Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
GREG
I’m standing between the runners and the building, debating whether I should help Rae monitor the race or hide in my office when I hear the collective, horrified gasp of the crowd that can mean nothing good. Thankfully my instincts override my shit mood, and I run the few hundred feet back to the race.
I find Nate, his back to me, dragging someone just off the race’s path. Shit.
“Someone get her a blanket,” he calls to the unmoving spectators as he kneels to assess the person.
I see Ned spring toward the pile of supplies Rae had on hand, digging for a blanket. But I move faster, removing my coat. Ned is not touching a nearly naked woman on my watch.
But as I skid to a halt, dropping to my knees next to him, my heart drops.
Joanie.
Pale and still, and somehow even more beautiful than ever. I wiggle my coat under her with Nate’s help and button it around her just as Ned arrives with a blanket. I shoot him dagger-eyes and take the blanket for her legs. Thankfully he fucks off right quick.
“What happened?” I ask as Nate delicately examines her head.
“Slipped,” he grunts. Then, he fishes a car key out of his pocket with one hand. “Black bag, behind the driver’s seat.”
I nod and run for the parking lot, trying not to worry myself into a panic.
In the few minutes it takes me to get back, the race has been stopped, and the runners are either crowded around Joanie with the rest of the town or pulling on clothes. As I drop Nate’s bag next to him, I note Mia still in her underwear, kneeling on the snow beside her friend, tears spilling down her cheeks.
I shake my head and make for the bins, locating Mia and Joanie’s clothes with Rae’s help. By the time I get back with them, Joanie’s eyes are open, and Nate is asking her questions in a gentle voice. I nudge Mia, then again before she finally looks at me, and I silently hand her the pile of clothes. She nods her thanks and returns her attention to her friend, simply clutching the garments to her chest.
“She’s okay,” Nate finally declares in a clear, raised voice. Then looks at Mia, “Put your clothes on, babe, so you can help me get her dressed, okay?”
Mia sniffs deeply and nods, fumbling through the pile. With a sigh, I crouch beside her and extract the pieces she needs, handing them to her one at a time until she’s dressed. Just as she’s zipping her coat, Joanie starts to sit up with Nate’s help. He watches her like a hawk as she settles into a seated position.
“Doing okay?” he asks.
“I mean, not really. I feel like I got hit by a truck,” she mumbles and glances down at herself. “What the fuck am I wearing?”
Mia lets out a choked laugh. “You’re swearing. That’s a good sign.”
“It’s my coat and a blanket,” I offer, still crouched near her feet. “But we’ve got your clothes if you’re ready to put them on.”
Joanie’s eyes meet mine. Her gaze is undecipherable, and I try to give her one in return that reassures her that we’re here, that we’ve got her.
She finally tears her eyes away and looks at the clothes in Mia’s arms. “Anything to get off this ice and onto something softer. And warmer.”
“I can move her to the couch in the office,” I offer to Nate.
“Probably for the best,” he agrees, stepping back and deferring to me.
I rise, then position myself back in a crouch next to her. “I’m going to bring you inside, okay, city girl?”
She grimaces and nods faintly — no exuberant agreement to me carrying her while she’s mostly naked and only covered by my coat. My eyes flick up to Nate’s momentarily, communicating that observation. He dips his chin in acknowledgment.
I slide my arms under her and pull her to me as I rise, cradling her as gently as I can against my chest. Mia performs a few tucks of the coat and blanket dangling around her, and we head away from the dispersing crowd. Nate stays beside us, and Mia gets in front to open the community center door.
I bring Joanie through, and we repeat the process with the office door before I carefully set her down on the small couch.
Rae pokes her head in. “I’ve got Penny wrapping up the event. I’ll find Miss Joanie something hot to drink.”
Nate nods. “And something to eat, too, I think, Rae. Thank you.”
“Sure thing, Nate.” Rae disappears just as quickly as she appeared, and Mia sinks to the floor next to the couch, clasping Joanie’s hands in hers.
“Well, that wasn’t exactly how I wanted to steal the show,” Joanie jokes in a much quieter tone than usual.
Mia huffs a laugh. “I’m just glad you’re awake. You freaked me out there, Jo.”
Joanie cringes. I’m not sure if it’s pain or embarrassment. “How long was I out?”
“Just a few minutes,” Nate says. “But you’re lucid, the bump isn’t big, and you don’t have radiating pain, so it’s probably a concussion at most. Though given the fact that you were unconscious at all, and you did hit your head, I think it’s best if we take you into the emergency room just in case.”
Joanie grimaces again. “What, no ambulance?” she remarks drily.
Nate’s eyebrows jump up, and he holds up a hand with three fingers raised. “How many fingers?” he asks abruptly.
Joanie rolls her eyes. “Three. And it was sarcasm. I’m fine.”
