Page 27 of Back to Me
“It’s nothing.”
“Okay…” We sat in silence as we headed for the hospital. Cash dropped me at the entrance to emergency and I ran inside. He would meet me in there. I stopped at the nurses’ station. “Can you tell me where I can find Ally Henderson, please?”
“Are you family?” I knew if I didn’t answer yes I wasn’t being let in her room, so I made up a quick lie.
“I’m her fiancé, yes.”
“Really? She doesn’t wear a ring.”
“Not that it is any of your business, but she is a baker, so she doesn’t wear it until after work. Can I see her please?” The nurse motioned her head toward the room Ally must be in, and I bit back a smart-ass response. As I went to walk over there, Cash came into emergency. He saw me and moved over to me.
“Have you seen her yet?”
“No, and if anyone asks, we are engaged.”
“Noted.” I went to the room and opened the door. She was all hooked up to monitors had her eyes closed.
“Do you know how bad it was?” I whispered to Cash, who shook his head.
“No, the officers who responded didn’t say before he hung up.” I moved over to the bed and brushed the hair from her face. She had a bandage on her head as well as a few spots on her arms, but the rest of her was covered by a blanket. I took her hand and sat down in the chair beside her. She stirred, and as she moved, Ally let out a soft groan.
“Shhh, try not to move, Duchess.”
“Austin? Where am I?”
“Harrison General Hospital. Do you remember what happened?” She opened her eyes and spotted me before looking to the door and seeing Cash.
“What is he doing here?”
“He came and told me about your accident and drove me here. Eyes on me, baby, what happened?” She watched him for a few minutes before giving me her attention once more.
“I was coming back from my parents’ place, and I was upset. I got into an argument with my mom. I was just going to go home and work out or something and was just coming into town when some idiot rounded the corner and lost control. I tried to break and swerved to avoid colliding head-on, but my car spun, and I slammed into a tree. I don’t remember anything after that, I must have blacked out after hitting my head. Is the other driver okay? Have they been arrested?” She looked back to Cash this time.
“No, there was no other driver when police arrived at the scene. Do you remember what the car looked like?”
“Yeah, it was a red truck. F150, I think. It was an older model though so I can’t be sure. Did anyone else see him?”
“Yes, there was a witness. That was who called an ambulance and rescue to get you out. The driver kept heading out of town so we have sent cars out that way and called in police from the next town over to head this way to see if they can intercept him. We don’t know how much of a head start he had on us though. Do you remember anything else about the truck? Anything on the license plate?” She closed her eyes for a few minutes but when she opened them again, she shook her head.
“No, sorry, I don’t. He flew around the corner too fast. Everything else is a blur.”
“We have police getting statements to see if anyone else saw anything. When you said that he came around the corner, which way did he come from?”
“Left onto Main from Barker.”
“Thank you, Ally, I will go and check in. If you think of anything else, please give us a call.” She nodded softly and he left. She turned to look at me.
“How bad is it?”
“I’m not sure, Duchess, I haven’t spoken to your doctor yet.” She closed her eyes again. “Do you need me to get someone?”
“No, it’s just the light is hurting my eyes. My head is pounding as well.”
“Just get some rest until the doctor comes in. Maybe he can give you something for that.” She lifted my hand to her cheek, and as quietly as I could, I moved my chair closer to her bed. Resting my head softly against hers, I ran my fingers softly through her hair.
I don’t know how long we stayed like that before the door opened and a doctor walked in. I sat up a little but kept my hand where it was on her cheek. She had fallen back to sleep, so I really didn’t want to disturb her. He moved to the end of her bed and checked her chart.
“Doctor, how is she?”
