Book'em Sadie (Iron Badges #1)

by Danielle Norman

  No response.

  Pulling out the orange tool, I tapped the metal end against the window and watched the spider cracks run through the glass before tiny shards fell to the hot asphalt. Then I unlocked the door from the inside and found an unconscious woman lying against the steering wheel. I felt for a pulse, it was strong. Not wanting to move her head, which was resting against the deployed airbag but facing away from me, I ran around to the passenger side to check her. That was the side that had been hit the hardest; there was no way I was going to be able to open this door. I waved to a rescue crew. “I need help over here.”

  With bolt cutters that resembled a large can opener, they cut the doorframe until the hinges gave way and they could peel the door back. While two men worked on the passenger door, two other rescue workers pulled the driver out and onto a stretcher.

  “Sonya, Sonya. Deirdre!” I turned at the shouts. What were the odds that those two names would be tied together? I raced to the woman who was shouting, and for the first time got a good look at the driver of the Maxima. It was Louise.

  “Louise, calm down. Sonya is okay. Rescue is with her now.”

  “You know Sonya?”

  “Louise, it’s me, Sadie.”

  “You’re going to help us?”

  “Of course I am. We’re going to make sure that you get to the hospital.” I took a step back so the paramedics could work, but she gripped my hand like a vise.

  “Don’t go, go check on Sonya, please. She’s all I have left, please.”

  I wasn’t sure whether I was telling the truth or not, but it wasn’t the right time to tell her otherwise. “She’s fine.” I kept trying to make eye contact with Logan, one of the paramedics who was at Sonya’s side. “She’s going to be okay.” Logan finally looked up and mouthed, she’s stable. Thank god. “Louise, let me go tell Sonya that you are okay, I’ll be right back.” Running to the other side of the car I told Logan, “That’s mother and daughter, keep them together and send them to Florida.” I figured with so many injuries people were going to be divided. “Sonya, it’s Sadie.”

  She looked and met my eyes, a C-collar kept her from moving and seeing her mother. Tears welled up. “My mom, is she okay?”

  “She’s fine, banged up but going to be okay. I’ll make sure that your stuff is taken care of, don’t worry. I asked them to send you to Florida Hospital. What’s your dad’s number? I’ll call him.” Sonya was sluggish as she tried to get her brain working enough to rattle off the number.

  “Umm, four, o, seven, umm, four, umm—” I placed one hand on Sonya as I met the eyes of the paramedic.

  “She’s just passed out. We need to go.”

  “Okay, I’ll take care of everything here. If she wakes let her know that I’ve called her dad.”

  “Will do.”

  I watched as Louise and Sonya were loaded and transported off. Rescue trucks came and went, splitting the accident victims between the two trauma hospitals, Florida and ORMC. I grabbed the keys from Louise’s car since I figured that she was like me and her house key and everything else was on the ring. Then I found both purses and threw them onto my shoulder. I rummaged through one and found a phone, but it was locked. Fortunately, when I searched the second purse, that phone didn’t have a security lock.

  Scrolling through the ‘favorites,’ I looked at the names and my heart hurt, figuring that this was Louise’s phone. She still had Deirdre listed. But contact number one was Fred. I called him.

  “Hey, honey, what’s up?”

  “Mr. Hazelton, my name is deputy Sadie Lazar, I’m—”

  “I know who you are, how did you get my wife’s phone?” He didn’t sound angry or as if he hated me like his wife and daughter did, he sounded concerned.

  “They are fine, but your wife and daughter have been in a car accident. I’ve requested they be sent to Florida Hospital and wanted to make sure you were notified immediately.”

  “I’m in Jacksonville, I’m leaving now.”

  “Please drive safe. I’ll take care of everything until you get here. When I’m done, I’ll head up and check on them. I would like to ask if you wanted Ryan to be notified.”

  “Yes. I’ll call him. Sadie . . .”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “Thank you, you’re going above and beyond.”

  “It’s my job.”

  “No, this isn’t, and after all they’ve done . . .”

