I should take this first workout seriously. And I vowed I would do that later today, but first, I wanted to see Delilah smile. I wanted to see that aimed at me. And even scarier than that, I wanted to impress her son.
I jogged down the path toward their house and knocked on the front door. I knocked again when no one answered. I took a few steps back, pulling my cell from my pocket. I brought up her number and tapped the screen to call her.
The line picked up after two rings, but what I heard wasn’t anything I’d expected.
“G-G-Gunner,” Tucker cried. His breath was hitching through his hiccupped sobs. My mind started racing. Every horrible scenario played on a loop in a split second. Car crash. Her cousin with a gun. A fire.
“What’s happening, Tuck? Are you okay? Is your mom okay? Where are you?” I fired off questions as fast as I could think of them. My throat felt clogged, and every muscle in my body was tensed for what would come next. I ran a hand through my hair, tugging on the ends, as I listened to Tuck crying and trying to speak. “Tell me what’s happening, bud.”
“My mom,” he said and my heart stopped and my gut sank. I’d lost Declan. I was on the verge of losing my mother. I couldn’t lose Delilah when I’d just found her. But I couldn’t let panic set in; I had to be there for whatever Tucker would need.
“What’s happening with your mom? Is she okay? Where are you?”
“We’re on the trail. She’s not waking up and she’s bleeding.”
“What trail? Where is she bleeding from? It’s going to be okay.”
“The trail by my grammy’s.”
I sprinted in that direction. I’d find them. “Good, good. I’m on my way, Tuck. I’m coming for y’all, I swear. Where is she bleeding from?” I kept my breaths even to be able to keep up the furious pace.
“Her head,” he said.
“Okay. This is what I need you to do. Stay with her and stay on the phone. I need to call 9-1-1 and I’ll switch right back over.”
“Don’t leave me,” he whispered, and I could hear the fear in his voice. I knew the fear of losing everything.
“I’m not leaving, I swear. I’m on my way to you. Do you know how far up the trail you are?”
“No,” he said.
“Okay, stay on the line, bud. I’m on my way. I’ll switch right back over.”
“Okay,” he whispered. I ran through the front parking lot and down the winding paths that led to Delilah’s parents’ house to reach one of the trails that started near their home. I swiped my thumb across my screen as I ran and dialed 9-1-1 while keeping Tuck’s line connected.
“9-1-1,” the operator answered. “What’s your emergency?”
“A woman, late twenties on a trail at Castle Rock Inn. Her son found her passed out and bleeding from her head. That’s all I know.”
“At Castle Rock Inn?”
“Yes,” I said, frustrated by every second that kept me away from Delilah and Tuck.
“We’ve already received a call. An ambulance is on the way. Please stay on the line.”
“Can’t,” I said and switched back to Tuck, making a note to remember later that someone had already called. I knew Tuck was by himself. “Tuck? I’m almost there. An ambulance is on the way.”
I reached the mouth of the trail and ran up the hill and down the curved path, and finally, finally, I spotted them in front of me. I stayed on the phone, voicing reassurances to Tuck until I reached his side and fell to my knees.
Another boy his age was sitting next to a crying Tuck looking scared out of his gourd. “What happened?” I asked. I reached forward to Delilah. I didn’t want to move her in case she had fallen and had a serious injury, but I could see the blood spilling from the back of her head, and leaving a sticky residue on her hair and on the rock beneath her.
“We were hiking and she never caught up, so we came back, and she was here bleeding. I was looking for her phone when I heard it ringing, and it was you,” Tuck said through his tears. I wrapped an arm around his shoulders, bringing him into my chest.
“It’s going to be okay. An ambulance is coming. You did good, Tuck.”
“Is this my fault?”
“Definitely not,” I said. “You did so good.”
I brushed some hair off Delilah’s face and ran a finger down her cheek. “Delilah?” I tried. She didn’t wake, but she was breathing. I turned on my heel as I heard an ambulance wail in the distance. Tuck and I kept facing Delilah as we waited, and his friend sat watching quietly.
An EMT jumped from the back of the rig and cleared us away. I kept Tucker against my side and answered everything I could about Delilah as we watched her being loaded into the back of the ambulance and carried away, still unconscious.
Every protective instinct I had was roaring at me to get in the back of that ambulance, but they only had room for one person and I had to stay with Tuck. I knew it was what Delilah would want.
The boys and I ran back to Delilah’s parents’ house. I pounded harder than I meant to on the front door and waited for someone to answer. Her mom opened the door with a smile until her eyes found Tuck nestled into my side with silent tears still streaming down his face.
“Delilah is hurt. An ambulance took her to the ER. Can you contact Calvin’s parents? I’m going to take Tuck and we’ll meet you there?”
“Why did no one call?” She grabbed her purse by the entry.
“I’m not sure, ma’am, but I really need to get to Delilah, and I know Tuck needs to be close to her too.”
She put down her purse on the entry table. “I’ll take care of Calvin, call me if something happens before my husband and I can get there.”
“I will,” I swore.
“Take Delilah’s cart back to the parking lot, you’ll get there faster.”
I crammed myself behind the wheel of her red convertible and took off as soon as Tuck was seated. And together we raced to Delilah.
Chapter 22
Delilah
“I tripped.” I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and winced. My head was very tender, and the slightest touch was uncomfortable. Mom sat on the edge of the hospital bed while rubbing my thigh. She’d sat quietly by my side while most of the men in my life asked question after question. Tuck was curled into my side with his head on my chest. He’d been stuck to me like glue since they let my family into the room.
Gunner, Colt, and Dad stood at the end of the bed with their arms folded over their chests. Gunner’s head was tilted to the side as he stared at me. Every time I answered a question, he’d squint, but he hadn’t pushed. Yet.
Colt was another story. He’d come storming into the room and started demanding answers from me. Answers he wasn’t happy with, so he’d just repeat the question.
“What happened?”
I kissed the top of Tuck’s head and turned my attention to Mom. The discharge nurse, who’d promised she’d be right back with the rest of my paperwork, was taking entirely too long. “Did Calvin get home okay?”
She nodded and patted my thigh. “Yes. Don’t worry about a thing, honey. How’re you feeling?”