Nate continues to eye her skeptically. “First of all, you don’t fuck around with head injuries. Second, it’ll be far quicker if we take you. I’m not sure emergency services will come here unless someone needs to be airlifted.”
“That’s barbaric,” Joanie scoffs.
Mia nods in agreement. “I know. When I started the bakery, I tried to push to incorporate the town so we’d get basic services out here. No dice.”
Well, that’s news. I’ve attempted it myself, but now isn’t the time or place to swap stories.
“We can discuss town politics another time,” I inject pointedly. “Joanie should get to the hospital as soon as possible.”
Nate nods his agreement and gestures for Mia to grab Joanie’s clothes.
I move next to Nate. “Let me know how it goes, okay?” I say in a low voice.
But apparently, it was not low enough because Joanie turns her gaze from Mia, who is starting to help dress her, and gives me the biggest puppy dog eyes I’ve ever seen. “You’re not coming?”
If the look didn’t do it, the soft, sad tone does. I hesitate for only a heartbeat.
“Of course I am, city girl.”
* * *
Nearly five hours later, we arrive at the community center parking lot so Nate can drop me off at my truck before heading back up the mountain. Thankfully, the doctor’s exam came to the exact conclusion as Nate had: just a concussion and a mild one at that.
Joanie is leaning into me, my arm around her. The thought of leaving her is giving me a pit in my stomach.
She looks up at me with a vulnerability I’ve never seen her display, and the knot in my gut tightens.
“Come home with me,” I murmur. “Let me take care of you.”
She goes to respond, but Nate turns his head toward us. “I don’t think that’s the best idea.”
I raise my eyebrows, looking around at the dark sky and deep snow. “Why not? She’s tired. She’s already been dragged all over hell and back, and my place is five minutes away. In these conditions, it’ll take you guys another forty minutes to get up the mountain. Plus, it’s not like I have anything else to do.”
Mia turns fully around in her seat. “She’s my best friend. There’s nothing more important I have to do than take care of her,” she insists sharply.
Joanie sits up, ramrod straight. “Um, hi, hey,” she cuts in, waving a hand between us. “Adult here. I’m not dead. Just a bump on the head. Pretty sure I get to decide for myself.”
Nate frowns. “I’m glad you’re okay, Joanie,” he says, then turns and looks at me. “But I’m going to say this flat out. Can you tell me if you take her home, you won’t fool around? Because sexual activity is off the table —” Joanie opens her mouth to interject “—sexual activity of any kind ,” he stresses, and she sinks back with a grimace, deflated, “for at least twenty-four hours. Ideally, more. She needs to rest. Physical stuff aside, even getting too worked up isn’t good right now.”
I huff a wry laugh. “Believe it or not, I am capable of putting her needs before mine, or I wouldn’t have offered,” I respond matter-of-factly.
Mia arches a brow. “You may be, but her —” she tips her chin at Joanie “— I’m not so sure about.”
Joanie rolls her eyes. “I’d rather stay with him and keep it Hallmark than go home and listen to you two fucking,” she retorts. “So going with you is practically a guarantee that I’ll get all hot and bothered with that soundtrack playing all night.”
Nate turns bright red, and I hold back a laugh. “City girl has a point. She might get more rest with me since your … nightly activities won’t keep her up.”
“First of all, I had no idea you could hear us —” Mia starts, clearly mortified.
Joanie cuts her off with a sharp laugh. “Mia, you’re both so loud in bed, even I know the exact noises you both make right before you —”
“Okay, okay, we get it,” Nate interjects. “But I think Mia’s ‘second of all’ was going to be that we can … not do that while you rest — no big deal. Then I’ll be around if you need medical care. I’d feel better that way.”
“And you’d do what?” I counter. “It’s not like there’s much you could do that I couldn’t. I’m first-aid and CPR certified. Plus, if she needed a hospital, she’d get to one much faster from my place. And I won’t be in another room not fucking my fiancée.”
Nate presses his lips together as he realizes I’m right. Confirmed when he gives Mia a look. She throws her hands up. “Fine. But text me regularly.”
Joanie scoffs. “Okay, Mom. Jesus Christ, why do I feel like a teenage girl whose parents don’t want her to be alone with her first boyfriend instead of a grown-ass woman who can do what and who she pleases? I promise I’ll be good.” She shakes her head and gives me a small nudge. “Let’s go.”
Mia follows us out of the truck, and the girls embrace despite their tension, murmuring words that I can only assume mean they’re making peace. Then I help Joanie get into the passenger side of my truck.
As I climb into the driver’s seat and close the door, she sighs in relief. “Their kids are going to be so fucking neurotic.”
I laugh. “But well-loved,” I point out.
She shrugs, but I can see a small smile on her lips. And exhaustion written all over her face.
“Come on, city girl. Let’s get you to bed.” I give her a wink.