by Rebecca Rose
Dave kept these happy thoughts in mind as he scrolled through his radio for something to listen to. Turning right on Main, he made his daily stop at the local convenience store. Another coffee for him, one for Kathy, a paper, and Ring-Dings—the breakfast for future Olympians. The clerk greeted him with gossip and obituary news, then gave a “See you tomorrow, Dave” before moving on to the next customer.
Back on the slick road, the old truck gave a lurch and a belch. Dave didn’t pay it much mind, because it was around twenty degrees outside, and the old vehicle tended to get temperamental. He couldn’t blame it. The weather sucked outside and—the crash came first, then the jolt, then blackness.
As if waking from a deep dream, Dave’s mind told him to move because he felt uncomfortable. However, as he began to shift, he found a restraint across his chest was holding him in place. His body was hanging toward the right. Dave suddenly realized he wasn’t in bed.
“Dave! Dave! Oh my Gawd!”
The familiar voice penetrated his hazy mind and forced his eyes to open. A kaleidoscope of color blurred his vision, then the colors slowly melted together to form objects his mind still tried to grasp. “Kathy?” A weak question, even to his own ears.
“Yes. I’m right here.”
He turned his head to look up, and through the driver’s-side door he saw her. “Jesus. Am I dreaming?”
“I’d say it’s a nightmare.” She reached down and touched his check. “The ambulance is on its way.”
“Never a nightmare if you’re in it.” His head became too heavy to hold up. “I think I’m gonna vomit.” Just as the words finished coming out, breakfast and coffee followed. The sound of the sirens only made it worse as he reached for the belt that pinned him in place. “I need a napkin and to get the hell outta here.”
“No.” That one forceful word stopped him.
“I’m hanging in my truck Kathy, and I just upchucked on myself.”
“You may have some serious injuries from the jerk that ran the red. And I can guarantee a concussion. Rolling a spin and a half will do that. Just hang there a little longer.” She gave a small chuckle. “No pun intended.”
“I love you, Kathy. Always tryin’ to get a laugh outta everyone.” Dave closed his eyes. He could hear the emergency men asking Kathy to step back, then more glass breaking and a man talking.
“Hey buddy. How’s it hanging?”
“Not very comfortably right now,” Dave said, smirking. “You wanna watch your step. I lost my stomach in here.”
“I’ve seen worse.” The man supported Dave’s neck with a brace, then supported Dave’s body with his own. When the seat belt was opened, the man slowly lowered Dave. “What’s your name?”
“Dave.”
“That pretty lady out there your woman?” As his rescuer talked, he and another man, who Dave assumed was his partner, pulled him out of the mangled truck.
“Future wife if I can ever get her to notice me,” Dave replied.
“Well, I don’t think that’s a problem now.” An icy stethoscope moved around Dave’s chest. “Hurt anywhere?”
“My back.”
“Move your toes… good. Fingers… good. Now look at the light… follow it… good. Okay, Dave, you’re gonna be takin’ a trip to the hospital. There’s room service and nurses—”
“I’m fine.” At the sound of a female huff beside him, Dave opened his eyes. “Hi, babe.”
“Don’t you ‘babe’ me. You think you have a choice? You think you’re not going to the hospital? You think—”
He reached a hand out to Kathy. “I’m gonna go. But really, I’m fine. A bump on the head and… and… a—”
Blackness.
* * *
Kathy’s body had begun to shake the moment she saw the car heading for Dave’s truck. Her heart lurched forward in her chest as the inevitable happened before her. Terror streaked through her psyche as she watched his truck roll over then come to rest against a tree. Kathy jerked her car off the road, slammed on her brakes, and sprinted toward the wreckage—and Dave.
“Please don’t be dead. Please be okay.” Kathy had repeated the chant again and again, in hopes the words would make it true.