  “Callie loves them, that is all that matters to me.”

  “You are a good woman, Deputy Lazar.” He disconnected, and I headed off to store the purses in my saddlebags then resume with the crash scene.

  28

  Sadie

  I strummed my fingers on the counter while I waited for the information desk to tell me where I would find Louise and Sonya. Of all the people to be in that wreck, it had to be the two people who hated me more than life itself. I had to face them again because I’d offered to collect their stuff. I was sure the shock from the accident had had time to wear off, which meant they were going to be back to hating my guts.

  “They are on the second floor, the observation area, room two-twelve.” I scribbled down the room number before heading for the elevators.

  Taking a deep breath, I knocked on their shared room before entering. “May I come in?”

  “Of course,” Louise offered.

  I stepped in but left the door ajar because I didn’t want to be in a position where they could accuse me of anything. “I brought you your purses. I called your husband, and he’s on his way. I also got you the information of where your car was towed; I put it in your purse. You had some shopping bags in the trunk, so I grabbed those for you as well as all the valuables and things that held your personal information. I had to put them in a friend’s squad car since I didn’t have room on my bike, so they are at the station. I can get them and drop them off wherever you need.”

  “Why are you doing this?” Sonya asked.

  “Doing what?”

  “Being so nice.”

  “Because I know you. You aren’t mean people, you’re hurt.”

  “But we’ve been so mean to you.”

  “Let’s not rehash that now. The important thing is you are both going to be fine. Callie and Ryan both care about you, and I hope you guys can work everything out.”

  “They care about you, too,” Louise said, and when I turned to her, there was nothing but pain and regret in her eyes.

  “Callie is wonderful. I miss her.”

  “You don’t see her?”

  “No. When . . . that claim was filed with DCF, my job removed me from all interaction with minors and I was directed to have absolutely no contact with Callie.”

  “But what about when you see Ryan?” Louise asked, as though she believed her actions had not affected us whatsoever.

  “Ryan and I don’t see each other anymore.” Short and simple. If I said any more about it, I was just as likely to burst into tears as I was to fly into a rage.

  “But Ryan really cared about you, I saw it with my own eyes. He hasn’t been this happy in years.” For the first time since I met this woman, Louise genuinely looked regretful.

  If that were the case, then why did she do what she did? No. Nope. I was not going to interrogate this woman after she almost died in a car crash.

  “Thank you, I would like to think I made him happy and that one day we can be friends, he is a good man and a great father.”

  “You must hate us so much.”

  “No, I don’t. Do I think you could have gone about dealing with the situation better, yes. But you’re hurting. There is no timestamp on grief. It will get easier to accept people in Ryan and Callie’s lives eventually, but please, just remember they aren’t replacing Deirdre in their family, they are adding someone to their family.”

  “I saw Callie, we were losing her to you. She was preferring you over us. I could see it, every day she would forget my daughter a little more. Eventually she wouldn’t even know who her m
other was.”

  “Ryan has Deirdre’s pictures in the house, Callie totally knows who her mother is. She was two when Deirdre passed, so her memories are what you tell her and what she sees in photos. Ryan understands this so he keeps photos of her everywhere in Callie’s room. He’s a good father, he loved your daughter, and you need to trust him to do right by your granddaughter or you’re going to have a lot of regrets in your life.”

  “You’re very understanding for someone so young.” Louise reached out to me, I placed my hand in hers.

  “I see a lot of bad every single day. It’s better to be understanding than to sever those relationships that you may never get back.”

  Sonya stared at me. If her eyes had been lasers, they would have burned a hole right through me. “You don’t feel anything for him anymore?”

  “That’s not true, but I’m a survivalist. I do what I have to do to survive, starting with not allowing myself to continually get hurt.” I chuckled without an ounce of mirth. “Give the next person a chance, will you? For Ryan’s sake, he deserves to be happy.”

  “Nothing? No love, no anything?” Sonya didn’t blink and she wasn’t letting it drop. She was watching for the slightest tell in my gestures.

