Chapter Thirteen
“What is it?” Deb shouted as TJ took off at a run.
“Colt.” He didn’t have time to explain. As it was, he’d only registered half of what Darcy had told him and didn’t understand why the emergency responders had called her in the first place. Maybe they’d tried him and he hadn’t heard his phone over the music in Old Glory. “He’s in the hospital.”
“My God. Wait for me.” She caught up to him and hopped into the passenger side of his truck.
Good thing he’d parked close when they’d dropped off Deb’s equipment. He started the engine, backed out, nearly colliding with a motor home, and sped to the interstate.
“Is it bad?”
“Not sure.” All he knew was that Colt got caught in an avalanche. TJ assumed it happened during speed riding, but the details were murky. He just wanted to get to the hospital, to Colt. “Can you call Delaney? Wait a minute, don’t. It’ll freak her out.”
“Someone has to tell her, TJ. She should be at the hospital.”
“You’re right. Call Hannah and tell her to do it. Someone needs to pick her up. She shouldn’t drive herself.” Damn, he wasn’t handling this well, and he was in charge. The second oldest. He should have this; people were depending on him.
He heard Deb on the phone, giving instructions to Hannah. She sounded a lot calmer than TJ felt. Then again, Colt wasn’t her brother.
After signing off, she said, “Hannah and Josh already thought of getting Delaney. They’re on their way to her house now.”
“Good.” Josh was steady in a crisis—all that ranger training. “Did Hannah know anything about Colt’s medical status?” He should’ve asked Darcy, but the urge to get to the hospital fast overrode it.
“Just that he’s in the emergency room. Colt’s tough; he’ll be okay.” Deb squeezed his leg and kept her hand there. Any other time it would’ve made him stiff as a rod.
It took them thirty minutes to get to Sierra General, the main hospital in Nevada County. Tourists, up from Sacramento and the Bay Area to see the snow, had clogged the roads, causing traffic to move at a snail’s pace. At one point, TJ had considered ditching his truck and running the rest of the way.
He pulled up to the emergency entrance and jumped out, leaving Deb to park. Someone at the front desk told him where to go. He ran through the long hallway and took the elevator to the second floor. This wasn’t his first trip to the emergency room. But on past visits he hadn’t taken the time to memorize the layout of the place. His parents and Win were already there, having had a head start, and stood in the waiting room, talking to someone in scrubs. They looked grave but not hysterical, which in his mind was a good sign.
His mother wrapped TJ in her arms. “Thank goodness you’re here.”
“Is he okay?”
TJ’s father stepped up. “He has a bad concussion, three broken ribs, and a possible fractured ankle. The good news is, he managed to keep the six members of his group safe. They all had avalanche beacons with them—thank God.
“What are they doing for his head?” Concussions were no joke.
“We’re keeping him overnight,” the man in scrubs—Dr. Jeffers, according to his name tag—said. “Tomorrow we’ll evaluate whether to send him home. But he won’t be skiing for a while, and Chief Garner will likely have to take a few days off work.”
Footsteps echoed down the hallway. Josh, Hannah, and Delaney came racing toward them. Dr. Jeffers went over Colt’s condition with them, repeating much of what Gray had already told TJ.
“I’d like to see him,” Delaney said. She was losing it; TJ could tell.
The doctor nodded. “We’re trying to limit visitors to one at a time until we get him a room. He also needs to rest. But I’ll take you back for a few minutes.”
Jeffers escorted Delaney down the corridor and they disappeared behind a set of double doors.
“Did you see Deb on your way up?” TJ asked Josh.
“Yeah. She’s parking Hannah’s car.”
“What’s Deb doing here?” Win asked.
“We were having lunch when Darcy called.” TJ watched for Win’s reaction, but he didn’t give one. Either Win trusted TJ or he didn’t give a shit.
He turned to his father. “Where are our clients?”
“Here.” Gray let out a sigh. “They’re being checked for mild hypothermia, cuts, and bruises.”
“Do we need to call emergency contacts?”
“They don’t want us to.” Gray shrugged. “We’re putting them up at the Four Seasons. As soon as they’re cleared to leave, we’ll shuttle them to the hotel.”
“What happened up there?” Josh asked.
Hannah got to her feet and turned off the TV. Until that moment, TJ hadn’t noticed it was on.
“They were halfway down Sierra Peak when Colt heard thunder behind him,” Gray said. “He knew immediately what was going on, managed to move the three skiers closest to him sideways to avoid the center of the avalanche. Another two were right under the slide and got buried. Colt shoveled them out. But when he went looking for the sixth member of their crew, there was another slide, or residual sluff, and he got hit with something and blacked out. Another party on the mountain came to his rescue.”
