by Amy Ruttan
She turned and walked in the direction of the radiology floor. Probably because the patient’s CT scans were up, and Kody really hoped that the patient pulled through.
This was the only part of his job that he didn’t like, because he often didn’t know what happened beyond this point. He didn’t know what became of the patient.
“You should’ve become a doctor, then!”
Kody shook his sister Sally’s words out of his head.
Yeah, he could’ve been a doctor, but he’d given up any idea of medical school when his high-school sweetheart, Jenny, had got pregnant. They had married and both studied to be paramedics, while looking after their newborn daughter, moving to Austin from North Carolina.
They’d had high hopes to eventually move to Alaska so that Kody could become a flying paramedic and there had been talk that perhaps one day he’d go to medical school.
All the plans had been in place, but then, when their daughter had turned two, Jenny had got sick and the doctors had found the cancer in her ovaries. It had been a short battle and all their dreams had gone.
Just like that.
It was just him and his little bug, Lucy, against the world. Although Sally came and helped as much as she could, Sally wanted to be a doctor and wouldn’t be able to help with Lucy anymore. And Sally was moving on with his best friend, Ross. They were happy and he couldn’t begrudge them happiness. He had been annoyed at first, when Ross had made a move and taken up with his little sister, but not overtly unhappy about it. He was just going to let Ross think that every once in a while.
Sally deserved happiness and Ross was a great guy.
Still, he was envious of them, but he couldn’t let another woman into his life. He wouldn’t put Lucy at risk if things didn’t work out. He’d dated since Jenny died, just nothing more than a couple of dates that had gone nowhere because Lucy was his priority.
So, here he was, a widower, father and a paramedic, who really wished he could do more to help the lives he tried to save when he was first on the scene.
Dr. Fraser will save him.
And the fleeting thought of Dr. Sandra Fraser made his pulse beat a bit faster. The moment he laid eyes on Sandra something came to life. There was a spark, something electric, and he wanted to get to know her.
It was just she didn’t seem interested and he couldn’t introduce a woman to Lucy when there was a chance it wouldn’t last. He wouldn’t allow Lucy to get hurt like that.
Still, Sandra made him think about what could be.
Don’t think about it.
Kody ran his hand through his hair and sighed as he turned back toward the ambulance bay. He had no time for relationships and really hadn’t had the inclination since Jenny had died five years ago.
Lucy and taking care of her were his top priority.
That was all that mattered.
“You were a long time,” his partner, Robbie, said. “Did boss lady tear you a new one?”
The mention of boss lady made a few of the other paramedics hanging around their rigs laugh and that made Kody a bit uneasy. If he had known it bothered her so much, he wouldn’t have called her that.
He hadn’t been lying when he’d said he was no stranger to being called “joke” names that apparently weren’t supposed to cause harm but did.
Like half-breed or Injun. Everything that pointed out he was part-Cherokee, as if it were a shameful thing, as if it were something he shouldn’t be proud of, when he was dang proud of that fact.
“Hey, cool it, Robbie,” Kody said quietly.
“Cool what?” Robbie asked, confused.
“The boss lady.”
Robbie shrugged. “It’s just a joke.”
“Yeah, well, what’re we, like, twelve? And no, she didn’t tear me a new one. She was so busy stabilizing our patient that she didn’t release me until now.”
“Sorry,” Robbie said. “No offense.”
Kody didn’t respond and helped Robbie clean up the rig and make sure it was stocked for the next shift. Kody was glad his shift was almost over. He wanted to get home to Lucy, especially before the storm that was threatening to come in hit.
If there was any kind of disaster, he was on call to be first on the scene. He was hoping for a quiet night.
“You okay, man?” Robbie asked.
“I’m okay.” Kody smiled. “Just tired.”
Robbie nodded. “Well, let’s get back to the station house. It was a long shift and an accident involving a car and a cow really wasn’t a great ending.”
Kody half smiled and nodded. “You’re right.”
It had been a bizarre ending to a long shift, but also a good ending since he’d got to see Dr. Fraser. Even though there was no way he’d act on anything, it was nice to see her and admire her, even from a distance.
And that was all it could ever be.
Admiration from a distance.
CHAPTER TWO
“DADDY!”
Kody was nearly barreled over when he walked in the front door of his small west-Austin home. Even though Lucy was a big girl of seven, he still scooped her up in his arms and gave her a kiss. Lucy looked more and more like his late wife, Jenny, every day. Strawberry blond hair, with curls and his blue eyes.
“You did your nails,” Kody exclaimed as he checked her hand and saw the wildly garish colors on her tiny nails.
“Aunt Sally helped,” Lucy said.
“It’s about time,” Sally, his little sister, said, coming in from the kitchen. “Ross is waiting for me. He’s driving me to the station.”
“Sorry, Sweet Pea. I was held up at the hospital.” Kody set Lucy down. “My patient was a passenger in a head-on collision with a Texas longhorn.”
Sally cocked one of her finely arched brows. “A cow?”
“Oh, no, was the cow hurt?” Lucy asked.
