Chapter 20 #2
“Uh-SEE-til-ay-tor,” Mel said slowly. “It means drugs don’t clear her system quickly.”
“She’s going into some kind of respiratory distress right now, Mel.” Darren’s voice was concerned. He peered inside the SUV. “And she just ruined your backseat upholstery. Good thing it’s vinyl. Why aren’t you using your pickup?”
“It’s in the shop! Deke’s taking forever to fix it.”
Darren just grunted.
“Broken trailer hitch. Broken pickup. Too many animals. You’re spread too thin, Mel.”
“Lecturing me again, Darren. Are you going to help, or flap your jaw?”
Needle’s chest began to suck in and blow out fast, the skin between her ribs looking funny. Luke’s college science courses were a vague memory, but even he could tell something was wrong.
“That’s it. I have an obligation,” Darren muttered, removing the cap from the syringe. “What’s her weight again? Two fifty?”
“You can’t do this!”
“Give me the weight or I estimate, and we know how fraught that can be.”
“Darren, no!”
“Mel. Mel. This isn’t up for debate.”
“Yes, two fifty!” Mel said in a panic. “But please!”
“Luke! Potter! Get ready to catch her head,” Darren announced.
“EXCUSE ME, SIR?” Potter screamed from the other side of the car.
“Don’t be so dramatic,” Mel said, her finger in Darren’s face. “Needle’s small and young. She’ll just collapse onto the car, and we can catch her before she hits, but you’re a cruel SOB to do this to her, Darren.”
“I’d be a lot more cruel if I let her suffer.”
Swiftly, he jabbed the giraffe and stood back, waiting, arms outstretched. All four humans instinctively took places around the SUV, spread equally out, ready to catch.
But to Luke’s surprise, the giraffe slow relaxed her body, folding inside the vehicle’s interior, curling in like a tired dog, her head coming down to rest on the SUV’s roof.
It was simple, surprisingly elegant, and an enormous relief.
And just then, Luke heard a familiar voice.
“Luke?”
Across the road, on the sidewalk, Kylie and Harriet waved just as Needle’s eyes rolled back and her head began to droop, sliding to the right of the roof.
Harriet launched herself toward the road, screaming “Daddy!” just as his ears picked up the sound of a car coming around the bend, still out of sight but oh, God, no.
“NO!” he screamed.
Luke reacted before his mind could process what he saw.
One step. Two. Harriet was taking off in a full-throttle run, and he imagined what was about to happen, everything precious to him taken out in a split second yet again as the car sped forward, his mind’s eye creating a horror film of Harriet being struck and thrown, his helplessness blinding him, instinct making him sprint.
His daughter was about to die the same way her mother had.
Except – that’s not what actually happened.
Kylie grabbed the loop on top of Harriet’s backpack and pulled hard, yanking her back before she could even get both feet in the road.
But even that was too much.
Without thought, he suddenly found himself on their side of the road, bent down to hug Harriet and hiss in her ear, “Don’t you ever, ever do that again. What do I say about sidewalks?”
“Stay on them, Daddy.” Harriet began to sob, her body trembling in his arms, her tiny voice small and fearful. “I’m sorry!”
“Luke,” Kylie said, her voice nothing but confusion and admonishment. “You’re scaring her.”
“Good. She should be scared. Damn right.”
Darren was behind him suddenly, his steady, calm presence pissing Luke off.
“Luke,” he said slowly. “She's fine.”
“And YOU,” Luke shouted, getting right up in Kylie’s grill, rage wiping away all pretense of politeness. “You need to do your job better. What did I tell you about sidewalks?”
Shock turned Kylie’s eyes into double moons, but she didn’t flinch.
Didn’t take a step back.
To his surprise, she moved toward him, lower lids rising as her eyes narrowed.
Darren put his hand on Luke’s shoulder and said, “Hey. Buddy. It’s okay. What happened to Amber didn’t happen to Harriet. Apples and oranges, man. Apples and oranges.”
Kylie’s brows went down as her gaze cut from Luke to Darren behind him. An old, rusted pickup truck rumbled slowly past Mel’s SUV with Needle slumped over on the roof, Potter and Mel doing their best to hold the giraffe’s head up.
Luke just blinked at Darren’s words.
His friend was talking to him like he was a combat vet experiencing a flashback.
How did Luke know?
Because that was how he’d been trained to handle that kind of situation.
“Thank you,” he said, the words coming out like taffy, gratitude washing over him as he looked at Kylie, but bent down for a gentler, less frantic hug from Harriet. “Darren’s right. I lost my temper. You did nothing wrong.”
“I grabbed her backpack and pulled her to safety,” Kylie said in a mystified voice. “I hope I didn’t hurt her.”
“You didn’t!” Harriet chirped. “But Daddy yelled. He yelled HARD!”
“I’m sorry, sweetie.” His mouth felt fuzzy, eyes dry, brain spinning. He had to get out of there. Needed space.
Needed silence.
Needed to be alone.
“Potter’s got a handle on this, Luke,” Darren urged, hand still on his shoulder, eyes filled with worry. “Why don’t you head back to work and let Mel and me take it from here?”
Mel’s son, Jeff, was pulling up with a horse trailer, Mel nattering at him about how he should have been back at the sanctuary long ago in the first place, and how this mess wouldn’t have happened… but her words turned to nothing but a vocal blur.
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
Another car took the corner, slowing down when the driver saw the mess with Needle, and Luke’s heart finally stopped trying to claw its way out of his chest. Sweat soaked his armpits and neck, his body in full battle mode. Still breathing hard, he willed himself to self-regulate.
The car. Harriet running. Amber in her red poncho against the snow, the angle of her extremities making it evident before he even touched her that her death had been instantaneous–all of it flooded him.
The body does, indeed, keep score. Every muscle, every cell, had stored away what he’d experienced.
And called it forth in a split second.
Luke looked at Kylie, taking deep breaths. Synchronizing hers with his rhythm, he felt her calm witness to his emotional reaction and appreciated it more than she could imagine.
“Hey,” she said, touching his arm. “What was that about? She was always safe.”
“I see that now. In the moment, I didn’t. And Amber…”
“Amber?”
Trying to explain it all set his heart jumping again, a visceral pull to go silent making it impossible to talk.
“I’ll…Kylie, I need some space. Need to calm down. Can we talk later?”
“Of course.”
“Thanks.” He started to turn away.
“Luke?” Kylie asked, sounding unsure. “Should we go home or head to the park like I’d planned?”
“Park,” he said quickly. “Just stay on the sidewalks.”
Her hand went to his forearm, the touch soft and caring. “Of course. Always.”
Always was a funny word.
Because Luke knew all too well that people thought it meant forever.
And he knew that nothing did.