“They found the sixth guy, right?” TJ assumed they must’ve or they’d all be out there now, looking for him.
“He’d already made it down to base. Colt thinks the two who got buried may have triggered it, but who knows.”
Avalanches could be caused by something as simple as new snow dislodging the old, but more often, the trigger was the weight of a skier or group of skiers exceeding the strength of the snowpack. Everyone knew it was a risk in the backcountry. About thirty people a year died in the United States from snowslides.
Deb, accompanied by Jack and Carrie Jo, came into the waiting room.
“I was on duty and heard the news from the fire department,” Jack said.
“How is he?” Carrie Jo asked.
“He’ll be fine.” Gray got up and slung his arm over Carrie Jo’s shoulder. Besides being Colt’s receptionist, she and Jack were his best friends.
Mary walked over to Deb and wrapped her in a hug. Win moved his jacket so Deb could sit next to him. And that old song, “Save the Last Dance for Me,” popped into TJ’s head and he pushed it away.
Delaney came back to the waiting room. Her face had regained some of its normal color and she was smiling. “He’s doing well. Even argued with me over staying in the hospital tonight.” She turned to TJ. “They’re moving him to a room. As soon as he’s situated, he wants to talk to you.”
“Why him?” Josh punched TJ in the arm.
TJ socked him back. “Because you’re adopted.”
“Boys.” Mary yanked TJ by the collar. “We’re in a hospital.”
“Sorry, Mom,” they said in unison.
They all sat and made small talk, taking turns checking on their six clients. Colt had acted heroically and gotten himself hurt in the process. That was the reason he’d earned the trust of Glory Junction as police chief. Best chief the town ever had, even if TJ was biased. Win, he noticed, was unusually quiet. At least he wasn’t screwing around on his phone every couple of minutes.
Deb, Jack, and Carrie Jo went off to scare up coffee for everyone. There was something going on with those two, but TJ didn’t know what. He’d always liked Carrie Jo, who’d been in the same high-school graduating class as Colt, and hated her ex-husband, who’d been a pompous POS. And Jack was the man. Everyone loved Colt’s assistant chief. It was good of them to come.
They returned twenty minutes later, laden with drinks. TJ noted that Deb had gotten herbal tea for his mom, who wasn’t a caffeine drinker. All these years and she still remembered. A few times, Deb locked eyes with him. He flashed a wan smile and quickly looked away.
Darcy rushed in. She still had on her nice clothes from earlier but look frazzled.
“Hey, Darce.” TJ rose to greet her.
“I drove the shuttle so I can take Colt’s group to the hotel. How is he?”
A nurse came in and told TJ Colt was waiting to talk to him. Gray motioned for him to go and gave Darcy a status report. TJ took the elevator up two more floors and found Colt’s room at the end of the east wing. For a rural area, it was a big hospital, serving a couple of counties. Colt lay in a hospital bed, covered in blankets. It was a single room with a few chairs scattered around the bed. A table with the usual hospital detritus had been pulled to his bedside, and Colt sucked water from a straw.
“Hey, asshole, thanks for not dying.”
“You’re welcome.”
TJ walked closer and hung over him. “How many fingers am I holding up?”
Colt squinted a few times. “Fifteen, or is that little one your dick?”
TJ slugged him.
“Dude, broken ribs.”
“Sorry, sorry.” Sometimes they got carried away with the roughhousing. He sank into one of the chairs. “You feeling okay?”
“Never better.” He shot TJ a look. “Our clients being treated?”
“Minor injuries. They’re all going home . . . back to the hotel tonight. You’ve got half the town in the waiting room. Carrie Jo and Jack came.”
“Jack’ll have to run the show for a few days. My doc doesn’t want me to go in, not even to do paperwork. Delaney will hold me to it.”
TJ agreed with the orders. It was best to take a concussion seriously.
“I just wanted to make sure you’re looking out for our clients,” Colt continued. “They’re all experienced skiers, but what happened up there had to have scared the hell out of them.”
“Of course. As soon as they’re released, Darcy will shuttle them to the Four Seasons.” She was the best hire he’d ever made. She didn’t know anything about extreme sports, but the woman got shit done. “I’ve got to give her a promotion before she goes somewhere else.”
Colt nodded, but TJ could tell he was getting tired. “I should let you go, bro. Get some sleep.”
“Wait a sec.” He found the bed remote and lifted into a sitting position. “This . . . it got me thinking . . . I need a will.”
“Ah, come on. Don’t talk like that.”
