Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
S ophia waited eagerly for Palmer to show up. Whenever the bell over the door signaled another customer, she jerked her gaze towards it with a big smile on her lips. But every time over the next two hours, she was disappointed.
Where was he?
He’d messaged her two hours ago that he’d be there. She didn’t want to seem like she was bugging him by texting him and asking if he’d changed his mind. Maybe he had to go home and shower?
An hour before closing, she shot him a text.
“Did you change your mind?” She waited a while and, when he didn’t respond, worry started edging into her mind. For the next hour, she looked at her phone every few minutes, waiting and hoping for a response as her worry grew. She tried calling him half a dozen times in the last half hour while she helped close up.
After locking the door of the restaurant, she decided to drive over to the cabin and check up on him. It hadn’t been very long ago he’d gotten the flu. Maybe he was sick again?
Palmer’s truck wasn’t there. When she knocked on the door, Loki started barking, begging to get let out. She pulled out her phone and called Parker.
“What’s up?” he answered on the first ring. He sounded like she’d woken him and worried him.
“Have you heard from your brother?”
“Not in the last few hours. He was heading up to the lighthouse to go over a few changes with Max. Is that Loki?”
“Yes, I’m at the cabin. Palmer was supposed to come in tonight for tacos. When he didn’t show, I came over here. His truck isn’t here, and Loki seems desperate to be let out.”
“There’s a key under the second flowerpot on the stairs,” Palmer said, and she could hear him shuffling around. “I’ll head up to the lighthouse to retrace his steps. I know he made it to that appointment.”
“I can call Max, see what time he left. I assumed he was done when he texted me three hours ago.” She found the key and opened the door. Loki burst through it, giving her a quick boop on the leg with his nose before running over to the grass and relieving himself.
“Let me know what he says. I’ll still head that way while trying to call him myself.” Parker hung up.
When Max answered, he confirmed what she’d believed. Palmer had left his place three hours before.
“I’ll head down from here and meet Parker along the way,” Max said.
She corralled Loki and tried to persuade him to go back in the house, continuing to worry. In the end, the dog won out and she opened her car door for him to join in the search for his master.
She had just made it into town when Max called her.
“I found his truck at the end of the driveway in the bushes. There’s no sign of him though. I think we should call the police.”
Her heart skipped and her hands shook so badly that she had to pull into the parking lot of Baked. “I… I’ll call them. I have their direct number,” she said quickly and hung up.
When Alice, the dispatcher at the station, answered, she quickly rattled of what was going on. Alice assured her that she’d send Nick and Aiden over there, and Sophia hung up and called Parker.
“His truck was at the entrance to the lighthouse. Max is there now. He says there’s no sign of Palmer. I’ve called the police. Nick and Aiden will be there soon,” she rattled off quickly.
“I just got here,” Parker said, then she heard him curse. “His truck is pretty banged up,” she heard him say before he hung up.
“Oh god.” She cried as she drove the rest of the way through town, her worry growing. She refused to let her mind wander to the dangers of the cliff in that area. Had it been dark when he’d left? Three hours ago. Yes, the sun would have just set or would have been setting. It had been really foggy and cloudy the entire day and, even now, the fog was thick enough that she had to slow down in areas.
Did his truck slip on the muddy drive and go into the ditch? Then what? Maybe Palmer was hurt and stumbled around in the dark? Maybe he had gotten too close to the cliffs?
“Oh god, oh god,” she muttered as she parked next to Parker’s truck. When she got out, Loki surprised her by bolting from the car and heading directly into the bushes beyond the truck.
“Stay, I’ll follow him.” Parker bolted after the dog.
Max walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her. “He’s okay,” he assured her as she began to shake.
The minutes seemed to crawl by while they listened to Loki’s bark and Parker trudging through the thick brush and foliage. When the dog’s bark turned eager and happy, her heart jumped in her chest. She lurched forward slightly, but Max held her back.
“Wait.” He motioned to the patrol car that had pulled up and parked next to her car.
Just then, her phone rang in her pocket, and she jumped slightly. She fumbled to answer Parker’s call.
“He’s here. He’s unconscious. Send for an ambulance,” he said a little breathless.
She relayed the information to Nick and Aiden, who had just walked up to them.
Then, before Max could stop her, she rushed through the trees towards Loki’s barks. Tree branches dug into her, cutting the exposed skin on her face, hands, and neck as she made her way to Palmer.
She reached them at the same time that Aiden did with his medical kit.
While Aiden knelt next to Palmer and started checking his vitals, she stood over his still, unconscious body, frozen in place.
Parker moved over to her and wrapped his arms around her. “He took a hit pretty hard but my brother has a hard head,” he whispered.
“Hit?” she choked out as Loki lay next to his master and rested his head on Palmer’s chest with a slight whine.
Parker nodded. “I’m not sure it was from the accident or…” His words dropped off. “I should have warned him,” he added with a curse.
She shook her head to clear the tears that had blocked her vision, then, feeling herself gain control, she knelt beside Palmer and took his hand gently in her own. It was cold, damp, and still.
Aiden wrapped a thermal blanket over his body and used a bottle with clear liquid to clean a gash on the side of his head before holding a clean cloth to it to help stop the bleeding.
“We’ll have to carry him out of here a little ways in order for the EMTs to get to him,” Aiden said. “I’ve checked, and the head wound is the only damage I can see. It doesn’t appear that this happened in the wreck.”
Parker nodded. “I’ll take the heavy part.” He moved to hoist his brother up by the shoulders while Aiden took his legs.
She followed them back down the narrow pathway they had created crashing through the bushes. Halfway back, Palmer groaned and they stopped.
“Hey.” She pushed a branch aside in order to stand next to him. She cupped his face. “Palmer?”