Kody plastered a fake smile on his face. “No. The cow’s fine.”
Then he shot a look to his sister and shook his head. No, the longhorn did not fare well at all. Sally made a face.
“Well, I fed Lucy...macaroni, beef and tomato sauce casserole,” Sally said.
“Thanks,” Kody said dryly as Lucy plopped herself on the couch to read her book.
“That doesn’t sound appreciative,” Sally teased.
“Sorry. It is, Sweet Pea. It was just a very long rescue. Very messy and now I get to eat a casserole of beef.”
What he didn’t mention was his run-in with Sandra was partly to blame. He didn’t need Sally teasing him about Dr. Fraser.
It was bad enough that Ross bugged him about dating again, he didn’t need Sally siding with her new boyfriend.
“Hey, I didn’t know you were dealing with a cow accident at work.”
“I know.” Kody scrubbed his hand over his face and there was a crack of thunder in the distance, before the slow and then fast patter of rain on his metal roof.
Great.
Sally winced. “Well, I’d better get home so Ross can take me to the station. I am working another twenty-four-hour shift again.”
“It’s part of the job,” Kody teased.
“Don’t I know it.” Sally walked over to Lucy and gave her a kiss on the head. “Later, love bug.”
“Bye, Aunt Sally.”
“Thanks, Sally.” Kody walked his sister out as she dashed from his front porch to her car on the street.
Kody let out a heavy sigh and headed to the kitchen. He was going to heat up some of the dinner and then make sure that Lucy’s grandparents, Jenny’s parents, who had moved from North Carolina to be with Jenny and Lucy, were around so that he could drop Lucy off there if he was called in.
He was one of the few medics at the station who had advanced life-support training as a tactical paramedic and wilderness emergency medical technician.
; If there was flash flooding, he’d be called in.
I should just take Lucy there now.
He knew he’d be called in. It was only a matter of time and he was thankful his in-laws were so close.
At first, he’d grumbled when Jenny’s parents, Ted and Myrtle, had decided to follow him and Jenny to Austin, but he was so glad they had and that they’d stayed. They were a huge source of help to him and they’d got to be with Jenny when she’d passed.
What had started out as a strained relationship when he and Jenny had been in high school was now a close relationship. He thought of them as a second set of parents.
They’d been his rock here in Austin, before Sally had followed him out here after her divorce.
Davises are cursed in love, apparently.
He punched in the number and Myrtle answered.
“Hey, it’s Kody.”
“Kody! So glad to hear from you. I take it you’re on call tonight?” Myrtle asked.
“I am and it’s raining hard. I’m worried there’s going to be some flash flooding up in hill country.”
“Bring Lucy over whenever. It’s been a while since she had a sleepover with Grammy and Gramps.”
“Thanks, Myrtle. I’m going to have dinner and spend some time with her before I bring her over.”
“See you soon, Kody.”
Kody ended the call and then took the plate that Sally had made up for him. He zapped it in the microwave and then sank uneasily into the kitchen chair. There was a flash of lightning and Lucy came scurrying into the kitchen.
“Hey, love bug. Do you think you could pass me some Parmesan cheese from the fridge?”
“Sure, Daddy.” Lucy opened the fridge and handed him the Parmesan cheese, taking her seat right next to him. He smiled at her. She reminded him of Jenny so much.
“Promise me you’ll open your heart again,” Jenny whispered.
“Don’t say that. How could I do that?” he asked.
Jenny smiled weakly. “I don’t want you to be alone. I don’t want Lucy to grow up without a mother.”
A lump formed in his throat and he shook the memory away. He was breaking his one promise to Jenny. She’d wanted him to be happy again. She’d wanted a mother for Lucy, but he couldn’t risk opening his heart again.
He couldn’t risk losing another mother figure for Lucy.
He couldn’t risk his heart again.
But you’re lonely.
“You okay, Daddy?”
“Fine.” Kody smiled, but it was a fake smile for Lucy.
He was lonely and it had been five years since Jenny died, but how could he move on from her? How could he let his heart open again to that kind of pain? That kind of grief over the possibility of losing someone else he loved?
He just couldn’t.
“So, there’s a bad rainstorm...”
Lucy sighed. “I know. You have to go help others. Does this mean a sleepover at Grammy’s?”
Kody chuckled. “It sure does. How about you go pack an overnight bag and after I finish dinner we’ll head over to Grammy’s?”
“Okay.” Lucy ran off to her room.
He’d lucked out on having such a great, well-adjusted kid and he credited that to Jenny’s kind disposition and to all the help he’d had in raising her.
As he finished his dinner and cleaned up, his cell phone buzzed with a text message. He was being called in for emergency duty. There was some flash flooding, just as he’d expected. He flicked on the coffee machine and jammed in a pod. It was going to be a long night.
While it whirred and hummed Lucy came out of her room with her bag ready.
“I’m ready to go!” she said brightly.
Kody grinned. “Good. I’ll just get my coffee in a travel mug and we’ll get out of here. Go put on your rubber boots and dig out the umbrella.”
“Right, Dad.”