“It’s no longer just me anymore, TJ.” Colt had a way of modulating his voice so you didn’t broach the conversation. TJ supposed it was a cop-authoritative thing. “If anything happens to me, I want to leave Delaney my share of GA. I want to make sure you, Josh, and Win are onboard with that. Will you talk to them about it?”
“Sure. But everyone will be fine with it. Just don’t freaking die.” He got to his feet. “Get some rest.”
It was a dark discussion to have, TJ thought as he went back to the waiting room. None of them were even forty yet and despite their chosen professions, only Josh had come close to dying. But he supposed it was prudent when there was a significant other in the picture. Because TJ didn’t have one, he didn’t have to think about dying. As far as he was concerned, he hadn’t started living yet. And for him that was a bigger problem than death.
* * *
Deb moved closer to Hannah and Delaney so they could drink their coffees together and talk. She’d texted Foster with the 4-1-1 on Colt’s condition. By now, she knew the whole town was talking about the accident. Even though avalanches weren’t that uncommon in the backcountry, it was big news in Glory Junction when emergency response was required. Thank goodness it hadn’t been as bad as it could’ve been.
Jack and Carrie Jo had left, deciding Colt had enough family here to tire him out. Win seemed preoccupied, and Deb wondered if he was just upset about Colt, though his prognosis was excellent and even Delaney was in good spirts.
Gray and Josh went to help Darcy load their clients and their gear into the van and deliver them safely to the hotel.
To kill time, they talked about Delaney and Colts’s wedding and Deb’s upcoming birthday party. TJ finally came down and told everyone that Colt was doing fine but needed to sleep. Delaney went back up to sit with him for a while.
“He didn’t want to see me?” Win asked.
“Nah,” TJ said. “He doesn’t like you much.”
Win flipped him the bird and Mary shook her head. Her boys were a handful.
“Then I guess I’ll go; no sense in sitting around here. You want a ride home, Deb?”
She contemplated it for a moment. But TJ looked as if he could use a friend. “I’ll stick around a little longer and catch a ride with your brother.”
Win didn’t seem to care one way or the other and took off. TJ, Deb, and Hannah kept Mary company. Despite being a tough lady, the incident had shaken her, as Deb assumed it would any mother. When Gray and Josh returned, it was dark outside and it had begun to snow.
“You ready to take off?” TJ asked her.
They said their good-byes. Deb followed him to the elevator. When they got outside she showed him where she’d parked his truck and they walked to the far end of the lot. It was cold and she dug her gloves out of her pockets and slipped her hands inside them.
“I’ll crank the heat up as soon as we get in the car.”
She must’ve started shivering because he put his arm around her and pulled her tight into his side.
“You that cold?”
“I think it was coming out of the warm hospital.” It had been seventy-five degrees in the building.
He continued to hold her, and she was strongly tempted to burrow closer; that was how good he felt. Not just warm but strong. And necessary. It was an odd way to describe someone, but in that moment, TJ felt inordinately necessary. Like he was part of her.
They got to his Range Rover all too quickly and he let go of her to open the passenger door. By the time she buckled up, he had the engine humming and the heat blasting.
“Better?”
It was better when I was snuggled next to you. “Mm-hmm.”
He put his seat belt on and just sat there for a beat, the cab filled with their silence.
“Is anything wrong?”
“Nope.” He pulled out and drove to the interstate, the sound of the windshield wipers filling the quiet. “How come you didn’t want to go with Win?”
“I just didn’t.”
“You guys fighting?”
“No, nothing like that.” She didn’t want to talk about Win; there was nothing to say about him.
He dropped the inquiry and turned on the radio.
“Colt’s good, right?” She wondered why he’d singled out TJ to go up to his room, though it probably had something to do with the clients.
“As good as he can be under the circumstances.” He paused, then said, “I wanted to guide that tour. Now I’m wondering if I would’ve reacted as quickly as Colt had.”
“Without a doubt.”
He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “What makes you so sure?”
“I know your skills. They’re every bit as good as Colt’s and probably better.”
He didn’t say anything, just continued to drive. They made better time coming home than they had going to the hospital. Deb supposed all the weekend drivers were tucked in for the night. She wondered if TJ had had plans. It was Saturday, after all. As far as she knew, he hadn’t returned Karen’s text.
She wanted to ask but felt funny about it, especially because she didn’t have any plans. Pretty pathetic.
“What are you thinking about over there?” he asked, and for a second Deb feared that he’d read her mind.
“Nothing. It just hit me that it’s Saturday night.”
“Big plans.” His brows winged up.