  “I’m not saying that we didn’t have something or that more wasn’t a possibility. I’m saying that whatever we had wasn’t strong enough to withstand this hurricane. Listen, I’m going to let the two of you get some rest.”

  “Thank you so much, Sadie.”

  “You’re welcome. I wish you both the best.”

  “Sadie?” I turned to face Louise. “You fell in love with him, didn’t you?”

  My eyes began to burn. I needed to get out of here. “No. People don’t fall in love that quick, it takes time, years.”

  “I married my husband after knowing him for six weeks and have been married to him for thirty-eight years. I guess you’re right, though, people don’t fall in love that fast.” Louise gave me a half-smile.

  “Maybe I could have been, but it’s a moot point now. He’s moved on.”

  29

  Ryan

  Callie held on to one hand, and I held her backpack in the other as we headed to my car. Ever since Sadie and I had slowed down our relationship, something in Callie changed.

  “You want to go to Kidz Klub?”

  “Not today, Sadie only works on Tuesdays or Wednesdays.”

  Speaking of Sadie, I scanned the school for her, and was sad when I didn’t see her. I needed to find a way, something to break the tension between us. When my phone started buzzing, I wondered if this was my chance. That was until I saw the name on the caller ID. I cringed and debated whether to answer it, then finally decided that he hadn’t done anything to me, well . . . anything that I knew of.

  “Hey, Fred.”

  “Where are you, are you at the hospital?”

  “No. What’s wrong?”

  “Your deputy called to tell me that Louise and Sonya had been in a car wreck. I’m on my way back from Jacksonville right now.”

  “Are they okay?”

  “It sounds like they’re banged up but going to be okay.”

  “Callie and I will head up now. I’ll call you as soon as I read their charts.”

  “Thank you.”

  We disconnected, and I hustled Callie to the car. “What’s wrong, Daddy?”

  “We’re going to go see Grammy and Aunt Sonya, they aren’t feeling well.” I opened the back door and quickly got her buckled in before jumping in front and starting the engine. I wasted no time in flooring it.

  “I have to go pee.”

  “You can go when we get to the hospital.” I dialed my backline to the hospital and waited for someone to pick up.

  “Florida Hospital, how may I direct your call?”

  “This is Dr. Montgomery, my mother-in-law and sister-in-law were brought in, they were in a car accident.”

  “This is Kasey, Polly recognized them, Dr. Montgomery. They are both fine, Sonya needs surgery on her ulna, and Louise has a contusion on the brain. We’ve moved her to observation for twenty-four hours. Sonya is in her room until an orthopedist can see her.”

  “Which observation room?” Kasey gave me the number and I ended the call.

  Callie was quiet in the back seat and without music blaring, I had nothing to distract me from how Fred had said my deputy. He must have been confused or meant my county, not Sadie. But I still couldn’t get them out of my mind.

  It took me less than fifteen minutes to get there, and another five before I was stepping off the elevator.

  “Daddy, I’ve got to go pee.” I glanced down to Callie, who was shifting from side to side. Yup, I’d pushed her too far.

  “Okay, right there is a restroom. I’ll wait here.” I watched Callie disappear and then a familiar voice caught my attention.

  It was wrong, I knew it, but I couldn’t help myself from listening to Sadie talk to Louise and Sonya. I guessed Fred was right when he called her my deputy. I leaned closer, trying to hear what she was saying. They were talking about love. Was Sadie in love with me?

  “I’m not saying that we didn’t have something or that more wasn’t a possibility. I’m saying that whatever we had wasn’t strong enough to withstand this hurricane.”

  I kept looking down the hall watching for Callie, hoping that she would be slow enough that I could hear more. It was terrible, I was a terrible person to eavesdrop, but I wanted to hear her answer.

  “Maybe I could have been, but it’s a moot point now. He’s moved on.”

  For the first time in weeks, I felt the knot in my shoulders relax. She was wrong. I hadn’t moved on. “Okay, Daddy.” Callie was standing next to me.