“Hey.” He smiled at her. “I was going to buy you flowers,” he said with a sigh, and then he passed out again.
“Yeah, he’s okay.” Parker chuckled. “Come on. I hear the ambulance.”
Sure enough, she could hear the siren and see the lights through the trees and as it pulled in behind the patrol car.
They laid Palmer on the waiting gurney and one of the EMTs checked his vitals while the other took down the information from Aiden.
“If you want to go with them, I’ll get your car home and watch the dog,” Max said to Sophia. He motioned to the ambulance.
“His name is Loki,” Parker said as he helped her into the back of the ambulance.
“Yeah, we’ve met,” Max added.
“I’ll follow,” Parker told her with a nod.
She silently watched the EMT as they drove to Parkview hospital. Not once during the trip did Palmer open his eyes again.
When they reached the hospital, she stood aside with Parker while they wheeled Palmer behind a curtain.
They were told to wait there until a nurse came and got them.
Parker took her hand and walked her to a row of chairs, where they waited in silence.
When his phone rang, he walked across the room to answer it. Moments later, Sara and the kids rushed in and Sophia watched Parker hug his family and fill them in on what had happened. Then Sara suggested the kids go get something from the vending machines and handed them some money before she whispered something to Parker and the pair of them glanced over at her.
Sara walked over and sat next to her, taking her hand in her own.
“How are you holding up?” she asked softly.
“What happened to him?” she asked as a tear slipped down her cheek.
“We’ll find out more when he wakes up. Parker went to check on his status.” Sara motioned to him as he disappeared, heading to the nurse’s station.
“He was supposed to come have dinner. I saved him his favorite table,” Sophia said with a sniffle as she used the sleeve of her coat to wipe her face. Fears of what had happened with her mother bled into her feelings towards Palmer.
“Parker was going to tell Palmer tomorrow,” Sara started but stopped when Parker returned.
“He’s getting a CT and X-ray,” he said, sitting beside his wife.
Moments later, the kids rushed back in, arguing about who got what from the vending machines. While Parker took all three kids back down the hall with a promise to get them what they wanted, Sara turned to her and finished.
“Parker should have warned him tonight. When we got home, we found out that Joanne and Jack were released from prison last week. We only found out tonight. He was going to warn Palmer… in the morning.”
“You think…” Sophia sat up a little straighter. “You think they tried to kill him? Their own son?”
“They did try to kill us. Their dad tried to throw Parker off a cliff after ramming us with his truck.”
Sophia remembered the sight of Palmer’s truck sitting sideways in the ditch and felt her stomach lurch. Rushing over, she locked herself in the bathroom and threw up everything she’d eaten that day until she could only dry heave.
She heard Sara knocking on the door and asking her if she was alright. She rinsed her mouth, wiped her face, and stepped out once she felt a little steadier.
Sara hugged her. “Are you okay?”
She nodded.
Parker and the kids looked at them from across the room. The three kids were watching cartoons on the television and enjoying their chips and sodas.
“Would you like something? The cafeteria might still be open?” Sara suggested.
“No.” The thought of food had her stomach lurching. “Not until I know he’s okay.”
Sara nodded. “Does Palmer know?”
She frowned at her, unsure of what she was asking. “What?”
Sara smiled slightly. “That you’re in love with him?”
The realization hit her like a ton of bricks and caused her to sway a little. Sara’s hands tightened on her arm and then wrapped around her waist.
“I’ll take that as a no.” She helped her to sit back down.
Just then, a nurse came and called out for Parker. Sophia stood up and walked over to hear the latest update.
“We’re waiting for the scans to come back, but your brother is awake and asking for you.” She turned her attention to Sophia. “Are you Sophia?” She nodded quickly. “He’s asking for you too. We only have room for one of you to?—”
“Sophia can go first,” Parker said as he touched her arm. “I’ll wait.” He winked at her.
“Thank you,” she said, feeling her entire body shake as she followed the nurse back down the long hallway. They made several turns and she doubted she could find her way to the spot again if she had to. Finally, the woman pulled back a curtain and she saw Palmer sitting up in bed, holding an ice pack to his head. When he saw her, he smiled.
She rushed to him and wrapped her arms around him.
“You scared me,” she said against his chest.
His arms circled her body, and she relaxed for the first time in hours.
“I’m sorry,” he said and the feeling of his voice vibrating against her ear had the tears rolling down her cheeks again.
Once she had composed herself, she leaned back and asked, “What happened?”
Palmer shrugged. “Damned if I know. One minute I was trying to figure out if I knew what your favorite flowers were, and the next I woke up here.”
“White carnations,” she said as she sat next to him on the bed. “I’m a simple kind of girl.”
“Nothing about you is simple.” He reached up and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Do you know anything? How’d I get this egg on my head?”
She shook her head. “When you didn’t show up for dinner, I went by your place. Parker told me about your spare key so I could let Loki out. We decided to trace your steps and ended up back at the base of Max’s driveway. Your truck was sitting in the ditch with a tree in the hood.”
“What? Seriously? I crashed my truck?” He groaned. “I guess it’s a good thing you found me.”
“We didn’t. Loki did. You were almost half a mile into the woods.”
“What?” He frowned and looked down at his clothes. Sure enough, they were covered in dirt and mud. He groaned again. “Where is Loki?” he asked, looking towards the curtain.
“He’s with Max for tonight.” She leaned forward to help him reposition the ice pack for his head. “You don’t remember crashing?”
He shook his head. “Nope, just thinking of what flowers to get you and being excited to see you for dinner.” He rested his head back. “If my scans are clear, they’re going to let me go home.”
“Good. You can stay at my place tonight so I can watch over you.”
His eyes opened and he smiled. “I like that idea.”