Page 12 of Chasing the Other Woman

“You know what to do. Keep Hershel talking on channel two. Call Cedar Vale clinic and the county hospital. Find out where they’re taking them.”

“Sam, wait.”

I don’t wait.

The wind outside is vicious. I run to the SUV, determined to fight hell to get to Brooks.

Just one minute ago, I was so angry with him that I was planning out what I would say to him when he returned, how I would ream him out for taking Luci’s word over mine.

The hurt that bloomed through me in that moment pales in comparison to what I’m feeling now.

I thought we’d have later. I should know by now that later is never a guarantee.

At this point, I don’t know what’s blurring my vision: my tears or the rain on the windshield. I let neither stop me.

I grip the wheel harder. I can see Brooks at 27, on his knees in a motel parking lot, holding a ring that I know damned well he didn’t have money for.

“Yes,” I’d said before he’d had time to ask.

“Will you at least let me ask?”

“Maybe, but hurry up so we can kiss like they do in the movies.”

“Fine, brat. Marry me, Sammy Girl.”

“Yes, now kiss me before I grow old.”

He’d stood up then and looked down at me with that crooked grin. “I can’t wait to kiss you when you’re old. All gums and dentures. Smellin’ like Ben Gay.”

“I swear to G⁠—“

And then he’d kissed me so hard I’d sworn I’d seen the stars come up over that motel.

If you told me then that there would come a day when we wouldn’t find our way back to each other after the storm, I would never have believed you.

My phone buzzes in the cup holder. Tony. I put the phone on speaker.

“Where are they?”

“Cedar Vale clinic,” he says. “They’re taking Brooks and Luci there. Hershel’s following. Brooks is conscious.”

The sound I make sounds like a dying animal. Half sob, half something else.

“Conscious,” I repeat.

“Yeah. He’s hurt but appears to be talking. Don’t know more than that.”

I end the call because speech is beyond me at this point.

Brooks is alive.

Whatever wild thing is wrong with us, it can still be fixed if he’s alive.

I just have to get to him.

My shoes squeak on the clinic floor as I rush past the front desk. I hear someone say my name. I don’t stop.

I find them behind a half-drawn curtain in the urgent care bay.