, not quite comfortable. “What kind of trouble did she get into?”

  “She got caught drinking a few times. Smoking. Cutting school. Minor infractions these days, I suppose, but her father and I were…” Her mama hummed before saying, “I guess you’d call us straight arrows. It never occurred to us that our child would be so headstrong.”

  Greer tipped back in the chair and barked a laugh. “I should have tried to be more of a straight arrow. Instead I boomeranged right back where I started.”

  Her mama raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips. “You just needed to get out and experience life on your terms before you could settle down.”

  “Is that what I’m doing? Settling down?” Panic went off like an emergency flare, but it faded quickly. Greer wasn’t going to listen to the part of her that had set it off.

  “What would you call it?” her mama asked.

  “Growing up?” For the first time, Greer wasn’t focused on herself. She had been selfish in her ambition to make it in Nashville to the detriment of friends and family and boyfriends.