Talia squeals, and I jerk the phone away from my ear. “How was it?”
“Truthfully?”
“No, I want you to lie about it. Of course I want the truth.”
“He’s a bit stiff—”
She snickers.
“—Not like that. His accident messed him up pretty good, and he’s always going to have to be careful with how he moves.”
“Meh. You’re not adventurous anyway.”
“You might have a point, but yeah, it was nice.”
“Don’t tell him that,” she teases. “Now what? You aren’t going to leave Old Harbor and not look back. You’re in love with him. I’m not going to let you.”
“It wouldn’t be that easy even if I could. The snow’s slowing down, and I’ll be able to get out of here before noon tomorrow. When I get back to Portland, I’ll clean out my desk at the Pioneer and then I want to look into something.” Rick can get mad at me all he wants, but there’s something strange about that accident, and until I know the logical reason behind it, I’m not going to let it go.
“Ooh, I sense a mystery. I want in.”
“Talia...”
“What? Let me help. What is it?”
I blow out a breath. “Okay. He doesn’t want to hear any more about it, and we had a fight before I called you, but something isn’t right. I was looking at a video clip of his accident. I never claimed to have a sixth sense, but my intuition served me pretty well while I was a reporter in Cedar Hill, and I think I’m on to something now. Before I get home, when you have time, look at all the clips you can find of that accident. I watched a few from different angles before Rick got mad at me and told me to let things be.”
Talia laughs. “That’s not the way to get you to leave things alone.”
“You have to give him a break, he doesn’t know me that well yet. Probably not tomorrow, but the next day, we need to drive to Cedar Hill. I want to talk to a few people. Are you sure you can miss class?”
“I’ll let my teachers know I’ll be gone, and I’ll make it up online. You think Rick’s accident wasn’t an accident?”
“I’m sure it was, but there are things about cranes I don’t understand. I just have a couple questions, then I’ll forget about it like he asked.”
“And then what?”
“What do you want me to do? Map out the rest of my life?” I say it in jest, but her insistence is irritating. I don’t know what I’m going to do after we visit Cedar Hill. I don’t know if Rick is still going to want to see me. I could make him so angry he doesn’t want anything more to do with me. If that’s not the case and he does want to date, how are we going to do that?
“No, but my therapist is always telling me to have a plan. Life feels better with a plan.”
She’s not wrong. Life does feel better if you know what you’re doing and have a backup in case things go to hell. I didn’t have a backup when Stevie went after me, or when Walt said he had to fire me. I’d put it off in the hope that something would present itself.
It did, in a way. I fell in love, and that, in all its forms, did not go according to any plan.
“Let me do a little digging. I need to find a job before we decide anything. It doesn’t matter what kind of plan I have if I can’t pay the bills.”
“Yeah, I understand, but it’s love, Devyn.”
I blow out a breath. “Yeah. It is. How do you feel about living in Old Harbor?”
Carefully, I walk down the stairs and when I reach my bedroom, I toss my cell onto the bed. I peek into Rick’s room to see if he’s sleeping, but the bed is made. I follow the scent of coffee into the kitchen and find him at the table, his eyes closed, his forehead pressed against his clasped hands. He looks like he’s praying, but his shoulders are hunched and waves of sadness threaten to drown me.
“Are you okay?” I ask, stepping into the room. “Are you feeling okay?”
His head snaps up. “I’m sorry, Devyn. I am so sorry. I didn’t mean what I said earlier.” He lowers his hands, and he looks so bleak, I can’t help but sit next to him on the bench and wrap my arms around him. He’s wearing the same clothes as before, and I breathe him in. He feels so solid, so safe. I’m going to miss him while I’m gone.
“I know you didn’t, but you were right. I’ve found plenty of trouble. If you want me to forget about it, I will.”