Chapter Five #3
“We didn’t see Liam,” Raz said. “A bystander reported the accident.” She knelt on Layla’s other side. “How are you doing?”
“My shoulder hurts.”
“Anything else?”
“My head. But not as much as my shoulder.”
“Okay, can you move your fingers? How about your toes? That’s good. We’re going to put you in this neck brace, then move you into the toboggan and give you a ride down the mountain. Do you have an adult here with you?”
“I’m her brother.” The young man, stocky and bearded, moved closer. He looked to be in his early twenties. Older than the girl, but not much.
“Did you see what happened?” Brian asked as he unwrapped the cervical collar.
“No,” the brother said. “She said someone hit her.”
“I saw it,” Nina said. “A snowboarder cut across the run, came over a rise and hit her. Black pants. Green jacket. Black helmet. He stopped for a few seconds, then took off.”
The patrollers’ radios crackled and Brian answered. “Are you taking care of the girl hit by the snowboarder?” Anders asked.
“Yes. Shoulder injury,” Brian said.
“We’ve got the guy down here. And his dad.”
“Did he turn himself in?” Brian asked.
“That photographer, Liam Davies, caught up with him and hauled him down to patrol headquarters.”
Brian met Nina’s gaze, eyebrows raised. “Not cool,” she said. While a patroller had the authority to detain someone breaking resort rules, a bystander was on shaky ground.
“Yeah,” Brian said. “But sort of cool, too.”
Nina turned her attention to the girl. “How are you doing, Layla?”
“Okay. Just…shook up.”
“I’m going to strap your shoulder down to stabilize it,” Raz said. “That should make you more comfortable.”
“Oh, man, Mom is going to kill me,” the brother said. “Is she going to have to go to the hospital?”
“We’ll take her to the clinic here first,” Nina said. “They may be able to treat her on-site.”
“That’s good. I guess.”
“Do you have her insurance information?” Brian asked. “They’ll want that.”
“You have that, right, Layla?”
“It’s in my pack,” she said, indicating the pack they had eased from beneath her and set aside.
He picked up the pack, then began gathering her other belongings—ski poles and a single mitten. “Where are her skis?”
“I’ll get them,” a man standing to the side said. He clicked out of his skis and hiked the short way up the slope to retrieve the skis.
“Just put them alongside her after we get her in the toboggan,” Brian said when the man returned with the skis.
Brian, Nina and Raz worked together to shift Layla into the toboggan.
They wrapped her in blankets, fastened the restraints and arranged the skis and her pack with her.
“You can meet us down at the clinic,” Brian told the brother.
Then he positioned himself at the front of the toboggan and began towing it down the slope.
Nina and Raz checked the area for any missing belongings or supplies. “For someone who isn’t supposed to be working patrol, you seem to keep showing up at the scene of accidents,” Raz said.
“Yeah. I’m just lucky that way.”
“Lucky for us, you mean,” Raz said. “Anyway, thanks for your help.” She waved, then skied away.
Nina followed at a more leisurely pace. She wasn’t surprised to find Liam waiting near the entrance to the clinic. When he spotted her, he moved to join her beside the rack where she stowed her skis. “I saw them bring the skier down,” he said. “How’s she doing?”
“I think it’s a pretty minor injury,” Nina said. “Maybe a shoulder separation or a dislocation. The clinic will take X-rays to be sure.” She tried to look stern. “What’s this I hear about you chasing down the snowboarder who hit her?”
“I couldn’t let him get away with a hit-and-run.”
“You could have been in a lot of trouble. His parent could have accused you of assault.”
“Nah, the dad was cool. The kid was, too. He was just frightened. What will happen to him?”
“The resort will pull his pass. The rest is up to the girl’s parents, since she’s a minor. But you should have let the patrollers take care of it.”
“Maybe you’re right, but I’m not the type to stand back and let someone get away with fleeing the scene of an accident like that.”
She sighed. “I guess I already knew that about you. But I had to say something.”
“Consider me suitably chastised. Are you about ready to call it a day?”
“Yes.” The sleepless night and the tension of the day was catching up with her, making every movement an effort.
“Want to go somewhere for a drink? Maybe grab something to eat?”
Part of her wanted nothing more than to retreat to her home.
Except home no longer felt like a sanctuary, now that Nicholson had been there—twice.
She would have to return there eventually, but spending a few more hours with Liam was too big a temptation to deny.
“I’d like that,” she said. “But I’ll need to get Sky. ”
“She and Angel can hang out in my hotel room for a while,” he said. “If you think she’d be all right.”
“She will.”
His eyes locked to hers, a searching stare that filled her with warmth. “You’ll be okay, too,” he said.
“I will.” Maybe she wasn’t really as confident as she sounded, but she wanted the words to be true. So much.