With a jump stronger than she ever thought possible, she had leaped atop the overturned truck to look down and in the driver’s-side window. His body had just been hanging there. No movement, no sounds. She’d reached out to touch him while her mind reeled with the memories of the man who dangled quietly in all the chaos around them.
On her first day of work, Dave brought her flowers. Feeling enchanted by him and the blossoms, she kissed his check—a daring move for a woman who preferred solitude. Growing up with parents as outgoing as her own made being the center of someone’s attention an uncomfortable place to be. And the consideration he gave her every day after that, the little gestures like coffee and bagels every morning, started her thinking that maybe he wasn’t the wild man she first thought she was attracted to. Not that having a really nice guy notice you wasn’t a great thing, but she had wanted that spark, that danger, the bad guy doing the right thing. As far as Kathy could tell, Dave didn’t have a rebellious bone in his body, and she was doomed to live a life as dull as herself. The miserable truth was that it seemed no man had that fundamental component.
Immediately that thought brought a sense of sadness as Kathy fidgeted with her phone in the hospital waiting room. She knew that Angry Birds really wasn’t the game to play if she wanted to keep herself calm.
“Kathy! What the hell happened?” Jake, Dave’s younger brother, stormed into the waiting room. “Where is he?”
She stood slowly and gave her best friend—Sophie, who was Jake’s girlfriend—a hug. “It was awful!” Tears she’d held back spilled down her face. “I saw the guy coming. Dave pulled out in front of me at the light and…” Her throat burned as she related the nightmare. Their faces distorted from shock and concern only made her more upset.
Stomping away and back again, Jake asked, “What about the asshole who hit him?”
Kathy shook her head. “I don’t know. He seemed really drunk as he climbed out of his passenger’s-side window—his driver’s side was smashed. Then he stumbled over to Dave’s truck and started yelling at him, me, and the EMTs.”
“Jerk,” Sophie said.
Kathy could feel her breath quickening while her soft, quiet voice pitched higher. “There was so much blood on that jerk’s face and he didn’t even know it. How could a person not know they’re bleeding like that? I mean… it was everywhere.”
“Sit down, Kathy.” Sophie took her by the shoulders and directed her to sit in a chair. “Have the doctors come in and told you anything?”
“They’re observing him right now. He definitely has a concussion and maybe a broken arm.”
“I’ll be back.”
Kathy and Sophie watched Jake bolt out of the room. Never known for being a calm man, they could hear him demanding the receptionist to get him information on Dave. With a little giggle, Sophie turned back to Kathy.
“Isn’t he the best?”
“He’s probably intimidating the heck out of that poor woman.”
“Naw. He’s all bark.” Sophie eyed Kathy, almost as if searching for something she hadn’t yet told her.
“What?”
“Are you okay? I know if I saw something like that happen to Jake, I’d freak out.”
“I’m all right. Just shaken, is all.” That’s an understatement, Kathy thought while looking down at her unsteady hands.
They sat quietly for what seemed like forever. People rushed in, people rushed out. Every time a doctor would poke his or her head in, every waiting body would jolt to attention. The purgatory became nerve-racking—to get so hopeful and then find the physician was there for someone else.
Jake finally returned to the waiting room. “Bad concussion. Whiplash, sprained arm, and lucky to have been wearing his seat belt,” he informed them.
The women each le
t out a long breath.
“He’s staying the night, and we’ll be able to see him in a few.” Jake’s lips twisted in disgust. “In hospital time, I think that means one hour.”
“Probably,” Sophie said.
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
About the Author
Copyright
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Rebecca Rose
Excerpt from Tempting Mr. Perfect copyright © 2014 by Rebecca Rose
Cover design by Elizabeth Turner
Cover image © Juhasz Peter / Getty Images
Cover copyright © 2014 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitutes unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
Forever Yours
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First published as an ebook and as a print on demand: April 2014
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ISBN: 978-1-4555-7789-7 (ebook edition)
ISBN: 978-1-4555-8142-9 (print on demand edition)
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