Meredith nods and I slip my arm around her, giving her a squeeze.
“Why don’t I take you home?” I suggest.
“That’s probably a good idea,” Dave agrees, focusing his attention on Meredith. “There’s nothing you can do right now and I’ll stay with him tonight. There’s a cot in the back I can crash on. If anything changes, I’ll call and you’re welcome to call here anytime too.”
She seems to mull on that for a bit before responding.
“Do you think I could see him before I go?”
“Yes, of course.”
She steps out of my hold and follows Dave through the doors to the back of the clinic. I take the opportunity to check my phone for messages, I’ve been ignoring the buzzing in my pocket. There are two missed calls from Blackfoot, one at ten forty-five, right as I got to Meredith’s place, and one just ten minutes ago.
“I’m beyond fucking pissed at you,” Keith starts. “But we’ll deal with that later. I’m at Doc’s place and I’m calling in the crime techs. We’ve found the knife and some tracks. I’ve been in touch with Joe and Gomez and now I’m notifying you, like a fucking partner should.” The stab finds its target and I involuntarily wince. “Only reason I’m giving you the heads-up is so you can forewarn Doc. You may wanna take her to your place.”
“Look, I’m—”
“Not fucking now, VanDyken,” he cuts me off. “Whatever Doc decides to do, let me know, but don’t fucking leave her side.”
Before I have a chance to say anything else the line goes dead. Great.
I hear footsteps behind me and turn to see Meredith walking toward me, her eyes red-rimmed. Dave walks beside her with an arm slung around her shoulders. I reach her in two steps and pull her from his hold and into my arms, where she does a face-plant in my chest as she releases a shaky breath.
“Merry…” I mumble, tucking her head under my chin.
“I’m okay,” she announces, probably as much to herself as it is to convince me. Still, when she lifts her head and takes a step back, I release her. “I left my purse at home and I still owe you for this morning…”
“Don’t worry about that now.”
Dave waves her off and nods his understanding when he catches the slight shake of my head. I have a running account with him and pay it monthly. He can just add the charges.
“Let’s get you home.”
I firmly steer her out of the clinic—it can’t be easy for her to leave Beau behind—and get her buckled into the passenger seat of my truck. Once I ease in behind the wheel, I turn to her.
“Keith called from your place. He says they still have some work to do there. Maybe you should come home with me, get some rest. It’s after midnight.”
She shakes her head right away. “No. Belle is at home; I can’t leave her alone.”
Damn. Forgot about the cat.
“Fair enough, but I hope you don’t mind if we quickly stop at my place so I can grab some clean clothes for tomorrow.”
“You’re staying?”
She seems genuinely confused and for some reason that sets me off.
“Did you really think I’d let you go home by yourself?”
Agitated, I start the truck and pull away from the clinic. We drive in silence to the ranch, but when I’m about to get out she puts a hand on my arm. When I look at her, she looks like she’s about to burst into tears, and I feel like an asshole.
“I didn’t mean anything by it,” she says softly.
I grab her hand and press a kiss to her palm.
“Christ, I know you didn’t, sweetheart. It’s all me. I’m tired, it’s been a hell of a couple of days.”
She snorts bitterly. “Yeah, no kidding. My head is spinning, I can’t keep up.”
“Timing sucks, that’s for sure. I had all these grand plans to do this the right way—take you on a few dates, slowly ease into being together—but we haven’t even had a chance to enjoy each other without shit hitting the fan.”
“The hotter the fire the stronger the steel,” she says with a half-smile. “Isn’t that what they say?”
I hook a hand behind her neck and pull her in for a kiss.
“Fuck, I sure hope so.”
Meredith
“How is he?”
I’m whispering because it’s six thirty in the morning, Jay is still sleeping, and I’m hiding in the bathroom right next door.
I crashed last night. We got here a little before one in the morning and there were still Durango PD vehicles parked along my driveway. Blackfoot was waiting and had me go over earlier events again. When Jay interrupted, telling him I’d already given him my statement, Keith brushed him off and prompted me to answer his questions. Luckily there wasn’t much to tell and ten minutes after we walked in, Jay urged me to head upstairs and said he wouldn’t be long.
I’m not sure exactly what time he came to bed, because it took no time at all for me to fall asleep with Belle purring beside me on my pillow. Unfortunately, I woke up at four thirty and couldn’t get back to sleep. For almost two hours I laid there in the dark, listening to an occasional soft snore from Jay, wondering how Beau was doing. Even though Dave had told me to call anytime, I resisted until just now.
“He had a calm night and continues to be stable. His hemoglobin levels are up and his heart seems steady. So far so good.”
I know he’s not out of the woods, but he’s improving, and the sense of relief squeezes the air from my lungs.
“Thank God,” I utter breathlessly before quickly adding, “and I’m sorry I called so early.”
I hear him chuckle softly. “Name’s Dave, Meredith, and like I told you yesterday, feel free to call me anytime.”
“Appreciated.”
I end the call and take stock of myself in the bathroom mirror. What a totally nice guy and not hard on the eyes either. If I wasn’t hung up on Jay, I might be tempted to take his last words as an invitation. One that I’d seriously consider.
I contemplate whether I should head back to bed to squeeze out another half hour of sleep now I know Beau is doing okay, or go grab a quick shower and head down to put on a pot of coffee. I slip back into the bedroom to grab some clean clothes when I notice Jay with both his arms folded behind his head and his eyes turned to me.
“I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“How is he?”
The fact he seems to know I was checking in on Beau warms me. Heck, the way he looked after me last night, despite me blowing him off earlier, had been super sweet. It tells me volumes about the way he sees me.
“A bit better.”
“Good to hear.”
Jay unfolds one arm, reaching for me, and I take a step closer to the bed.
“I’m sorry for checking out yesterday,” I apologize as I take his hand.
“Come here…”
“When Gomez suggested there could have been others I’d had on my table, it shook me. I don’t like missing stuff.”
“Merry, come here.”
“There’s another woman and…I missed it, Jay. I fucked up. I didn’t think you…”