“Maybe a car coming in the opposite direction clipped her, sent her over the edge.”
“Nah. I only saw one fresh set of skid marks on the road.” Cam glanced at Mike. “Shouldn’t you be up there investigating the scene?”
“Yeah.” Mike scratched his jaw. “I want to make sure Chloe’s all right first. This sucks, man. The town is going to go nuts.”
Cam remained silent. Everyone loved Chloe. She was sweet and kind and thoughtful. A second grade teacher, a hometown girl who never left, who stayed here and took care of her lonely mama. Sacrificed her life to ensure the happiness of others, a woman who did the right thing no matter what. He’d never forgive himself if something truly awful happened to her because of their argument.
He’d treated her like absolute crap. Said horrible things that he could never, ever take back. Upset her so badly she became distracted and lost control of her car.
It didn’t matter what they might find out in regards to the accident and its cause. He knew deep in his heart he was the reason she went over that embankment. He could only thank the good lord above that she didn’t land in the water and drown.
He would’ve never been able to forgive himself.
One of the firefighters approached, a guy who looked vaguely familiar, and Cam wondered if he’d met him through Chris, Jane’s new husband. “We’re going to take her to the hospital in Oakwood.”
“Is she conscious?” Mike asked.
“She came to for a few minutes, asked me to call her mom, then passed out again.” The firefighter’s expression was grim. “Doesn’t look like much damage except to her head.”
Icy cold fear slid its fingers down Cam’s spine. “What sort of damage are you talking about?”
The firefighter glanced at him, his gaze skeptical. As if he didn’t want to answer. “Did you find her?”
“Yes.” Cam nodded, his throat suddenly clogged. Thick with emotion he didn’t want to acknowledge. “I’ve known her forever. We grew up together.”
“It’s true. I can vouch for the guy,” Vargas piped up.
Cam was grateful for Mike’s words. They seemed to ease the firefighter somewhat. “We’re going to have her kept at the hospital overnight for observation. She didn’t seem to understand what happened to her or where she was.”
“Is that normal after a car accident?” Cam asked, glancing to the road to see the ambulance had arrived, as well as another sheriff deputy’s car.
“Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Usually people are lucid enough to realize what happened but don’t quite remember how. With head traumas, we have to be careful and take every precaution.” The firefighter’s smile was grim. “She’ll be in good hands, trust me. You figure out what happened to her in the first place?” he asked Vargas.
“Not yet. I’m going to head back up there and survey the scene,” Mike said, his gaze straying to the road. “I’ll go join Gus and see what we can come up with. Did this sorta ass backward but I had to know if Chloe was going to be okay.”
The firefighter’s expression softened. “I get you, man. Everyone loves Chloe. She was my niece’s teacher last year and the kid adored her.”
Cam had never felt any lower in his life than he did at that very moment. Not even when he’d been laid up in the hospital after his knee surgery, in pain and all alone. Not when he’d lost his job. Not when he’d been stuck in Afghanistan surrounded by death and destruction and constant, endless gunfire, thinking he’d never get out of that hellhole and see his family again.
A family he took for granted. Hell, an entire town he took for granted.
No, he was the lowest of the low because he’d caused the town princess to nearly lose her life in a car accident. All because she shed a few tears over him and the terrible things he said to her. She didn’t ask for any of this to happen. It was his fault.
All of it.
And he would do whatever it took to make it up to her.
Chapter Four
/> “I’m fine. Really I am.” Chloe tried to smile but it hurt too much. Her head was throbbing despite the pain medication the doctor had prescribed her. Oh, and she felt like she’d been punched in the face repeatedly, it was so bruised, battered, and scraped. Like her face had hit the pavement and been dragged along it for a solid fifty feet, though she knew that wasn’t true.
It had been the airbag that did all the facial damage. She couldn’t complain. If it hadn’t been there, what might’ve happened to her then? She probably would’ve looked twenty times worse.
Or she might’ve died…
Her mother fretted over her, trying to get her to drink some water, asking if she was hungry. She wasn’t hungry. She wanted out of the hospital. The doctor said they’d release her more than an hour ago and she was still laid up in this bed.
“Maybe you should look for the doctor and see when they’ll let me go,” Chloe suggested.