by Jen Talty
“Get up.” His voice was eerily calm. His finger rested over the trigger.
She did as she was told, though not gracefully. Her stomach twisted and tightened so badly she knew she would be sick at any moment. She held her hands high, leaning against the desk for support. She glanced at Matt, who held his knee with both hands, his lips formed a tight thin line, his pupils dilated from the pain, but he managed to give her a reassuring look. Him not being mortally wounded didn’t make her feel better at all.
“Where’s Conrad?” the stranger asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “He left a few minutes ago, and I don’t know where he was going.”
“What about you?” The stranger turned his attention to Matt, who had one hand on his bloody knee, while the other reached for his phone, which must have fallen out of his pocket during the short struggle. “I wouldn’t do that if I we’re you, or I’ll put a bullet between this pretty woman’s eyes.”
Matt wrapped both hands around his knee, as he fell against the wall, his lips still pursed, his eyelids drooping with defeat.
“Can I tie a belt or something around my friend’s leg? He’s bleeding something awful.” Patty felt the water welling in her eyes, drip down her checks as she sucked in her breath. “Please,” she begged.
The stranger pointed the gun directly at Matt. “Are you wearing a belt?”
Matt nodded.
“All right then,” the stranger said. “You can help him with the belt as soon as you get me Conrad on the line.”
The stranger kicked Matt’s phone toward Patty. “Well, little lady,” he said, “you hurry up and make that call if you want to help your friend here with that belt.”
Patty’s body trembled as if she were the center of an earthquake.
“Are you deaf? Either pick up the phone on your desk or the cell off the floor and call your boss. Tell him Terry is waiting for him, and he better haul ass back to his office and deal with me and no funny stuff or I will kill you.”
Patty looked at the phone on her desk for a long moment, then reached for it with a trembling hand. Her other hand pressed protectively over her stomach. The baby was so tiny that it was probably to early to pick up a heartbeat, but she knew it grew inside her. Boy or girl, didn’t matter. All she wanted was a chance to have a healthy baby.
And the opportunity to tell Reese, no matter his reaction.
“Hurry up, or I’ll shoot this guy in the chest.” The stranger now pointed the gun at Matt, who grappled with his belt, trying desperately to make his own tourniquet.
“I’m calling him… please don’t shot anyone.” Patty gripped the phone with one hand while she braced herself against the desk, shaking so badly she dropped the receiver three times before she was able to bring it to her ear and then dial star one on the phone.
She called Conrad, but it went straight to voicemail, so she left the gunman’s message, then ended the call. She thought about screaming, He’s got a gun, he’s shot Matt!, but she figured the stranger would shoot her.
She did not want to get shot today.
With a shaky voice, she pleaded, “At least let me tend to Matt. He’s bleeding too much.”
“Go ahead,” the gunman said.
Quickly, she knelt beside Matt, taking the belt from his weak hands and tightening it has hard as she could. She locked gazes with Matt, who conveyed an understanding of the situation. There was nothing they could do but sit and wait. And pray.
“Go sit down over there.” The gunman pointed to her office chair.
“Please, can I—”
“Whatever it is, no. Now go sit.”
Patty did as instructed.
Poor Angela. The gunman must have done something dreadful to her. A flash of the gunman twisting Angela’s neck until it snapped raced through her mind’s eye. She swallowed, feeling bile rise in her throat.
For the second time in a year, Patty could see the most important parts of her life as if she were thumbing through an old photo album. She had no regrets. Not even Reese, the untamable man, as she had started calling him, but only to herself. It saddened her that he was so emotionally closed off, because deep down he was caring and generous, but he avoided emotions, a master at redirection.
Her only regret was for the baby. It hurt to think this was how both their lives would end.
The tears came on fast. She blinked past them, but could have sworn she saw Reese running across the hallway. Couldn’t be. Could it? Could he have somehow sensed she needed him? That she…that his… no. She was delusional with fear.
The gunman turned toward the hallway. “Anyone else in the office?”
She immediately thought of Angela, but if she’d been here, he would have seen her in the reception area. She shivered at the thought of what fate may have been bestowed on the receptionist. She heard… or maybe felt the old floorboards creak. Her pulse did a double time as a showdown emerged in the hallway.
“Put down your weapon,” a familiar voice shouted.
She held her breath. Reese was here. He was actually here. Her heart lifted a little, but she knew this wasn’t over as she still stared at the wrong end of a rifle.
“The building is surrounded,” came another voice. “Put down your weapon.”
“You’re going to have to shoot me before I do that, but if you do, my trigger finger will go off, and that nice little lady over there—”
Bang!
The gunman lunged forward as a second shot rang out, shattering the picture window. Patty dropped to the floor, covering her face and screamed as either a bullet or a piece of glass tore into her calf. She curled up in a ball and rolled back under her desk, seeking any kind of safety from the line of fire.
Under the ringing in her ears, she heard muffled voices, a couple she recognized, and a few new ones. Sirens screeched in the background. Her calf felt as though someone had stuck a knife into it and twisted it. She reached down to feel her leg just as she saw two boots in the opening of the desk. “Who’s there?” she whispered, retreating further, pinning herself tightly in the corner.
