Kate: Excellent news! I’ll stop by after I close the store.
Kylie: Okay, but don’t expect much. They’re giving him sedatives to prevent artery spasms, and he’s going to be in la-la land for a while.
With that heavy weight off her shoulders and her beautiful flowers in constant view, the afternoon progressed more quickly than the morning had. Business remained slow, but she kept herself busy with general cleaning and organizing and planning a Valentine’s surprise for Chris.
Luther didn’t return until she was closing up the store for the night. She passed along the good news about her father.
“I know. Kylie texted me, too. Sorry I didn’t make it back earlier. I had some things to take care of.”
“No worries.” Despite what everyone seemed to think, she was perfectly capable of handling the store by herself and had done so on many occasions over the years.
“Are you heading to the hospital?” Luther asked.
“Yes, but it’ll probably be a short visit. Kylie said they gave him stuff to keep him still.”
“I’ll give you a ride.”
“No, thanks.”
“Come on, Kate. It’s a ride. My car’s already warm, and it doesn’t make sense to take two cars when we’re going to the same place.”
“No, Luther.”
“Why not?”
“Because I have to run some errands, too,” she told him, which was true, but it wasn’t the only reason.
Luther’s offer had sounded innocuous enough, but he rarely did anything without an ulterior motive. Plus, she was just tired of dealing with him. She had things to do and places to be.
Unfortunately, Luther wasn’t taking the hint.
“No problem. I’ll come with you. Then, we can grab a bite to eat afterward and talk.”
She shook her head. “Not a good idea.”
“Look, I was going to wait until later, but ...” Luther went to the trunk of his car and extracted a big bouquet of flowers and a heart-shaped box of chocolates.
“What are you doing?”
“Trying to apologize. I fucked up, Kate. I fucked up, and I took you for granted. I get that now. Let me make it up to you.”
Annoyance warred with equal parts sympathy and confusion. She couldn’t understand why he was so adamant on getting back together when they so clearly didn’t suit each other. On the other hand, she also knew what rejection felt like and wasn’t a mean-spirited person.
“I’m sorry, Luther, but I can’t accept those,” she said firmly but kindly.
His jaw clenched. “What do I have to do, Kate?”
“Nothing. I’ve moved on. You should, too.”
Without waiting for a response, Kate crossed the street to her place. She didn’t look back, not even when she heard Luther slamming the trunk and door closed and then peeling away from the curb.
Her thoughts moved quickly to other things. She had a lot to do to put her plan in motion and very little time to do it.
She didn’t even go inside, heading right to her Jeep to drive to the hospital. Her father was sleeping when she got there. She stayed for about half an hour, long enough for her mom and sister to get something to eat, and then wrote him a note, telling him she loved him and that she was happy everything had gone well.
From the hospital, Kate made a stop at the grocery store and picked up two strip steaks and a pound of shrimp, plus some fixings. Then, she ran back to her place and set those things to marinate briefly while she did a quick shower and shave. While the steak and shrimp were under the broiler, she packed an overnight bag, including some sexy lingerie and some scented candles with a change of clothes and her toothbrush.
It was after nine p.m. and snowing lightly when she loaded everything into her Jeep. She wasn’t worried. The next storm system wasn’t supposed to hit for another day or two, and even that was hit or miss. Most of the weather models called for a typical six to ten inches, but there was always one that forecasted what they jokingly called a snowmageddon.
She planned to be back well before then to open the store, which was another reason she wanted to see Chris. If the doomsayers were right, it might be days before she had another chance.
She was halfway to Sanctuary when she first noticed the headlights behind her. Not just headlights, but a blinding rack of deer-spotting search lights mounted on the top of a big vehicle—a pickup, by the look of it. She adjusted her rearview and sideview mirrors and tried to blink away the spots dancing in front of her eyes, so she could navigate the winding road.
Except for the lights of their vehicles, it was black as pitch out there. The same clouds responsible for the flurries were also blocking out any chance of moonlight reflecting on the already-existing snow cover.
The truck kept getting closer, obviously impatient with what she thought was a reasonable speed for the conditions, until it was riding her bumper. She slowed down, hoping the truck would pass, but it didn’t. Without a shoulder, there really wasn’t much she could do besides grit her teeth and curse under her breath.
Being quite familiar with the road, she knew there was an area coming up with enough room for her to pull over and let it by. As she neared it, she turned on her hazards and eased off to the side. Instead of continuing on, however, the truck pulled over, too.
That was when she realized she was not in a good situation, and her heart really started pounding. Her fight-or-flight response kicked in, and given that she was traveling alone at night on a secluded stretch of mountain road, she opted for flight.
Pressing down on the accelerator, she cut her wheel hard to the left to get back on the road. She trusted her driving skills more than she did her ability to fight off an unknown attacker who might or might not be carrying deer rifles to go with those spotters.
“Ah, come on!” she yelled to no one in particular when the truck started gaining on her again.
She loved her Jeep, but her six-cylinder engine was no match for the powerful V8 monster behind her, especially on a steep incline when she had to keep downshifting around the sharp turns. She was doing exactly that when she hit a slick spot, and her back end whipped to the side. Without thought, she compensated by hitting the gas, turning the wheel and jamming her floor stick in 4WD High.
Just as she felt her tires grip, the truck connected with her left rear bumper, sending her into a spin. She white-knuckled the wheel hard and tried to regain control, but it was too late. The next thing she knew, her right tires were no longer on the road, and she was rolling sideways down the steep embankment.
She held on for dear life, prayed her roll bars were as sturdy as she hoped, and braced for impact. At the first hard jolt, both of her air bags deployed. At the second, her head hit the driver’s-side window.
Then, everything went black.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Mad Dog
Mad Dog checked his phone again and was disappointed to find Kate still hadn’t responded.
He knew he was being selfish. He knew she was busy and had a lot on her mind. Still, he’d been hoping for some response to the last picture he’d sent. Mirroring one of her selfies, he’d taken a suggestive picture with his hand down his briefs and added the caption, Valentine’s To-Do List: You. Repeatedly.
At the time, it’d seemed like a sexy, fun, playful thing to make Kate smile at the end of a long day and, if he was lucky, give the metaphorical envelope a push. In retrospect, maybe he shouldn’t have sent it, but she had seemed to like the others.