  “Did you wash your hands?” She touched me with wet hands as her answer.

  “Okay, let’s go see Grammy and Aunt Sonya to make sure that they are okay.”

  “All right.” Callie made an O with her index and thumb.

  Pushing the door the rest of the way open, I let Callie run to her grammy as I stood frozen, eyes locked on this beautiful woman who I was absolutely falling in love with.

  “I was just leaving.” She took a step toward the door. Snaking one arm out, I wrapped it around her and pulled her against me. “Spend time with your family.”

  “You’re our family, too . . .” Sonya’s words were slow to drop off, but they hung heavy in the silence that blanketed the room. I couldn’t have told you whether a cannon blast or the sound of a pin dropping would have been louder. “At least in Callie’s eyes, and since she’s our family, that is what matters to us. Right, Mom?” Sonya glanced over, waiting for Louise to answer.

  “I just so happen to have room to love another daughter.”

  Callie was tugging on Sadie’s hand. “Don’t go. I haven’t seen you in so long. Please don’t go.”

  “I need to step out and call my lieutenant. I have an order, and if I don’t follow it, it would mean my career. Give me a second?” Sadie stared at me.

  “Callie, why don’t you stay here with Grammy and Aunt Sonya so I can take Sadie to my office to make her call.”

  “Okay. Promise not to leave, Sadie.”

  “I promise that I won’t leave without telling you.”

  I glanced back at the two people who, just days ago, had been bitter but seemed to have changed, and then guided Sadie out. I refused to take my hand away. I held hers in mine.

  “Thank you.” I locked eyes with her. “I’m so happy to see you. I’ve been working, dealing with an attorney, DCF, and a judge.”

  “I know.”

  “Of course you do, you’ve been dealing with all of it as well. I’m sorry for excuses.”

  I opened my office door and stepped aside for Sadie to walk in. Once the door was closed, I rested against the solid panel, took a deep breath, and then slowly took one step forward. Sadie mirrored my movement and stepped backward.

  “God, I’ve missed you.” My voice was a low, aching whisper. I took another st
ep, and this time when Sadie mirrored my movement, her backside hit the edge of my desk, she wasn’t going any farther. “I’ve been aching to see you”—I took another step—“talk to you”—another step—“touch you.” We were face-to-face; I could feel the way her breathing was ragged just like mine. “Please tell me that there’s hope for us. I’ll prove to you that I’m worth giving another chance to.”

  Sadie wiggled her eyebrows. Holding a bemused smile, she said somewhat raspy, “You think so, huh?”

  “Absolutely, I can prove it to you . . . starting now.” Lowering my mouth to hers, I inhaled the taste, the sweetness that I’d missed this past week.

  Sadie let out a long chuckle as she pulled back a bit. “You’ve proven your point.” Her palm stroked down my chest and stopped on the front of my pants.

  “Not here, there’s barely any room. I need you, but I need to spread you out so I can have my way with you.”

  “Can you bring home some medical supplies so we can play doctor?”

  “Don’t need them, I already have a tongue depressor.” I started laughing at my lame ass joke. Then Sadie joined me. “Oh my god, I’m sorry. That was so cliché.”

  “It’s okay, next time we can play good cop, bad cop with handcuffs.” Sadie patted her utility belt where the cuffs hung.

  “We’re going to have so much fun with our careers, aren’t we?”

  “Yep, if I have anything to do with it.” Sadie stretched up and kissed me again. “Now, I really have to make this call.”

  I stood back and waited. As she talked, the smile on her face got wider and wider. When she hung up, she was practically bouncing. “Back on normal duty.” Sweeping her into my arms I peered down at her. I’d forgotten what this felt like, this pure happiness. It had been so long, but I had found it and didn’t want to let it go.

  “Let’s go tell Callie, I think she was about to stage a coup if you weren’t back soon.”

  “Yes, she’s right here.” Callie handed the phone over to Sadie. “It’s Aunt Sonya. She has a question about Bananas.”