Chapter 6
Dawson
I insisted on riding in the backwoods ambulance with her.
Gabe and his partner got her strapped to a backboard and hooked to a gurney, then got her situation in the back of the cargo van with me.
The poor thing was a claustrophobic sort, and she started gasping for air as soon as they strapped her down.
Gabe barked out, “Just hold still. We’ve got to do this in case you have a chip in your spine.”
That only served to freak Amy out even more. Gabe had always sucked at his bedside manner.
The partner, a man I didn’t know, asked her a bunch of questions while she kept a death grip on my hand.
“How old are you, Amy?”
“Twenty-nine.”
“And what’s your last name?”
“Allen.”
“Do you know what day it is?”
“You’re being silly. It’s Friday.”
“Just making sure you’re not in shock.”
She wasn’t in shock, though. She was just terrified. Amy answered all their questions while she hyperventilated and stared into my eyes.
I could see that she kept trying to jolt up, straining against the restraints. They’d strapped her down at the head, chest and legs, and it seemed like her head being locked down was what was freaking her out the most.
“Amy, focus on me,” I said as Gabe started driving. “You won’t be strapped down forever. But you’ve got to let yourself calm into it. Okay? Do that for me, hon. It’s going to take an hour to get there.”
She stammered, “I’ve never liked feeling trapped. Can’t they just undo the head strap? Make them do that, please?”
“You and I both know the answer to that. Now they’re just doing what they think is best. You’re probably fine. But as Gabe so eloquently put it, there could be some danger in letting you move around before they’ve run some tests.”
I squeezed her hand, and she squeezed back. I got the feeling she was grateful for the connection.
“Just think about all the things you can do once you’re done with this experience. You’ll be so happy to be up and running around I could see you going hang-gliding down by Mount Magazine.”
She actually laughed at that, and I felt some of the panic leave her eyes. “I would never do that. I told you I’m not adventurous.”
“Mm. You look adventurous to me, Amy. Tell me what you would do for adventure if it’s not hang-gliding off the tallest mountain in Arkansas?”
I hated seeing her like this, strapped down to a backboard. But it would be even worse if something were seriously wrong with her.
Already I suspected her arm was broken. I just hoped that was the only thing that broke when she went flying off the mechanical bull.
Amy swallowed hard, and I could tell she was forcing herself to keep her panic at bay. “I already told you, Dawson. I’m a boring creature of habit. Coming out to the Bear Den was the most adventurous thing I’ve done in a year.”
“You want to hear a secret?”
She tried to nod, but the strap caught her head. “Y-yeah.”
“I’m not adventurous either.”
A tiny smile landed on her face, and I squeezed her hand tighter.
“What do you do when you’re not being adventurous, Amy?”
“Uh, let’s see. I work a lot. Doesn’t everyone? I’m a store manager at a gift shop.”
“Which one?”
“The Happy Pig. But it’s in Fernwood. You probably wouldn’t know it.”
“I sure do know it. It’s over there off Cedar Street near the farmer’s market. I went in there once to buy a wedding gift for a friend of mine.”
She looked at me in surprise. “You know your way around Fernwood?”
The cargo van bumped cautiously down the road, taking the winding mountain curves slowly on account of the precious cargo back here with me. I just wanted to keep her talking so she wouldn’t panic.
“Sure,” I rumbled out. “I may be a country boy at heart, but I work in Fernwood. I’m there five days a week.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “That’s quite a commute.”
“Yup. I was born and raised right here on Red Oak Mountain. This place is in my soul. But a man’s got to make a living. And it was either the sawmill or the logging camp. Neither of those gave me a thrill.”
“What do you do in Fernwood?” she asked as she clutched my hand tightly.
This was good. She was asking me the questions now. It meant she’d forgotten to be terrified of being strapped down.
I gave her the same answer I told every woman who asked. And I studied her reaction closely as I said it. “I make hubcaps, ma’am. I’m the best hubcap maker in the United States.”
Some women closed down immediately. Deeming me beneath their station.
I considered it a culling process on the way to my heart. I’d put some carefully placed roadblocks out there, and most women couldn’t see past them.
