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“Dispatch,” he replied dryly. “But yes, I remember you.”
“Oh. Right.”
Marigold made a loud keening wail. My chest tightened.
“You’ve got to get her out of there,” I told him, desperation and urgency in my voice. “See how she’s shaking. She’s cold and scared.”
“I see that.”
“Her voice is gone.” I stared down at her, pathetic and shivering. “She’s been all alone out here. No telling how long.”
Then something highly unexpected happened. I burst into tears, a shaking sob making me hiccup and suck in a shaky breath.
“You can’t just let her keep crying like that,” I said through tears, the words barely understandable. “You’ve gotta hurry.”
The frown on the officer vanished, replaced by an expression of both alarm and confusion. “It’s alright, Ms. Mouton.” He raised a hand in a calming gesture like I was a wild animal. “We’re going to take care of her. We’ve got Mr. Guillory on his way with a trailer and another officer en route.”
“It’s just not fair,” I sobbed again, wiping the arm of my sweater across my cheeks. “She doesn’t deserve to be alone. No one there to help her and comfort her”—I blinked away more tears trying to fall—“she’s just been left and abandoned here.”
Silence from the officer next to me, then, “Ma’am? She isn’t abandoned. You’re here. I’m here.”
I hiccupped again; the only sound was the wind through the sugarcane and Marigold’s hoarse squeal.
Then the earth-shattering shift of the boulder fell, a stone of crushing self-doubt and self-loathing rolling right off of me. Realization dawned with frightening clarity. Finally.
I turned to the officer, his piercing blue eyes concerned.
“I am here, aren’t I?”
He nodded, puzzled. “You are.”
“Except I wasn’t. I mean, I haven’t been. Not really. Not the way Bennett was. The way I should’ve been.”
He blinked, his bewilderment turning to deep concern.
“I’m sorry.” I swiped at the tears on my face, partially laughing. “It’s my boyfriend.”
“Oh. I see. I think. You broke up?”
“Not really. Sort of. But he was there for me. It was me. I was the one.”
“Excuse me?” Officer Dugas looked so lost.
“I thought he was leaving me, but it was me.” It hit me like a sledgehammer. “I left him.”
I’d abandoned Bennett. Not the other way around. Finn was right. A fresh wave of tears poured down my face.
Officer Dugas produced a handkerchief from somewhere on his person. Though I didn’t know anyone still carried a handkerchief, I took it gratefully all the same.
“You love him,” he stated as a fact.
“I do.” I wiped my cheeks.
He nodded knowingly. “That doesn’t come often.” He finally looked my way, eyes ocean-blue and sharp. “Best hang on to it if you can. Never know how long it’ll be before it comes along again.”
I nodded and sniffled, wiping my face while trying to swallow the heartrending realization that I loved Bennett. And I’d pushed him away.
Right now, I had to pull myself together.