“Reese.” His voice rang soft and sweet in her ears. She dropped her head to her knees and began to sob.
“Hey, now, it’s okay.”
She felt Reese’s fingers glide on her leg, then gently placing something around her calf. Even though she knew the situation was under control, the fear didn’t leave her body. She flung her arms around Reese, banging her head on the desk, but she didn’t care. To be in his arms was the only way she was going to feel safe.
“I can’t have you moving, okay?” Reese cupped her face, tilting her head. His blue eyes so warm and caring. She could get lost in those eyes. “You’ve got a pretty nasty cut, so until the EMT’s arrive, you stay put, okay?”
She nodded.
He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close, making her feel safe, making her feel tingles she’d tried to forget just two short weeks ago. This was not going to be an easy man to get over. Her body shook even more.
“You’re going to be okay,” he said. “Trust me.”
She wanted so wanted so badly to tell him about the baby. While the fear for her life was past, the fear that something might have happened…Before she could finish her thought, she emptied the contents of her stomach all over Reese’s New York State Trooper uniform.
“Not the kind of greeting I anticipated.” He took towel a young female trooper tossed his way and wiped Patty’s lips, face, and clothing, ignoring his own need to clean off. “Want some water?”
She shook her head as she stared up at his blue eyes, offset by his naturally darker Italian complexion. His hair was jet-black, and he wore the same jarhead haircut as that of half her male family members.
But it looked so much better on Reese.
Everything looked better on Reese.
“I’m so sorry,” she mumbled, but she couldn’t let go of him. She hugged him tighter, trying to make the trembling in her body stop.
&
nbsp; “It’s okay,” he said. “You’re going to be just fine.” His voice was so deep, so incredibly calming. His right hand stroked her hair, and his left danced across her arm. “Ambulances should be here any moment.” His eyes fluttered, like butterfly kisses as he pressed his lips to her temple. “I’ve got you,” he whispered. “You’re okay.”
“Matt!” Patty cried. “Where’s Matt?” She tried to stand, but a sharp pain tore through her calf. Reese gripped her shoulders.
“I don’t think you’re hurt too bad, but I can’t have you moving at all, okay?” He glanced under the towel over her leg. “You’ve got a piece of glass in your leg. I can’t tell how deep it is, so until the EMTs get here, you don’t move it. Got it?”
She nodded. “How is Matt?”
“My partner is tending to him, and we’re going to make sure he gets the care he needs.”
“Frank’s here?” Her cousin Frank had introduced her to Reese...and warned her about him.
“He’s here, but he’s outside. My new partner is Stacey,” Reese said. “She’s a good cop, but so young. Barely even legal to drink. Makes me feel like an old man.”
Patty hand always enjoyed Reese’s dry sense of humor, but often wondered if it was a defense mechanism. She wrapped the blanket Reese offered around her body while he looked at her leg again. She couldn’t bring herself to look down, and he did his best to block her view. “How did you know to come here?”
“Angela,” Reese said. “She was in the bathroom when the perp came in. She called 9-1-1.”
“I’m so glad she’s okay.” And Matt was okay. And Reese was okay. Oh, how she missed his touch. His calloused hands against her smooth skin. His full lips pressed against hers, their tongues entwined in a ritualistic dance. He made her feel she was the only person in the room. It might not be real, but being in his arms again made everything else fade away, except one thing.
She couldn’t tell him about the baby until she knew for sure things with the baby were okay. Considering the day’s events, she worried that something might have happened. She also worried how Reese was going to react to the news, so best she wait. At least that was what she told herself.
She watched in a daze as the medics arrived. One group tended to Matt, while another buzzed around her like bees on honey. She chose to focus on the tight grip she had on Reese’s hand. She couldn’t let go. Didn’t want to let go. Thankfully, he stood by her side the entire time.
The other group of EMT’s rolled Matt out into the parking lot. He was pale, but managed a thumbs-up in her direction.
She gripped Reese’s hand tighter when she felt him try to pull away. He looked down at her, locking gazes. “Let them put you on the gurney.”
“I think we should let the ER doctors pull that out,” she heard on of the EMTs say. “Doesn’t look too bad, though.”
“I’m going to need her statement,” Reese said as he helped load her into the ambulance. “I’ll be right behind you,” he said, cupping her face and pressing his lips against hers. “Hang tight.” He stepped out of the ambulance.
“Reese,” she called.
He turned. “I’ll be right behind you.”
She placed her hands over her stomach, closed her eyes. The baby...
Most people considered New York State Trooper Reese McGinn a loner, a role he’d fallen into nicely until he moved to Lake George. His unit was small, making it impossible to avoid human contact, but he managed to keep his distance.
Until he met Patty Harmon.
He knew heartbreak. He wrote the book on it. The breakup with Patty was something entirely different.
He was lonely, for the first time in years.
The first time ever, actually.
He was going to have to get over her. He no longer believed in the sanctity of marriage. Been there. Done that. Bought the T-shirt. Lost the T-shirt.
