Chapter 20
Wilkin
Thankfully, we don't have to wait too long.
Jett isn't exactly the world's easiest patient—shocker, I know—but Reeve has been wonderful, tending to him without overfussing and keeping the conversation light and breezy.
I've mainly stayed out of the way, glancing occasionally at Jett's knee, which only seems to be getting redder.
Ten or so minutes after hitting the emergency button, I hear something, a faint whirring sound. "Shhh, you guys… You hear that?"
They both stop talking. Reeve races over to the window and sticks his head out. "It's the helicopter," he calls out triumphantly. "Granny must've received the message and gotten someone on staff to fly out here."
"Talk about dramatic," I say.
Jett smiles. "Who, me?"
His eyes stay on me, and I'm struck by how much we have to say to one another. But this isn't the right time. What we have to do now is get him out of here safely and to a doctor as quickly as possible.
Reeve races over. "We'll get you to a hospital in no time."
Jett smiles appreciatively. "Thank you. I honestly don't think I would have made it through the night."
"No need to thank me," he says before taking off out the door.
But there is. There's so much to thank him for…not to mention so much to talk to him about, too. We may have only met him a few days ago, but I can already tell he isn't someone I'm ever not going to have in my life. He's a keeper. Just need to figure out what that looks like exactly.
The helicopter gets closer and louder.
"I'm going to go outside and check it out," I say to Jett. "Will you be okay by yourself for a minute?"
"Of course. Go."
I dash off and join Reeve outside, his hair flying about like crazy as the helicopter blades hammer the air and whip everything around. A few seconds later, it touches down, the deafening roar fades, and the blades slow until they finally stop.
"Who do you think it is?" I ask.
"I'm thinking Granny called her neighbor, Steve. He’s ex–Navy SEAL. I don't think anyone else would be able to—"
He stops in his tracks as a shadowed figure climbs down from the helicopter.
"Holy shit." My eyes bulge, and I bring a hand to cover my gaping mouth. "Is that…your grandmother?"
Reeve coughs, completely lost for words.
"I'll take that as a yes. Come on." I tug his arm, and together we race toward her.
"Granny, what are you doing here?"
"What does it look like I'm doing? The alarm came through. I came as quickly as I could. Now what's the emergency?"
Reeve reverts to another spluttering-in-shock episode, so I answer, "It's Jett. He fell over, and we think his knee has become infected."
"Can you two bring him out and get him onto the 'copter?"
"Of course," I say.
"Good. I've already called the doctor, so he should be waiting for us once we get home."
"H-how…?"
Penny and I turn to Reeve. Poor guy. He can't even speak.
"Honey." Penny grabs Reeve by the arms and gives him one firm shake. "We can talk about this later. But right now, I need you to go inside with Wilkin and bring Jett out here so we can get him looked at, okay?"
Reeve nods dumbly, then I take his hand in mine, and we run back inside.
An hour or so later, the three of us are in Penny's living room, recovering after what will go down as the most exciting, intense, crazy night of my life.
The doctor was waiting for us when we arrived. He flushed out the graze, dressed it properly, then started Jett on antibiotics and pain relief, warning him to rest and watch for it getting worse. He left about five minutes ago.
Penny is in the kitchen making us another cup of hot chocolate.
"I'm so glad you're okay," I say.
"Same," Reeve concurs. "I feel awful that I did such a bad job cleaning the wound up."
"The doctor said it wasn't your fault," Jett reminds him gently. "You did the best you could with what you had. Don't blame yourself. Please."
Penny returns with a tray. I push to my feet to help her but sit my ass down when she throws me a look that says don't even try to.
She's one incredible lady, that's for sure.
Once she's handed us our mugs, along with plates of homemade lemon drizzle, she sits down to join us.
"You have some explaining to do, missy."
Penny chuckles at Reeve. "And here you were, thinking I was some boring little old lady."
"Never boring or old," he interjects. "But geez, Granny. Since when do you fly a helicopter?"
"Since I was a wee sixteen-year-old lass back in Scotland," she tells him, the pride unmissable in her voice. "It's how I met your grandfather…"
What follows next is only fitting, an exciting, intense, crazy story to finish off the night.
Turns out that after meeting Thomas, they quickly fell in love, wed, and left together for America.
Thomas built a successful business, but his work extended into what she called "diplomacy" but was more like espionage.
They were happy, raising four children and living a life that straddled two polar opposite worlds.
"Even though your grandfather officially retired many years ago, we kept our network of connections.
Your grandfather did a lot of good work in his later years.
He was always passionate about philanthropy, and he finally had time to get more involved.
Now that he's gone, I like to do what I can.
" She turns to Jett and me and smiles. "Like helping house people who need to disappear. "
"And you still have a helicopter license?" Jett asks, which seems like an oddly specific detail to get fixated on. But it does raise a good point.
"Technically, no. I didn't renew it when it expired several years ago. But before you get all upset about it," she says, cutting Reeve off before he even gets the chance to say anything. "I'll remind you it was an emergency, and I was on my own property."
He exhales through his nose. "You could have gotten yourself killed."
"That's true," she says, a sparkle in her eye. "I also could have taken you all down with me."
"Granny."
She cackles to herself, getting up. "Stop being such a worry wart. We're all alive, and Jett is doing much better."
"Jett is enjoying his painkillers very much," Jett says, his eyes slightly glazed.
"Anyway, it's still a few hours until sunrise, so I'll leave you boys to whatever you were doing."
Reeve's cheeks flush with color. "We weren't doing anything, Granny."
"Really? So that isn't semen in your hair?"
"What?" He snatches at his hair, tugging and releasing it in quick bursts as he checks for said, uh, semen. "How did that get there?"
Penny cackles, shaking her head. "Got you. You really should stop underestimating me, Reeve."