A Moon Lake Christmas Hero (Moon Lake Protectors #6)

1. Erin

ERIN

M y phone rang, and I grabbed one wired earbud, praying once more that this shitty excuse for a car, which smelled like old cigarettes and something unidentifiable, would make it the last couple of miles.

Though it brought me this far.

Despite that clanking sound, which started an hour after I left the city limits—and my life—behind, it was still going strong.

I tried to down-regulate the fan, which was blasting at full speed—stuck on freezing cold—of course, the heating would be the one thing that didn’t work—was that where the clanking came from?

“Hello.” Jessie Blake’s melodic voice sounded in my ear—Radley, her last name was Radley now.

“Hey.” I relaxed the muscles in my stomach, which had tightened involuntarily.

Nobody had this number.

He didn’t have this number.

Nobody knew where I was going—except for Jessie and Alan Radley, my future boss.

I’d talked to Jessie earlier today when I left the crappy motel I’d stayed in overnight. At least one person knew I was taking this trip to Moon Lake.

We’d lost contact there for a while, but when she contacted me after she heard about my parents’ deaths, the instant connection and easy camaraderie we had back when we were working in the same healthcare facility immediately came back. And it somehow gave me the hope and the courage to run, to start new, to leave everything behind.

She reminded me of who I used to be.

Of the life I’d lost.

So much loss.

I rubbed my chest. The thrumming pain about losing my parents had molded together with the guilt I’d been carrying.

Like a big, fat chunk of radiating cold, it sat right in the middle of my chest.

I still couldn’t shake the feeling it was my fault, no matter what the investigation report was saying. I brought Bob into our lives. And somehow, I was sure he’d had something to do with that fire.

Had done this to target me, to hurt me.

He’d always complained about me taking care of my parents. Me not being available for him. Me not loving him enough.

And he was right.

He’d lost my trust and my love when he started the gaslighting, when I caught on to what a manipulative, lying bastard he was.

When I finally ended things, he didn’t take it well. It started with angry letters, demeaning text messages, barely veiled threats.

I didn’t react.

At all.

Had hoped he would get over it.

And then the fire…and the message scribbled on an innocent piece of paper.

Never forget, you are mine.

A shudder swept through my body and left me ice cold.

Did he do it? Was he somehow behind the fire?

Did he kill my parents? Was I the target?

Or was it just coincidence?

Either way, I wasn’t there.

At least if I’d been with them, I could’ve done something. Anything. And maybe they would still be alive today.

“Where are you?” Jessie’s voice pulled me back from the deep, dark void of my thoughts. I didn’t tell her about Bob. Didn’t tell her about my suspicions and the fear that kept me up at night.

“I’m almost there. I’m driving alongside the lake right now. It’s beautiful.”

And it was. Jessie had told me about Moon Lake, the small town she’d moved to when she found herself pregnant and alone.

Apparently, she’d followed her brother, who had opened a bar in Moon Lake after he retired from the military.

Jessie chuckled. “It sure is. Especially at Christmas.” Then she squealed. “I can’t wait until you get here.”

I laughed. Somehow, I wasn’t sure if Jessie had convinced her husband and small-town doctor, Alan, to create the position just for me. Because, let’s be honest. Did a small town in the middle of nowhere really need a doctor and a nurse practitioner, and midwife?

Weren’t small towns supposed to be disappearing since the younger generations were moving into the big cities?

Well, if what Alan had told me during my interview online was true, that trend was reversed in the small towns in and around Moon Lake.

And looking outside at the lake, the surface smooth as glass and the snow-capped mountains surrounding it, covered with lush green forests—hidden under heaps of snow, I could totally understand why. It was like a scene out of a fairy tale. The only thing missing was the castle, the horse-drawn sleigh, and the prince.

Not that I was searching for one.

“Your welcoming committee is already here.”

“Welcoming committee?” What welcoming committee? I wasn’t prepared to meet anyone but Alan and Jessie. I looked down at the orange stains on my jeans and padded jacket. Shit.

Should’ve gone for something plain and not-crumbly to snack on.

“It’s just Alan, Richard Travers, our sheriff, and James Cullen, our residential superman.”

“Residential superman?”

Jessie chuckled again. “That’s just the title us girls have given him. He’s the mayor, but also the head of our local volunteer firefighters, hotshot billionaire real-estate mogul, and single dad of two adorable little twin girls. And to top it all off, he’s super sexy.”

“That sounds too good to be true.” Also, too busy to do any of those things right. But, apparently, he was good with people because why else would Jessie be gushing about him?

