31. Tanner
31
TANNER
A fter a late lunch with Connor, and one more meeting that I committed to while in the city, which went over the allotted time, I am now in the jet, Whispers coming into view as we descend.
Feeling a little tension leave, I’m eager to get to Victoria’s, even though it is late. She might be asleep, but I will take great joy in waking her up. At that thought, I look over to the horizon where our homes are and frown. It is dark, nothing amiss, but something feels off. I tug at my collar and roll my shoulders before I pull out my cell and send her a message, telling her I’m home early and will come by tonight. Her persistent ex, her lost father, none of it adds up, and along with the rose in her house, it all puts me on edge. Glancing at my cell, I see nothing back from her, which is unusual, but she is probably sleeping or engrossed in work or something.
As I get off the jet, I crack my neck, feeling jittery, unsettled. Not usually how I feel when I land back at home .
Just as I’m speeding out of the airport in my truck that my team left for me this afternoon, my phone rings. It’s Lacy.
“Tanner!” she says before I’ve even fully said hello, and I immediately know from her tone something is wrong.
“Talk to me, Lacy.” Pressing the accelerator down a little more, I move quicker than I should, but the roads are quiet and I know this place like the back of my hand. If I have lost more barrels due to a forklift accident today, I won't be happy.
“It’s Victoria!” she says, out of breath, hiccupping and clearly distressed. “There’s been an accident. Hudson is here. The sheriff. She’s… she's…” My heart feels like it has fallen out of my chest and been stabbed into a million pieces as I head through Whisper’s main street, only a few minutes out from Distillery Drive.
“She’s what, Lacy?” I bark at her, needing to hear the words.
“She’s hurt, Tanner. She crashed Marie’s truck, and now we are at the hospital.”
I take a deep breath in, the urge to get to her overwhelming. Slamming on my brakes, I turn my truck around and drive back in the direction of the hospital. It’s mere minutes away, so I get there quickly, as Lacy explains to me that she was on the phone with Victoria who was unable to stop the truck. It flew through the fields not far from home, and Lacy immediately went looking for her.
“I’m here,” I say, hanging up the call as I skid to a stop in front of the hospital. I see Hudson’s car here and feel relief that he is still in Whispers. I also spot Lacy’s and the sheriff's, his red and blue lights still flashing. As I run to the entrance, my adrenaline’s at an all-time high.
“Tanner!” Lacy calls out, waving to me from the front, and I run up to her.
“Where is she?” I demand. Lacy pushes inside, and I follow her as we make our way through the hospital. The familiar smell of antiseptic and the stark white walls and floor almost have me squinting.
“In here!” Hudson's stern words hit me from down the hall, obviously hearing us, given no one else is in here tonight. I have known Hudson for many years, and I know by his tone he is in professional mode. That has me even more panicked as I stride toward the room. I come to a sudden stop as I see her.
Victoria is lying in the bed, hooked up to a few monitors, a nurse tending to her, with Jasmine right by her side. Her clothes are dirty and ripped like she was dragged down a gravel driveway. Dirt covers her legs, face, and body. Blood and shredded skin on her legs, her eyes are red, her cheek swollen and starting to turn purple. My mouth feels dry as I look her over, ensuring she is in one piece.
“I’m okay,” she croaks out before coughing, and I stride toward her with my stomach in knots.
“What happened, baby girl?” I ask her, my hands coming to her face. I touch her so softly I can barely feel her cheek as my eyes roam over her face and body, my teeth gritting tightly together, and my heart is lurching out of my chest, hating seeing her like this. I feel Hudson grab and squeeze my shoulder, a silent request to keep myself in check because he knows I am about to lose my shit.
“She had an accident. Appears the truck was taking the corner at speed.” I glance up and see the sheriff standing there looking at us. When I look back to Victoria, her eyes are glassy. A lone tear falls down her cheek, and I catch it, wiping it away.
“It’s okay. I’m here. I’ll take care of everything,” I tell her, also needing the reassurance myself because I feel like I am going to have a fucking heart attack. I smell the faint aroma of gasoline and engine oil, and I wonder what kind of shape the truck is in.
“The brakes didn’t work,” she whispers to me, her hands shaking a little, so I grab them and give her a squeeze of support.
“It’s alright. Everything will be alright. Don’t even worry about any of that. Just rest. Hudson will take care of you,” I tell her, kissing her gently before I pull back and give Hudson a death stare.
“A small concussion, but the rest is superficial grazes and bruising. She can go home tonight. She is one lucky woman. It could have been a hell of a lot worse,” he tells me. “I’ve got her.” With a nod, he confirms she is truly okay, and I squeeze her hand again before I stand up and step toward the door, the sheriff following me into the hallway.
“What happened?” I ask him quietly, feeling something is amiss.
“Speed. She took the corner too quickly. The truck is a total loss,” he explains.
“She wasn’t speeding,” I tell him straight up, and he just raises his eyebrows like he doesn’t believe me, which pisses me off even more.
“Speed is the only factor. She took the corner too fast. It was dark. She is a newcomer and doesn’t know the roads.” My anger only rises when he shrugs like it is an open and shut case.
“Sounds to me like you are making assumptions rather than doing any type of investigation.” I tell him what I really think, and his eyes thin as he looks at me.
“It may not have only been speed. We have taken blood to run a tox screen as well,” the sheriff says, proving that I can, in fact, be more pissed about this.
“There is no way she was drinking and driving,” I spit at him. Why is Victoria getting this small-town cop bullshit?
“Standard procedure. I need to do it.”
I grit my teeth together and give him a silent nod. I have known him and his wife, Rochelle, for years. They own the diner, and Rochelle cooks lunch for my team every week. We have spent holidays together. Worked together on community projects. He knows that I am not happy about any of this.
“I think you and I both know there are no drugs or alcohol in her system.”
“Then speed is the only factor,” he says, and my shoulders stiffen.
“She wouldn’t be speeding.” I sound like a broken record as I run my hands through my hair, trying to think. “She said the brakes didn’t work, but that truck was serviced just before Marie died. I took it there myself. There is no way the brakes were faulty. ”
“What are you implying, Tanner?” He watches closely, and I seethe next to him.
“Do you already have the truck?” I ask him, wondering if I should take a look at it.
“My boys pulled it from Bob’s farm. Fence will need fixing, but she didn’t hit any animals or buildings, so there was minimal damage to his land,” he says. I don’t give a shit about Bob’s farm, and in this situation, I know Bob wouldn’t either.
“She wouldn’t have been speeding. Especially not at night. Not in that truck. It could barely drive as it was.”
“Tanner,” he warns, and I turn my body to step toward him.
“That is my fucking woman in there,” I bite out, pissed off that this happened, angry that we have no idea what exactly caused it, and upset that I wasn’t here when she needed me. The familiarity of not being able to find someone, for not being here and with her, reminds me of when Connor’s mom left. The red and blue lights in the darkness of the hospital parking lot look the same as they did that night when me and the whole town of Whispers spent days and nights looking for her, thinking she was lying hurt or dead somewhere. It wasn’t until a week later her parents got a note, telling them she was in fact okay and had run away to start a better life. Then the whole town looked at me with nothing but pity. Pity for the kid left holding a baby.
The sheriff looks at me with a little more empathy and nods, now understanding exactly who she is to me.
“I’ll get it looked over. I’ll let you know if we find anything. ”
I leave him standing in the hallway as I step back into the room. Victoria needs me now, and I am not leaving her side.