Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
Hallie lost track of how many times she’d read Jacob’s message. He rarely messaged her. Usually, she was the one sending funny memes or little notes of encouragement and he shot back messages of thanks.
Occasionally he wanted to hang out and would let her know where he was going to be that night and tell her she should show up.
But this?
The messages he’d sent last week were so out of character. And she knew she was completely to blame. She’d messed up their dynamic and now he was feeling how strange it was between them.
She could kick herself for all of it.
Her focus snagged on the book she’d purchased and she glowered at it.
“This is your fault,” she muttered. “I should have never even picked you up.” She rolled over onto her bed and brought a pillow to her face before she let out a disgruntled sound into the feathery softness.
“Great, now I’m talking to inanimate objects. I’ve officially gone crazy.”
By now, everyone in her family knew something had happened between herself and Jacob. Her cousins were aware because Caleb couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Not after he’d used up all his ability on lying about his fake marriage to Sammie that he didn’t want to be so fake after all.
The looks she was getting from her cousins bothered her the most because they were friends with Jacob. She could practically see the pity in their eyes whenever Jacob’s name came up which was frequent now that Brent’s folks were warming up to the rodeo again.
She growled more to herself than anything else and snatched her camera from her bedside table. Right about now, she needed to get out of her house, off this property, and away from anyone who would want to tell her that everything would turn out the way it was supposed to.
To heck with that.
The way things were supposed to go was the way of romance novels. She was supposed to be rewarded for putting her heart out there, for telling the guy she might actually love that she wanted him to give her a chance.
Where was her happily ever after, darn it!
She shoved her way out the front door and headed for her truck. There was a cattle farm a few miles away that had the most beautiful golden rain tree up on a hill. The yellow blossoms stood out in contrast to everything else and she could use a little sunshine.
Hallie cranked up the music in her truck as she drove on the highway then turned onto a dirt road that would lead to the tree she’d discovered a few weeks ago.
She didn’t know why it still had blossoms on it in the summertime.
Heck, she hadn’t known what kind of tree it was until she’d come home and researched the name.
And right now, none of that mattered. She simply wanted to get out of her own head.
If she saw one more apologetic expression from any of her friends or family, she was going to lose it. And that was saying something because she was usually the bright and happy person.
Perhaps the world had fallen off its axis, because lately everything around her was crumbling.
It started with finding out about her aunt and the secrets of Brent’s parentage.
Like a poison, that knowledge had decayed Hallie from the inside out.
She’d wrestled with knowing and not being able to say a thing to anyone for such a long time, she wondered if it actually altered her brain chemistry.
Now, she’d lost her friend and everyone in her family looked at her differently.
What next? Were her biological parents going to suddenly appear after nearly thirty years of not caring about her?
That would be the cherry on top, wouldn’t it?
She could already imagine them asking to be part of her life when she was the kind of girl who had learned of her adoption and never needed to know who her biological parents were.
She was happy. She’d been well-adjusted. Her life had been perfect.
Then why did you feel like something was missing?
The question echoed in her mind, making her stumble.
It was only then she comprehended she’d made it to the hill and the tree, and she was heading right for it. How had she managed to park and get through the fence without realizing it? She’d heard of people being in the zone on the way home from work and not remembering the drive after the fact.
Maybe it was like that.
She was so distracted by the chaos her decisions had brought to her door that she hadn’t focused. Hallie glanced over her shoulder toward her truck that was parked on the other side of the dirt road and sighed. At least she hadn’t hit anything.
Turning, she took in the large tree and a small smile tugged at her lips.
This tree was magnificent. It was large, offering so much shade in the tall grass beneath it.
Coated in tiny yellow flowers, it smelled absolutely divine.
When the breeze blew, ruffling her hair, it managed to pluck the flowers from the branches and send them floating.
She picked up her camera, adjusted the settings, then clicked.
“Beautiful,” she whispered.
Hallie stepped closer, boots shuffling through the tall grass that swayed and danced. It was quiet up here. Peaceful.
A squirrel scuttled up the tree and she laughed but missed the chance to take a picture before it disappeared. Surrounding her were a handful of branches that had been broken off, probably from a storm. She picked one up and examined the flowers closer.
“Hallie!” The voice was sharp but familiar. She jumped, a yelp nearly tearing from her throat.
Don’t turn around. Maybe you’re hearing things.
“Hallie, what are you doing?” This time there was an urgency in his voice. Anger, maybe?
She glanced over her shoulder to find the dark haired, dark eyed prince that could have been her happily ever after if she’d been lucky enough. Swallowing hard, she turned away from him. “I don’t want to talk to you, Jacob.”
“Hallie, come here.” It was a demand. There was little give in that tone.
Scoffing, she shook her head and dropped the branch.
“We’re good, Jake. You don’t have to say anything.
I get it. I’m not your type. Just leave me be to lick my wounds, okay?
” She flinched. Why did she have to say it like that?
Now he knew without a doubt that she wasn’t okay and she was actually hurting.
That wasn’t what she wanted.
“Hallie!” There were some shuffling sounds followed by a thump. Then even more urgency, and his voice going eerily quiet. “Hallie, listen to me.”
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. It had been quiet before, but this kind of quiet was different. It was the deafening silence that preceded something bad. Something ominous.
