Chapter 16 #3
“Is everyone having a good time?” Sturgil asked, his voice slurring.
His eyes were wild looking, and his white shirt was dirty and hanging untucked over torn pants.
He looked like he’d been on a multiday bender.
“Is everyone celebrating the man who’s ruined my life?
You ruined my life, Torrington! Everything was fine until you showed up here with all your money and connections, and now everyone wants the big celebrity to be their lawyer, and no one wants me!
I am this island’s lawyer. Not you! You need to go back to your fancy life in LA and leave us alone.
No one wants you here.” From the table where a man in a chef’s coat and hat had been carving tenderloin, Jim picked up a large knife and began swinging it around.
“Don’t take another step,” Blaine said in a tone Kara had never heard from him before.
“You! You stole my wife and kid! My own kid likes you better than she likes me!” He swung the knife in Blaine’s direction. “I ought to gut you the way you’ve gutted me.”
“You did this to yourself, Sturgil,” Blaine said calmly but firmly. “You can toss all the accusations around that you want, but you have only yourself to blame for your problems.”
Jim lunged at him with the knife, but Blaine jumped out of the way.
Dan dropped his arm from around Kara’s shoulders and moved across the room to help Blaine.
“Dan!” Kara screamed after him, afraid he would get hurt again after only recently recovering from the injuries incurred in the sailboat accident.
Everyone was on their feet, and Evan and Mac went to help Dan and Blaine, who were confronting Jim. He waved the big knife around in front of him, daring anyone to get close to him.
“Someone should call the police,” Judith said nervously.
“Blaine is the police,” Kara said. “Give him a minute. He’ll take care of it.”
“Jim,” Tiffany said as she walked toward her ex-husband. “What the hell are you doing? Think about your daughter. Put down that knife and quit acting like a jackass.”
“Tiffany, step back,” Blaine said without taking his eyes off Jim or the knife. “Right now.”
“You think I’m a jackass?” Jim screamed at her. “You did this to me, you stupid bitch!”
Blaine roared and pounced on Jim, his arm tight around Jim’s neck as Dan went for the knife.
“Dan!” Kara screamed, feeling as if her worst nightmare was unfolding right in front of her. “No!”
Cornered, Jim slashed at Dan, who grunted when the knife made contact with him before clattering to the floor.
Kara ran for her fiancé, who was bent in half, while Blaine dragged Jim kicking and screaming from the room. “Dan! Dan! What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
He looked up at her, grimacing in pain. “Just a scratch.”
That’s when she noticed the pool of blood forming on the floor in front of him.
“Someone call for rescue,” Mac said behind her. “Come on, Dan, have a seat.” After getting Dan into a chair, Mac grabbed a napkin that he wrapped around Dan’s right hand. The napkin quickly soaked through, and Mac calmly swapped it out for another one.
“Sorry ’bout this,” Dan said.
Kara cradled his head against her chest. “It’s not your fault. You weren’t the one with the knife.”
“What’ve you done now, Torrington?” his close friend Grant McCarthy asked as he squatted in front of Dan.
“I was safer in LA than I am here,” he said, forcing a smile for Kara’s benefit. “Might be time to go home.”
Kara knew he was joking, but the comment scared her nonetheless. Gansett was their home, or at least she thought it was.
The EMTs arrived a minute later, and Kara stepped back from Dan to make room for them to tend him.
Her mother’s arm encircled her waist. “Are you all right, honey?”
“I will be when I know he is.”
“He did a brave thing rushing at that man with the knife. Who is that guy?”
“Jim Sturgil. He used to be married to Blaine’s wife, Tiffany, and people don’t like him because of the way he treated her when they got divorced.
” As she filled in her mother, Kara never took her eyes off Dan.
“When Dan came to the island to write his book, people started seeking out his legal advice, and now they prefer him to Jim.”
“So Dan is actually practicing law here?”
“Has been for a while now. He didn’t intend to, but that’s how it worked out.”
The lead EMT signaled to Kara to come with them.
“I’ll call you later, Mom. Sorry about all this.”
“I just hope he’s okay.”
“So do I.” Kara ran after the stretcher that Dan was strapped to.
“Much ado about nothing,” he said to her when she caught up to him.
Despite his assurances, his face was pale and his eyes were glassy with shock, which reminded her of the aftermath of the boating accident—a time she’d much rather forget than relive.
“Do you like how I got you out of the stupid party?”
“Don’t make jokes.” The instant the words cleared her lips, she regretted sounding so snappish. It wasn’t his fault he’d gotten hurt.
“I’m okay, babe. I swear. It’s just a cut. They’ll stitch me up, and I’ll be good as new.”
Kara forced herself to breathe through the need to cry with relief that he was okay. When she thought about what might’ve happened, she shuddered.
In the ambulance, Dan held out his good hand to her, and she took it, holding on tight to the man she loved with all her heart.