“He’s grumpy, I’ll give you that, but wait till you see his eyes. They’re mesmerizing. And I say that as a very happily married woman who is not at all attracted to him. But man, his eyes are something else.”

I scoffed. If something sounded too good to be true, it was most of the time, at least in my experience. “So if he’s so super busy, why is he there?”

Jessie’s voice turned serious and a bit hesitant. “The town will be paying half your salary.”

“And?” It wasn’t unusual for the town to pay for its healthcare providers, was it?

There was a pause.

“What aren’t you telling me, Jess?”

“He’s not so hot on the idea of hiring you. But don’t be nervous. Once he gets to know you and sees how ace you are at your job, he will be a fan. I promise. I just wanted to let you know so you can mentally prepare yourself.”

Mentally prepare? What about physically prepare? I needed a hot shower, and a change of clothes. Stat.

My eyes fell on the sign for a sharp turn, and I pumped the brakes to slow down. At least there wasn’t any ice on the road.

But just as I wanted to make the turn, I saw a dog on my side of the street.

“Shit.” I slammed on the brakes…and nothing. My foot went clear down to the floorboard. I pumped again, but it didn’t change. “Shit. Shit. Shit.” I cranked the steering wheel farther to the left to avoid the damn dog, who didn’t budge.

“Erin?”

Everything slowed down.

But not enough.

I gripped the steering wheel, grazed the dog, hit the gravel on the soft snow-covered shoulder.

The edge flew toward me. Too fast—I was going way too fast.

I pulled the handbrake and closed my eyes, veered away from the edge to soften my impact into the metal railing, praying it was strong enough to stop me.

There was an ear-splitting screeching sound. I was flung forward into my seatbelt, then everything slowly came to a stop.

I opened my eyes.

The impact had shattered my windshield into a million tiny cracks.

“Erin? Erin? What happened?”

Uff.

I blinked, then looked around. At least I stopped the car.

The airbag didn’t deploy because I didn’t hit the railing head-on and all that hard. It was more like a slip-and-slide to a stop. Thank God I was already slowing down.

Shit, the dog.

I opened the door, fumbled with my seatbelt, then realized the door was wedged against the railing. I climbed over and got out through the passenger side.

I’d completely forgotten about the earpiece until my phone dangled on the other side and hit my thigh.

“Jessie?” I reeled it in, then pushed it into the back pocket of my jeans.

“Erin. What happened?”

“There was a dog on the road.” I looked back at the street. “I tried to avoid it. Crashed the car. Shit.”

“What? Erin? You crashed the car? Are you okay?”

I ran towards the whimpering bundle on the street, nausea building in my stomach and tightening my throat. “I hit it. There’s blood. Oh, God. I’m so sorry.”

“Erin.”

There was a male voice on the phone. It sounded urgent and calming at the same time. “Where are you?”

I tried to suppress my sobs. “Don’t know—some vista point.”

“At the highway, by the lake?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“We’ll be there in a second. Stay on the phone with me. Are you hurt?”

“I hit a dog. My brakes didn’t work, and I hit a dog.”

“Try to breathe.”

I inhaled, but my breath got stuck in my throat; I went down on my knees next to the little ball of fur. Its whimpers made my heart squeeze tight. “I’m so sorry.”

The little thing looked at me, and I carefully let it sniff my hand while tears were gathering in my eyes.

Then it started licking my hand, and my throat closed up tight. The pain in my chest was almost too much to bear. “I’m so sorry, little one. I didn’t mean to hit you.”

It tried to crawl into my lap but couldn’t move its hindquarters.

The pain I felt made me double over.

“Where are you, Erin?”

The voice in my ear pulled me back from the pain.

“I’m with the dog.”

“On the road?”

“Yes.”

“You need to move off the street. Right the fuck now,” he barked.

“I can’t leave her.”

“How big is the dog?”

“Tiny.”

“Can you carry it?”

“Yes, but what if I hurt her even more?”

“You won’t. Just be careful. It might bite you.”

“No, she won’t.”

“Then do it. Move. Now.”

The command in his voice propelled me to move.

I got back on my feet, lifted her into my arms, and carried her towards my car. She was heavier than I expected but seemed to calm down in my arms.

“Erin?”

“Yes.”

“Talk to me. What’s going on?”

“We’re off the road.”

“Good girl. Are you hurting?”

I shook my head. Which admittedly hurt a little.

“My neck.”

“Anywhere else?”

“My heart.”

He sighed.

Then, I heard the engine of an approaching vehicle.

It skidded to a stop, and three men hopped out. All three of them rushed towards me.

“Erin?”

I nodded. Then the tears clogged my throat and blurred my vision.