“I need you to stay really still. It’s going to be okay.”
She blinked, her breath stalling. There was something here. Was it a wolf? A bear? They wouldn’t come down this far into ranching country, right? At least not until it got colder and they couldn’t find food? “Jake?”
A low rumbling sound snagged her attention and her head snapped up. A large black bull stood mere yards away and he was staring directly at her.
“Jacob?” she whispered, her voice cracking.
She turned her head slightly, catching sight of Jacob inching closer to her.
He had a hand up as if that would be enough to ward off an angry bull.
She knew better. She’d been around animals like this.
Any second, that bull was going to charge at her.
Maybe she should just start running. The fence wasn’t too far. She could make it.
Time slowed to a standstill in those few seconds. Then it suddenly sped up and everything happened in a blur. She screamed, darting toward Jacob. He shoved her out of the way, sending her sprawling onto her front.
There was a grunt. Hooves pounding but going quieter.
A thud of a body hitting the ground. The pounding growing loud again.
Her ears buzzed and she turned her head to find Jacob in the grass closer to the fence, but in obvious pain.
His eyes were shut tight and his breathing was uneven. Shuddered. Gasps.
Hallie whipped her head around to see the bull coming at them again. No! She couldn’t let him trample them. “Jake! Get up!” she screamed.
He didn’t move.
“Jake!”
“My leg. Something’s wrong.”
Her eyes darted to his leg.
“And my back. I don’t know what happened.” He rasped the words, terror and resignation in his voice.
Hallie scrambled for the tree where the branches were. She might be making the third biggest mistake of her life right here and now, but she couldn’t just do nothing. Gripping the branch with shaking hands, she swung the branch out as if to strike the bull. She hollered and screamed.
Everything she did was in an attempt to scare the animal off. She couldn’t let him trample Jacob and based on what Jacob had said, he wasn’t in any condition to move. Tears streamed down her face as she continued to make herself bigger and scarier than the bull.
At some point the beast backed away, snorting and tossing its head before galloping in the other direction. He might come back. She knew better than to believe they were out of the woods.
Keeping the branch in hand, she rushed to Jacob’s side. Only then did she put it on the ground. Her hands hovered over Jacob, not sure of what to do. She couldn’t move him if he said his back was in pain. He needed to take stock of his own body.
His eyes were shut tight and an expression of pure, unadulterated pain marred his face.
“Can you feel your toes? Fingers?” She scrambled for her phone that had miraculously stayed in her back pocket through it all. Her hands shook so bad she had to try to dial the number twice.
“Yes,” Jacob wheezed.
“That’s good,” she whimpered.
“Nine one one, what’s your emergency.”
“There’s been an accident. My friend… he was charged by a bull and knocked down. He’s in a lot of pain. I don’t know what to do.”
The words of the dispatcher faded as she watched Jacob. He was pale and he wasn’t moving except for his face. She made noises to indicate she was still on the line, but everything else was hazy.
This was all her fault.
Again.
Why did bad things keep happening to her? What had she done in another life to warrant this kind of outcome?
“Jake?” she whispered when his features relaxed. “Jacob!” Panic laced that single word and she fought the urge to shake him.
“What’s going on, hon?” The dispatcher’s voice was calm but Hallie couldn’t speak. He wasn’t dead. He wouldn’t have died, right?
“I don’t know! He was talking to me but now he’s not.”
“Is he still breathing?”
She looked down to find his chest rising and falling. Relief sent a fresh surge of tears streaming down her face. “Yes, he’s still breathing.”
“The ambulance will be there soon. They’re two minutes out.”
She nodded even though the dispatcher wouldn’t be able to hear her reaction. Everything was okay. Jacob was breathing. He wasn’t dead.
“What were you doing here?” she snapped, her voice tight.
“Pardon?”
Hallie ignored the woman on the phone and reached toward Jacob’s face.
Her tone softened and the tears kept coming.
“What were you doing here?” she whispered again.
Her fingers slipped through the hair at his temple.
Sweat had dampened the strands, but they were as soft as silk.
His hair glided through her fingers, feeling every bit how she’d imagined.
Soft and supple and so very different from the no nonsense cowboy she’d grown to care about so deeply.
He moaned but his eyes never opened.
Sirens drew closer and she scooted back when the ambulance came to a stop near the fence. They cut through the wire fencing and brought in a stretcher.
She watched with a mixture of anxiety and terror as they got him strapped to the board and flung question after question in her direction.
During all of it, a cowboy she didn’t recognize drove up on an ATV. She avoided looking at him. He probably owned or worked this property. Was he going to sue? Charge her with trespassing?
Hallie ducked her head as she moved past him and headed for her truck. Jacob’s truck was parked behind hers. She’d make sure to call one of her cousins to come get it because there was no way she wasn’t going straight to the hospital.
Jacob would need to see a familiar face when he woke up.
Shoving aside all anxiety, and promising herself that everything would be okay, Hallie drove to the hospital. They wouldn’t let her back into his room or wherever they’d admitted him. Instead, they forced her to stay in the waiting room.
So that was where she spent the next couple of hours.
Pacing.
Waiting.
Demanding answers to questions.
When she was told it would be best to leave, to come back during visiting hours, she refused. No matter how long it took, she wouldn’t give up.