Kody stifled a yawn. Yep, tonight was going to be a long, long night.
* * *
Sandra had her wipers going at maximum speed, but she still couldn’t see through the rain that was coming down in sheets.
I should’ve just stayed at the hospital.
The thing was, her shift was over, Mr. McIver had died and after what had happened today she was emotionally drained. For the first time in a long time she’d decided to actually go home instead of lingering at the hospital, even though she hated going home to an empty house.
You’re the one who bought a ranch outside the city.
She hadn’t been thinking straight when she’d bought the ranch house on an old cattle range when she’d moved out here from San Diego. Although she’d always loved the country over the city. She’d had hopes of buying a large piece of land outside San Diego where her kids could grow and run.
And her heart hurt when she thought about that.
Kids.
She desperately wanted them, but, after rounds and rounds of IVF treatments that hadn’t worked and too many miscarriages that had broken her heart, she knew that she would never have kids. She wanted to adopt, as she was adopted, but it was about the time she’d started the process of adoption her now ex-husband had suddenly announced that he didn’t want kids. And she’d realized Alex never had been the right man for her.
She wanted kids and he didn’t, at least not ones that weren’t biologically his.
And that was the reason he’d said he wanted a divorce: because he couldn’t open his heart to someone else’s child. He wanted his own and she couldn’t give him that.
She’d had to walk away, though it had broken her heart to do so. It had been the right thing to do.
Alex had made her feel, for an inkling of a second, that she had somehow failed as a woman. It had taken her a year to shake that thought of failure from her mind. Staying in San Diego and working with him had never let her truly heal. Which was why she’d bought this old ranch outside Austin and moved away from San Diego.
There was no family keeping her in San Diego anymore. Her beloved adoptive parents were gone. It was just her and she had to do something for herself. So she’d decided to go to the place of her birth. To find roots, and what better place to find roots than a beautiful piece of land on the outskirts of the city?
Of course, now, with this crazy rain, she was really regretting her choice of living outside the city.
Sandra leaned over her steering wheel, trying to peer through the sheets of rain. Thankfully it wasn’t completely dark out, but the sun was setting behind the gray rain clouds. She had to get home soon, before it got dark and made it completely impossible to see anything.
She slowed down as she approached a small one-lane bridge and pulled over as a driver coming in the opposite direction crossed over.
There was a crack of thunder and a rumbling sound, which made Sandra’s blood run cold. She glanced out of her driver’s-side window in time to see a wave of mud washing down over the hill.
Oh, my God.
And there was nothing she could do. She just closed her eyes as the mud hit her car, tipping it over and over down the embankment toward the small creek that was swollen and overflowing with water.
Her life, her lonely life, flashed before her eyes and she knew right then and there she was going to die.
* * *
“Jesus!” Kody climbed out of his car. He had just passed that car while it waited for him to cross the bridge when he heard the rumbling behind him. He looked in his rearview mirror to see the mud from the side of the hill come washing down over the small SUV.
He instantly called into the dispatch for help.
“I’m on Tarry Cross Road West and there’s a car that’s been washed down into Burl’s Creek.”
“Gotcha, Kody. We’ll be there as soon as we can. Some of the roads out that way have been washed out.”
“Ro
ger, I’ll see what I can do to help.” Kody ended the call and popped open his trunk, grabbing a tool he kept for smashing open windows. He made his way carefully over to the mudflow that had stopped, for now, but he knew any moment it could give way again.
The rain was dissipating, and the SUV was on its side, but not far down the embankment. It wouldn’t have taken much for it to become dislodged and be swallowed up by the creek. He made his way to the driver’s-side door and peered inside. There was a lone passenger, unconscious, who was buckled in and on her side.
Kody tapped on the window. “Hey! You okay?”
She roused and looked toward him. His blood ran cold when he saw who was trapped in the SUV.
“Sandra!” he shouted. “Are you okay?”
She nodded but motioned she was stuck.
“Cover your face,” he said and held up his tool that was used to break windows.
Sandra nodded her understanding and grabbed her jacket, shielding her face and arms. Once Kody was sure that she was safe he smashed open the window. It was an older vehicle, so the window broke easily. He cleaned away all the jagged remnants.
“You okay?” he asked.
“No, my head,” she murmured. “And I seem to be stuck in my seat belt.”
Kody handed her a knife. “I can’t climb in there—if I do it might dislodge the vehicle and it and you will tumble down into the water.”
She nodded and took the knife, sawing away at her seat belt; sliding a bit, she held her own and grabbed her purse, snaking it around her body.
“Take my hand,” Kody said.
Sandra reached up and he carefully helped her out of her SUV and into his arms. He held her close and backed away from the SUV and out of the mud. Just as they got back onto the pavement, there was a crack and her SUV continued its tumble down the embankment.
She buried her head in his neck and let out a whimper as he held her close.
“It’s okay. I got you.” His heart was hammering, and he was trying to catch his breath. All he could do was stand there and hold her. It was comforting to hold her, and he didn’t want to even think about what would’ve happened had he not been here.