“Shut up.” She nudged his leg with the palm of her hand. “What about you? Hot date?”
“Hot date with my flat-screen and a beer.”
It sounded wonderful to Deb. “You’re coming to my birthday party next weekend, right?”
“So I’ve been ordered.” He grinned. “It would be hard to miss, since it’s at GA.” Hannah and Delaney had gotten permission to use company headquarters for the party. It was that or someone’s house, but the offices of Garner Adventure seemed more apropos, especially because it was Deb’s new place of employment.
She almost blurted, don’t bring anyone. The revelation that she was willing to take a chance on going for him was so scary that she needed time to examine it. And not while she was sitting close to him. Just his smell, a combination of citrusy aftershave, fresh laundry, and virility, intoxicated her enough to blur her judgment. He was the boy she could never have. And her boss, her mind screamed.
“How many people are coming to this shindig?” he asked.
“I don’t know for sure,” she said, happy for something to talk about. “Hannah, Foster, and Delaney are organizing it. The usual suspects, though.”
“The big three-o, huh?” He turned down the heat because the cab of his truck had started to feel like a sauna.
“Yep. I know it’s hard to believe.” He must think she lived more like a starving college student. An apartment above a diner, a broken-down car, in debt up to her eyeballs. Karen had a fancy apartment, a glamorous job, and a cute little Miata she drove around town. She didn’t know what Mandy drove, but it had to be better than Deb’s Honda. And Jillian co-owned the design company doing GA’s website and an espresso machine imported from Italy. All those women were about Deb’s age.
“You still get carded?”
“Uh, sometimes.”
TJ slowed to the speed limit as soon as they hit town. He turned onto Main Street and, despite the snow, a good crowd strolled in front of the restaurants and shops. They couldn’t find a spot on the street, so TJ parked behind Garner Adventure in the small lot.
“You could’ve just dropped me,” she said. “Unless you wanted to go inside.” She tilted her head at the building.
“I’ll walk you.”
“Why?” It was safe and freezing outside.
“I could use the air.”
She got that. It’d been a trying day, at least the last half of it. They walked together, but this time he didn’t put his arm around her. Still, there was something there. A buildup of static electricity that caused an invisible crackling in the air and made her want to cling to him. She knew she wasn’t imagining it and wondered what he was thinking.
They passed Old Glory and could hear dueling electric guitars coming through the walls. A small group stood near the door, cigarette smoke wafting in the air.
At the Morning Glory, TJ accompanied her up the stairs and waited while she fumbled through her purse to find her house keys. She thought about inviting him in for a drink but couldn’t remember if she had any wine or beer. When she finally found the keys, he took them from her hand. He let out a breath as if he’d been contemplating something and a cloud of condensation formed in the air like smoke puffs.
Then he bent down and kissed her, gently pressing her back against the door. It was a bit of a shock, almost surreal. She was kissing TJ Garner.
He went slow at first, testing the waters. But as she arched into him, he took the kiss deeper, licking into her mouth, sliding his hands down her sides, and pulling her closer until she felt more than just his lips and tongue. She rocked into him and he grew harder against her as he continued to explore her mouth. The man was no novice. He made her want to lose her clothes—and her inhibitions.
Her arms wound around his neck and she rubbed against him, trying to feed the fire burning between her legs. He reached lower to her ass, pushing her firmly into his bulge, and groaned. His jacket was in the way, barring her from the hem of his shirt and his waistband. She wanted skin. She wanted him and the hot pull of his mouth all over her body.
His hands roamed over her chest, but the bulkiness of her ski jacket proved as much of a barrier as his did. They needed to get inside. He still held the key. She tried to guide his hand to the lock, but he wouldn’t stop touching her. Kissing her. Breathy sounds came from her mouth and she got up on her toes to take more of him.
“TJ?” she said against his lips.
He didn’t answer, just kept on stroking the inside of her mouth with his tongue as his hands searched for her zipper.
“Please.” Her body trembled.
He stopped and seemed to realize where they were. “Ah Jesus.” He scrubbed his hand through his hair, his face so close she could feel his breath.
Shoving the key in the dead bolt, he unlocked the door and pushed it open for her to go in.
“Aren’t you coming?” she asked when he just stood there, his hand extended with her ring of keys.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, and for a second, she saw indecision shining in his eyes. And then, just like that, he shook his head. “That shouldn’t have happened.”
But it had and she wanted to finish what they’d started. “Just come in and we’ll talk about it.”
“We both know that if I come in, there won’t be any talking.” He dropped the keys in her hand and jogged down the steps. “Good night.”
“Good night,” she whispered back and watched him disappear into the darkness.