Patty had her life planned out. She knew exactly the kind of man she’d marry and how many kids they would have. It was apparent when they hooked up that Patty knew what she was getting into, and frankly, she was using him for one wild fling because she’d never done anything crazy.
She had also never done anything for herself. She had spent an entire childhood taking care of her parents and everyone else in the Harmon family. She needed to get outside of herself, just once, and he was happy to oblige. She was beyond beautiful. Her eyes were the most welcoming soft brown he’d ever seen. Her light complexion blended perfectly against her mousy brown, short hair, with just enough thickness to make running his hands through it a daily experience. Stroking her hair as they wheeled her toward the ambulance had been bittersweet.
He never anticipated that he’d grow to care for her beyond the line he’d so carefully drawn for himself. He found himself longing to go for walks and to tell her about himself, to listen to her talk about anything. He kept telling himself it was because she never tried to change him. There were no ties with her, and it actually came as a shock that she’d been the one to call it quits. He’d been so stunned he couldn’t muster up a decent response.
She broke up with him, and he put in his transfer papers. He sold himself on the idea he’d been in Lake George long enough, and it was time to move on.
Seeing Patty, held at gunpoint, had forced him to start second guessing his current plans. He’d spent the last seven years bitter and angry until he came to this place. Dating Patty had made him never want to leave.
He glanced at the sun, then back at his feet, and started to pace by his truck in front of Patty’s duplex, the combination of wet snow and the softened ground underneath made for a muddy path. The winters in Lake George, New York were brutal, including the month of April, but they were at least on the upswing, and any snow that fell wouldn’t stick long. He took in a slow breath, doing his best to keep his pulse from causing him a heart attack. Only two women had ever made him nervous.
One was dead.
The other, he hadn’t seen in seven years.
Now, he could add a third. Patty made him nervous in an entirely new way. He felt like a schoolboy, asking his best buddy to ask some girl to be his girlfriend.
Patty seemed to come back with a resounding no. Yesterday, at the hospital after her statement, she’d done everything but drop-kick him out of the hospital room. It was obvious she wanted him gone. So why had she demanded he come over tonight, saying they really needed to talk?
His ex-partner, Frank, lived in the other side of the duplex. Frank’s car was nowhere to be found, although his wife, Lacy, was probably looking out the window.
A tiny bit snow remained on the stairs from the last flurry, so Reese grabbed the shovel and cleared it away, the gesture unnecessary except to stall for time.
Frank’s door flew open.
“Hey, Reese,” said Andy, Lacy’s nephew. “Whatcha doing here?” Andy was a good boy who’d been through his share of shit in his short life. Andy’s father had murdered his mother, and tried to have Andy and Lacy killed. The boy seemed to be bouncing back, thanks to Lacy and Frank and the rest of the Harmons. They were good people. Just what a young boy needed to become a grown man capable of everything Reese was not.
“Came to talk to Patty,” Reese said, giving the boy a good shoulder squeeze. “How goes things with you?”
“Other than I’m failing science, good.”
“I was always good in science. Let me know if I can help. You still got my number?”
“I do.”
“Text me anytime.”
Patty opened the door to the upstairs apartment, then smiled at Andy and Reese. Her smile had always been so genuine, but this time it faded quickly. “Come on up,” she said.
It saddened Reese that seeing him would bring her to a frown. He took the steps slowly, shedding his boots and coat at the top before entering the one-bedroom apartment that he had frequented just a few weeks ago. Their fling had lasted nearly eight months, the longest he’d had in seven years.
And the only fling he d
idn’t want to end.
Patty wore a pair of sweatpants that hugged her round ass like a glove. The sweatshirt, on the other hand, was three sizes too big. Her short brown hair was styled, and pushed behind her ears. It looked as if she were trying to grow it out. He’d always liked her short hair, but he also thought a few inches longer, maybe falling just short of her shoulders would be perfect.
As he entered her apartment, he wondered what her response would be if he asked her about starting over.
By the look on her face, she might barf on him again. He swallowed. Never in a million years did he think another woman could make him feel so much. He’d fought it so hard when it came to Patty, that it shouldn’t have surprised him she dumped him. It had only been two weeks, but she seemed like she couldn’t care less that they were over.
He, on the hand, could barely hold it together. Putting in for that transfer had made him feel sick, but he didn’t know what else to do.
“I swear that boy grew an inch just in the last month,” he said, falling back on small talk.
“His father gave up parental rights.”
“His father is in prison,” Reese said, “for trying to kill the boy. I would certainly hope his rights were stripped away.”
“Frank and Lacy are filing for adoption.”
“That’s great,” Reese said. Frank wouldn’t up and leave Andy like his biological father had. It saddened Reese that Andy had to know the ugly truth about his father, but on the other hand, Reese believed it was better than not knowing your father altogether.
“Can I get you a drink?”
“How about a cup of hot chocolate?”
“That, I can do,” she said. “Why don’t we sit in the family room?”
He stood in the middle of the small room and contemplated where to sit. The chair, so he could see her beautiful figure outlined in the moonlight glowing over the lake? Or the sofa, where he could feel the heat coming from her body?
He chose the chair, a safer distance.