Total pages in book: 248
Estimated words: 236036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1180(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 787(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1180(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 787(@300wpm)
He’s right, I know he is.
There’s just one thing I can’t figure out. “Marci?” I rasp.
“We give her space for a few days. When you’re released, we go balls to the wall to make that woman ours. Grand gesture, all the stops. We promise forever, and we mean it. You got me?”
“Got you.” My voice comes out weak. I’m tired again, and my eyes feel heavy. If they weren’t already closed, I wouldn’t be able to keep them open.
Levi breathes a sigh of relief, and then I hear his footsteps as he approaches. A moment later, I feel his lips on my forehead. “Rest,” he says. “Heal. All the other stuff can wait.”
Chapter Twelve
Marci
“So anyway, it was a great night. Better than I expected. And thank you for forcing me out of my comfort zone, because I really needed that, and I will be making changes and being more adventurous going forward,” I tell Sadie over lunch at her office on Monday. “Just not with them.” I play with the straw in my iced coffee and look up at her with a grin. “But I do want to sign up for your services.”
“Okay…” Sadie moves like she’s going to get out paperwork to start the process, but pauses and frowns, leaning forward over her desk. “But why not with them? If your night was so great?”
Sucking in a breath as she questions me, I shake my head. “I don’t want to be with someone who risks their life for fun. Tripp is a bull rider. That’s his main job. And yeah I get that firefighters and cops also risk their lives every day, but that’s out of service, not for the heck of it.” I scrunch up my nose as if something smells bad. “It’s different.”
Sadie looks skeptical but she nods anyway. “I get it. He could get hurt.”
“He did get hurt,” I remind her. “And it was the scariest thing I have ever witnessed. I’d already decided that I couldn’t be with them at that point, and yet it still absolutely gutted me.”
“But he’s okay, right? I mean, what were his injuries? How bad was it?”
I scoff. “Girl, I don’t know. I sent Levi off to ride in the ambulance with him, and that was it for me. I was done.” I blanch as I think about the sight of Tripp lying on the ground.
Her eyes about bug out of her head. “Yeah, I know, but…” She raises her eyebrows. “You didn’t even check? Like call the hospital or text Levi or something?”
“I don’t have their numbers.” The truth is, I’ve thought about checking in, but the realization that I hadn’t even gotten their digits hits like a wake-up call. I barely know them. I don’t owe them anything and they don’t owe me anything, despite the twisting in my gut that tries to convince me otherwise.
“Huh. Okay.” Sadie looks like she wants to say something else, but she just goes back to fidgeting at her desk.
“Do you think I should call the hospital?” I finally ask.
Before Sadie can answer, my phone rings and I dig it out of my purse. “It’s the diner.” I put a finger to my lips, signaling to Sadie that I’m gonna answer, then hit the button and lift the device to my ear. “Hello?”
“Marci. Oh good, you answered. I think you need to come down to the diner. It’s kind of… an emergency.” The voice on the line clearly belongs to Calliope and I pull my phone away from my ear to re-check the caller ID. Still the diner.
“Calliope?” I ask. “What’s wrong? What’s going on? And why are you the one calling me?” My heart is starting to pound as my brain races with possible emergencies that would require them to call me rather than 911. I can’t really come up with anything.
“I was just coming in for lunch. But I think…uh… It’s hard to explain. You just need to get down here. Please.”
“Okay, I’m on my way.”
I hang up the call and Sadie, who has been listening intently to my side of the conversation, cocks her head to the side. “That was Calliope? Calling you about the diner? What’s going on?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. She just said I needed to get down there.”
“Okay, well, let’s go. I’ll drive.”
“Are you sure? What if someone comes in?”
“I don’t have any appointments. I’ll put a sign up and my number. The diner is like two blocks away. I’m sure it will be fine. Besides, I’m curious now.”
She grabs her purse, puts a note on the door and locks up and we hop into her car and arrive at the diner a few minutes later. From the outside, all seems well. There’s a normal amount of cars outside for the lunch rush, no odd smells or billows of smoke coming from the building. No shouting and nobody fighting in the parking lot. I can’t think of why they would have needed me. But we go in through the back, walk through the bar and to the diner, stopping short.