But Amy just said, “You work at the hubcap factory? I heard that’s a good job if you can get in there. I applied once, but they didn’t take me.”
I laughed at that. “You applied there?”
“Yeah. What, you don’t believe in equal rights for women?”
“Of course I do. But you’d cause the place to shut down. Too many accidents from men checking out you’re a—”
I caught myself just in time.
She blushed and averted her eyes, blinking rapidly.
That’s when I realized I should probably cool my jets.
Amy was the ultimate example of a captive audience. The woman was strapped to a board. There was no getting away from me.
“Sorry about that. I’ve been told I can be a bit crass at times.”
“No, it’s okay. I’m grateful to have someone here with me,” she said, her eyes tearing up again. “This is a little scary.”
We’d both been ignoring Gabe’s partner, who was sitting in the back of the ambulance with us, the silent third wheel. But he chimed in anyway. “This is a hell of a first date.”
She grinned and said, “If this is a first date, I think we’re a throuple.”
Uh, oh. My baby girl better not swing that way. I was a one-woman kind of man.
But I knew she was only joking. And she squeezed my hand tight while she said it, her death grip on my fingers growing tighter.
At the hospital, I had to lie and say I was her husband. It was the only way the receiving nurse would let me in.
The only time she was out of my sight was when they wheeled her away for an MRI and a series of X-rays. I tried like hell, but they wouldn’t let me go with her.
Then there were a few fretful hours while we waited to get the test results.
We talked the whole time, my hand never leaving hers, mostly to keep her mind off the fact that they still had her strapped to a board.
But I got to know so much about her in that time. And even though it really wasn’t a first date. It started to feel like one to me.
The best first date of my life.
It turned out Amy was a lot like me. She’d grown up pretty dang poor, then scraped her way up the ladder high enough to be able to cover her bills with ease.
Not that she was loaded. But she had a nice car, rented a decent townhouse and had a cat named Noodles.
What more could a woman need?
At least according to her.
There was no mention of a man in her life… and no ring on her finger. So, those were good signs.
I tried to probe what was going on between her and that cowboy at the bar, but she didn’t offer anything up other than that he was an ex of hers.
It didn’t sound active, but I’d been burned a few times myself. So it was important to me that whoever I got with didn’t have a wandering eye.
And in my mind, Amy and I were already halfway to dating. The woman would probably freak out if she knew that.
“So that’s why I stopped taking the ceramics class. Who blows up a kiln?” she sighed as she finished telling me about one of her misadventures in life.
“There’s an artist colony out on Red Oak Mountain. The Beaux Arts Society. They’ve got a kiln. If you ever wanted to try your hand at it again, I’m sure I could sneak you in there.”
She grinned. “No thanks. I have a tendency to go through hobbies like a person changes clothes. As long as they don’t cost much.
I have a monthly budget for it that I won’t go over.
But I’ve done a lot of different arts and crafts at this point.
Ceramics isn’t the thing for me. I need safe hobbies like crocheting. ”
That made me chuckle. “Fair enough. You know there’s a crocheting trend on Red Oak Mountain. I’ll tell you about it sometime when we know each other better.”
Amy’s eyebrows rose. “I have to know you better before I can hear about it?”
“Yup. It’s X-rated, ma’am.”
She started laughing, but it jostled her arm, and the laughter faded into a wince of pain.
Seeing her laid out in a hospital bed because of me was eating me up inside. The only good side to it was the fact that it had given me a chance to get to know her better.
“I’d like to hear about this X-rated crochet trend you’ve got going on the mountain.”
“Let’s save it for the second date.”
Her lips quirked up in amusement, and then she looked at me intently. “A second date? So you really consider this a first date, Dawson?”
I squeezed her hand gently, never wanting to let her go again. “Yeah. If I have anything to say about it, I’m your new boyfriend.”
Our eyes caught, a warm glow passing between us, and it was like the hospital didn’t even exist for us.
We could have been anywhere having this conversation.
On the roof of the airport here in Fernwood.
Or at the edge of Red Bluff Falls. Or sitting in a crowded bar.
Something was connecting us, and it was more than her fine ass.
Amy was down to earth, sweet as hell, and sensible.
She might just be my dream woman.