Skies Over Caledonia: A Small Town Marriage of Convenience Romance (The Highlands Series Book 4)

Chapter 36

Itried to check on Mamma before I left the house, but she wouldn’t open her bedroom door. Life was too short to hang on to resentment, and I didn’t want to feel that way toward her anymore. Yes, I was pissed that she’d come between me and Jared. But we’d let her. Jared and I were as much to blame.

Right now I only had room in my heart for compassion for Mamma. I whispered through the door that I loved her and I was there for her if she needed me. As I walked out of the beach house and got into my Wrangler, I hoped Mamma finally decided to do what was best for her. I’d told Dad he needed to choose, but he wasn’t the only one. Mamma had to choose him back, and I’d support her, no matter her decision.

It was unfair of me to judge her for staying in the relationship. Love was messy. People were all over social media screaming their relationship opinions at each other as if emotions were capable of sticking within the strict lines of moral black-and-white zones. In reality, all the gray space in the middle was a pool of emotions sinking and swimming, sinking and swimming, never really quite making it out of there. When would people realize that humans are too complicated to be forced to feel anything but the way we felt?

We didn’t have to like those feelings, but we should try to understand. As I stared up at my parents’ beach house, that’s what I tried to do. I tried to see past my own hurt and understand Mamma and Dad. And hope for the best for them.

As I drove away, I hit Jared’s number on my phone. My heart pounded. Because I’d already seen past my hurt with my husband, and I think I understood.

We were just two scared people who didn’t mean to fall in love.

But we had.

Relief flooded me as he answered in three rings. “Allegra?” He exhaled my name, sounding unbearably relieved.

“I’m coming back.”

Another heavy sigh of relief. “Aye. Good. I’m … I fucked up. I don’t want this to end,” he confessed hoarsely. “I just … I was trying to protect myself from getting hurt down the line and I fucked up. I’m sorry.”

Tenderness was a sharp ache in my chest. “So what? We’re all a little fucked-up, Jared.”

“Aye?” he asked hopefully.

“We’ll talk when I get home.”

He hesitated. “Home?”

I smiled at the security guards as they let me out of the estate. “I don’t want a break. I think my butt-hurt reaction to the suggestion probably clued you into that. So yeah, I’m coming home.”

“Good,” my husband said, so gruff it made me smile harder. “I’ll see you when you get home.”

“Be there in five.”

Honestly, I was exhausted and would probably sleep for hours. But not until Jared and I had hashed it all out. This couldn’t happen again. Sure, we’d argue. However, not like that. Not the ignoring me and then assuming the worst about each other. That was way too freaking painful to deal with on the regular.

With summer on its way out, the sun set earlier. My headlights lit up the dark country roads as I drove toward the farm. In the morning, once Jared and I knew where we stood, I’d visit Ari and make sure she and I were good. I knew all the revelations tonight had hurt her, but I needed her to know I’d only ever wanted to protect her.

At least she had North.

Like hopefully I would have Jared.

“What a day,” I muttered to myself. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been on such a roller coaster of emotions.

Antsy to get home, I picked up the pace a little, but had to slow almost immediately when a car came around a bend on the opposite side. They had their headlights on full beam, blinding me. I hit the brakes, flashing my lights to let them know. Suddenly, I felt the Wrangler slam sideways. The world whooshed past me in a blur of night and headlights and crunching metal. Everything was so loud and confusing, I didn’t know what was happening.

When everything finally stopped moving, all I could hear was the rushing of blood in my ears.

Something warm and wet trickled down my temple, and I lifted a trembling hand to it. My fingers blurred in front of me and as much as I strained, I couldn’t get my eyes to focus. Yet I knew it was blood on my fingertips.

How did I hit my head?

Something like a car door slamming filtered through my brain.

Someone was here.

Everything was going to be okay.

But then I heard the sound of wheels against tarmac and an engine fading off in the distance. That’s when I realized the whooshing in my ears wasn’t blood. Turning my head, I looked out the window and my breath caught as panic suffused my body.

In the moonlight, I saw the waves crashing against the hillside. Yards from me.

“Oh God.” I whimpered as my vision cleared. The headlights of the car beamed across the grass-covered rocks.

My Wrangler had rolled down the hill and was on its side. By some miracle it hadn’t toppled into the sea?—

Metal squeaked, and the SUV shifted. Sucking in a scream, I held still as it settled again. Fear shuddered through me and every inch, every muscle, every nerve in my body trembled with it. I could barely catch a full breath, and I knew if I didn’t calm down, I would hyperventilate.

Taking in slow, deep breaths, I tried to stay calm, but the wind caught the Wrangler and it swayed again. My fingernails dug into the seat in terror. The thought of crashing into the water, of the car filling with sea, made me sob.

My cell phone suddenly blasted and I let out a startled cry. By some miracle, the engine was still running. The phone was still connected to the car. With a violently shaking arm, I reached out and tapped the vehicle home screen, trying not to move too much, despite my tremors.

“Allegra?” Jared’s voice cut through the car.

I whimpered. “Jared.”

“Allegra?” He was alert now. “What’s wrong?”

“I-I-I …” I sucked in a sob. “M-my c-c-car r-r-rolled. I’m … I’m … it’s on its side. On the hillside. I-I … Jared … I think it’s going t-to roll into the … the water.” I sobbed.

“Allegra. Allegra.” My husband’s rough voice cut through my cries. “I need you to stay as calm as possible. I’m coming for you. Okay? Nothing is going to happen. How far from the house are you?”

I tried to think. Think past the headlights. The car. “There was someone … I was about two minutes away. There was someone, though.”

“Okay. I’m coming. Do not move. Stay perfectly still. I will be right there. Nothing is going to happen to you.”

Just then wind caught the SUV again and it shuddered, metal creaking. “Jared!”

“It’s okay, baby, it’s okay.” He sounded breathless now and I thought I heard his car engine in the background.

“I love you,” I blurted out.

“No, no. You are not saying that to me now,” he bit out harshly. “Not now. You’ll tell me later. Okay? You’ll tell me later.”

“Jared.”

“No. I’m coming for you.”

“Okay.” I sucked back a whimper, trying to focus past the terror.

“I have to call the emergency services. But I will phone you right back.”

Rationally, I knew Jared needed to do that. Even if the thought of letting go of his voice right now made me crumple inside. “Okay.”

“I’ll call you right back.”

When his voice disappeared, there was nothing but the wind whistling through the car, the gentle creak of it as it balanced precariously against what I could only assume was a rock jutting out of the hill. And the sea below might have been crashing gently against the hillside, but it would also gently kill me if the car fell in. I’d drown. A slow, tormenting way to go.

Panic tightened my chest and I forced my head away from the water. My door was obviously caught against the rock and if I tried to climb out of the window, the Wrangler would tip and take me with it. Turning to look out the opposite window, I saw the shadowy ascent of the hillside toward the road. My headlights cast a little glow at this angle, and I could see that it was a steep climb up. But maybe if I was fast enough, I could climb over the middle console and passenger seat and get out of the passenger side door before the Wrangler toppled?

It was too risky, wasn’t it?

But if I didn’t do something, if I just sat there, maybe that was riskier than anything.