“You going out in this?” Mason asked, pointing toward the window.
I shrugged. “Thought I’d check downtown, see if Teddy needed any help with the sandbags or anything.”
Mom set the section of paper she was done with aside, directly in front of me. My eyes fell on the photo, and I recognized the woman in it instantly. She was wearing a white dress and standing poised next to a young man in a tux. The announcement read, “Olivia Marie Donner weds Justin Michael Fields.”
Liv. The bride at the bachelorette party.
I picked up the paper and read the announcement. Mom saw me looking at it and said, “See the date there.”
I glanced, noting it was over a month ago, and frowned. “I wonder why it’s just now in the paper.”
“I wondered that too,” she said, shaking her head. “Either the paper isn’t so good at timely news, or the family didn’t get the announcement to them on time.”
I nodded as my mind drifted to Emmy and the night we’d spent together. The next morning, she’d left me high and dry with just a note saying she’d had fun but had to get to the wedding. She’d instructed me to leave the key with Leah on my way out and that was it.
I’d played the field in my younger days, so I knew a one-night stand when I saw one. But I went into the evening hoping for something more with Emmy. I really liked her, and I thought we’d clicked. But she left the next day without so much as a goodbye.
I didn’t know her full name - just Emmy. That was it. And until that moment, I didn’t know anyone else’s full name either. I briefly contemplated reaching out to Liv and seeing if I could track Emmy down, but realized how creepy that might be. If Emmy had wanted to stay in touch with me, she would have left her number or something.
Besides, it said Liv and Justin were going on their European honeymoon for two months, which might be why the announcement was late. Obviously they came from money, since I couldn’t imagine most folks taking off for two months like that.
“Someone you know?” Mom asked. She raised a perfectly arched eyebrow and smiled at me over her coffee.
“Nah,” I said, folding the paper and putting it back down on the table. “Just surprised they still put wedding announcements in papers, that’s all.”
“They look like a nice couple, don’t you think?”
“Sure, they look happy and in love.”
“Reminds me of your dad and me, actually,” she said wistfully.
I knew the story of my parents’ marriage. It started out like a fairy tale, but unlike a true love story, it didn’t have a happy ending. Dad had always been married to his job first and foremost, and Mom pretty much raised the four of us alone, with Grandpa Curtis’s help. She eventually filed for divorce and freed Dad, but I think part of her always hoped he’d come back to her. Maybe he would have in old age if he hadn’t gotten into that accident.
Even with a sad ending, Mom would still smile while talking about Dad. All the bad memories seemed to fade away in time, and she only talked about the good times. She’d never remarried, and I was sad for her. We were all she had after her father died. Thankfully she enjoyed a lively social scene in Tennessee, or we might have never left her side. We still weren’t sure we were staying in Liberty, but the longer we hung around, the more likely it seemed.
We were even looking at some land on the outskirts of town. Instead of all of us staying cramped in this cabin, we could build our own homes. Maybe include one for Mom when she was ready to retire and move here. If she ever would.
I finished my coffee and told Mason and our mother I was heading out.
“Be careful,” Mom said, frowning in a way that said she would rather I stayed home.
“Lick Creek Bridge is looking a little scary,” Mason told me. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the water washes it out in the next day or two. You might need to find another way into town.”
“I’ll be careful, Doc,” I promised with a low chuckle.
My brother was a doctor, or rather, a medic from back in his military days, which was the reason we called him Doc. He might be younger than me, but sometimes, it felt like he wanted to step into the fatherly role. He was the cautious brother, the one who always weighed the risks and rewards before any action. It was a trait that worked out well for our company, Harvey Brothers Security and Private Investigations, but sometimes it got a little old considering I was just a few years shy of forty. I was pretty damned sure I could handle myself, but Mason couldn’t help himself.
I washed the coffee mug and placed it in the drying rack before heading for the door. The rain pelted the porch, mixed with a little bit of hail. I pulled the hood of my jacket up over my head and dashed toward my truck.
I climbed inside my old beauty and started the engine. I headed toward Lick Creek Bridge, mostly to take a look myself. I’d always been interested in civil engineering and liked to think I knew a thing or two about these sorts of things. If the bridge looked fine, it was the quickest way into town anyway. And if it didn’t, well, I’d make a call into Teddy and see about closing it and rerouting traffic into town.
It was about a ten-minute drive to the bridge, and I didn’t even have to get too close to see the dangers ahead. I parked a few hundred feet back and stood on the hill overlooking the bridge. The area was in a low-laying valley, and all around the bridge was already flooded. The old structure itself had water pouring over it, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if the support systems beneath were damaged - meaning it couldn’t withstand the weight of a car, let alone my giant truck.
And what most people didn’t know is that it only took a couple inches of water to wash a car away, especially with the force of the river. Since you couldn’t see the bridge until you approached it, unless you stopped on top of the hill like I did and really knew what I was looking for, you wouldn’t even notice the danger until you were in the middle of it.
I got back in the truck and dialed Teddy’s number. Teddy was the sheriff of the town and in a round-about way, extended family. He was a good guy, and though I knew he was swamped at work, he needed to close the bridge as soon as possible to prevent any casualties.
Teddy answered on the first ring.
“Hey man, it’s Graham,” I said. “Just wanted to let you know that the bridge on Lick Creek Road needs to be shut down.”
“We’re already on it,” Teddy answered. I should have known he would be on top of it. “I have some of my guys headed there now, but thanks for the call.”
“You’re welcome—” My voice cut off as I noticed a car approaching from behind. They were driving way too fast for the type of weather we were having, and they were headed straight for the bridge. “Someone’s headed this way. Send help just in case I can’t stop them.” I hung up the phone abruptly.
The car whizzed past me, going well above the speed limit for the road. I tried to flag them down, but they were going too fast.
Dammit. This isn’t good.
I hung up the phone and dropped it into the center console of the truck. I reached down onto the floorboard and picked up a hammer from my toolbox. Sometimes being a little messy paid off.
I ran after the car, knowing there would likely be trouble. I rushed down the hill just in time to see it stalled just short of the bridge.