Miles away from Lake Starlight, traffic slows, and it isn’t until after I’ve crawled along for five miles that I find out why. There’s at least a fifty car pile-up in the northbound side. My hand instinctively goes for my phone to call Juno and let her know that I missed the accident and I’m okay—but then I realize she doesn’t even know I was on this highway.
Traffic slows further as we creep past the blinking red and blue lights. The paramedics and firefighters run through the vehicles as smoke fills the air, metal sprinkled along the pavement. I notice a black truck parked close to the cement barrier on the other side.
I swear it’s Kingston’s truck. Once I get closer, I see the firefighter sticker on the back and I’m sure it’s Kingston’s. Why would he come out to the accident if he weren’t on duty? Why else would his truck be here though? Maybe they needed to call more people in because of how many cars are involved?
The guy behind me honks his horn, but I don’t care.
Kingston is running in one direction, stopping and waving over a paramedic.
I slam on my brakes, the guy behind me nearly rear-ending me. Instead of stopping, I pull off to the side of the road, park, and jump the barrier. Tell me that’s not Juno’s car. Please God, tell me that someone else has the same car. I run toward the car with my heart beating like a bass drum in my ears.
“Juno!” I yell.
Kingston looks up from talking to the driver and puts out his hands. “Colton, dude, you can’t be here.”
“Yes, I can. Is it her? Is Juno in that car?” I try to go around him, but his hands are on my chest and he dodges every attempt. “Kingston.”
He stops and nods. “She’s gotta go to the hospital to get checked out. Meet us there. I’ll keep you updated, okay?”
“Bailey, what the hell?” one of his firefighter friends says. I think his name is Lou. I’ve met him a few times. “It’s your day off.”
“It’s my sister.” He walks away from me, pointing at her car. “Her door is jammed.”
“Shit. Okay.” Lou follows Kingston’s lead.
With their attention away from me, I run over to her car. Juno’s head is bleeding, and her face is pale, but she’s breathing. She’s alive.
Thank God.
“Juno, are you okay?” I go to the door.
“Colton, out of the way,” Kingston says, so I go around the car to the passenger side.
Lou uses a crowbar to pry open the door.
“I’m sorry. I never should’ve given you crap. If you don’t want to marry me, that’s fine. I’d rather just—”
Juno shakes her head, tears spilling down her face. Lou gets the door open, and Kingston undoes her seat belt.
“Slow, Juno,” he says. “Let’s wait for a stretcher.”
She shakes her head. “I’m just a little shaken up. I’m fine.” As she says it, her head lazily goes in a circle and falls to the headrest.
It’s good to have connections because a paramedic comes over, fist-bumps Kingston, and they put Juno on a stretcher right away.
“Wait!” She tries to sit up. “I need my purse.”
I snatch the purse and follow them to the ambulance. “I’m going with you.”
“Your car?” Kingston points toward where I ditched my car.
“Tow it. I’m not leaving her again.”
Juno smiles at me as we climb into the ambulance, Kingston saying he’ll catch up with us.
As the paramedics do her vitals and make sure her injuries aren’t worse, Juno points at her purse hanging off my arm. “Can I have that?”
“No, I got it. Just worry about letting them check you out.” I grab her hand, thankful she’s here and alive and talking to me. Forget marriage, I can deal with cohabitation common law marriage. As soon as I get her to move in, that is.
“Please, Colton, I need something.” I hand it to her, and she smiles at the paramedic. “I swear, I’m good.” She digs through her purse and hands me the ring box, tears in her eyes. “Ask me again.”
“Juno,” I whisper and shake my head.
“Ask me again.” She nudges the box closer to me.
The paramedic smiles and stops working on her.
“If this is because you thought I was leaving, then don’t. I’m not leaving. You’re stuck with me regardless of whether you’ll marry me or not.”
She shakes her head. “No, I realized that I was an idiot and I was ruining our future because I was scared to lose you. But there’s no difference. I love you, and if something bad happens, just because I’m not your wife doesn’t mean my heartache would be less. I guess Grandma Dori is pretty damn wise. But don’t ever tell her I said that.”
A small smile tilts my lips. “So?”
She eyes the box in my hand. “Ask me again.”
I remove the ring and hold it out. “Juno, will you—”
“Yes! I’ll marry you!”
I laugh. The paramedic laughs.
Juno waves me over to her, where she wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me all over my face. “Forgive me for being so stupid?”
“I forgive you, but let me get the ring on your finger.”
She pulls back, watching me take her left ringer finger and slide the round diamond with a silver band on her finger. She takes my head in her hands and rests her forehead to mine. “Do you think they’ll feed us at the hospital?”
“You’re hungry?”
“It was a very emotional day,” she says.
An hour later, she gets her release papers.
“You do realize you ruined my proposal?” I say as we walk out of the hospital room.
“Want to do it over again?”
Kingston turns the corner and smiles when he sees us in the hallway. “What’s up? Glad to see it was only a minor injury.”
I shake his hand. “Yeah, she’s pretty lucky.”
Kingston widens his stance, crossing his arms. “I have a question for you.”
“Kingston, she needs her rest.” I attempt to move us around him.
Kingston raises his one hand, ignoring me. “Before you guys go play doctor and nurse, I want to know why you were driving southbound?”
Juno looks at me. Now she knows I was coming back for her.
“Did you really think I could disappear without fighting for you?” I ask her.
She leans into me, pressing her cheek to my chest. “It’s so unfair to all the women in the world that I get this guy. But I’m not trading him for anything.” Juno hugs me tighter.
“You guys are getting sickeningly sweet,” Kingston says.
“Get ready for those cavities then.” Juno takes my hand and leads us down the hallway.
Kingston says he can take us out the ambulance way, so we don’t have to go through the busy waiting room. Just as the doors open to the outside, a nurse comes out of the room to the right, losing her footing. Kingston grabs her arms to keep her from falling.
“Hey, thanks.” The nurse looks Kingston up and down, clearly liking what she sees.
He nods and watches as she continues down the hall. We walk out the sliding doors, but Kingston stays inside. “I’ll catch you two later.”