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He must have made a sound because she opened her eyes, then moaned.
“Reggie.” He rushed over and grabbed her hand.
“My head.”
Belle struggled to get close and frantically sniffed, then licked Reggie’s unmarred cheek.
“Hey, girl,” Reggie managed, her voice groggy. “Harrison. You stay with Harrison.”
“She did. He’s fine. I called your folks. They’re meeting you at the hospital.”
“The hats.”
“Shaye and Paisley are on their way. They’ll take them to the truck stop.”
“That guy.” She tried to open her eyes again. “You’re spinning.”
“Don’t try to talk.”
“He hit me, then spun back into me. I was so scared.”
“I know, but you did good.”
Another EMT walked over. “Your son seems fine. You might want to take him to his pediatrician tomorrow, but except for a little bruising from the seat belt, he came through unscathed. We need to get going. The other driver is already on his way to the hospital. He’s pretty banged up.”
Harrison ran over to join Toby. He hugged Reggie.
“You have to get better.”
Reggie gave him a wan smile. “I will.”
They put her in the ambulance and drove away. Toby checked in with the police officer and explained who he was and what Reggie had been doing.
“From what the witnesses told me,” the officer said, “she had steered out of the skid and was doing fine. Then the truck slid back into her. No recovering from that.” She grimaced. “People need to learn how to drive in snow and respect what cold does to a road. Your boy okay?”
Toby put his arm around Harrison. “Yes.”
She pointed at Belle. “That is some dog. She wasn’t going to let anyone near him. Must make you feel real safe.”
Harrison rested his head on Belle’s. “She’s a good girl.”
Belle’s tail wagged.
Toby moved the boxes out of Reggie’s car and took her purse, along with the contents of the glove box and the console between the seats. The banged-up truck was already gone. The tow driver made quick work of pulling her SUV onto his flatbed, then took off. Toby stayed at the side of the road, his flashers on, until Shaye and Paisley arrived.
Harrison sat in the back seat, his arm around Belle. He chatted about the accident and what they might have for dinner and asked if they could go see Reggie at the hospital. Toby did his best to act normal, even as his body began to react to the shock of what he’d been through.
He could have lost them both. If Reggie hadn’t controlled the spin, if the other driver had hit her harder, if the accident had happened by a deep gully, they could both be gone. Just like that. With no warning, no way to change things. But Reggie had kept her head. She’d taken care of Harrison. She’d protected his son.
As had Belle. He glanced in his rearview mirror and saw the Great Dane leaning against Harrison, her expression still fierce, as if she would never back down. Harrison was her boy and she would never, ever let anyone forget that.
Reggie had never done the drug thing. Her idea of wild was a second ibuprofen if she pulled a muscle. But she had to say, whatever the hospital was giving her took the edge off her pain and gave her a nice internal buzz.
The wooziness had passed, and her vision was focused again. She still felt a little spacey, but that was probably because she had a concussion. Plus, you know, the drugs. Her parents and sister hovered around her bed.
“They’ve towed your car to the shop,” her dad said, watching her anxiously. “We’ll wait for the adjuster to give the okay to go ahead and start repairs. If it’s totaled, then I’ll come over to Seattle with you to help you buy something.”
Reggie thought about pointing out she was perfectly capable of buying a car on her own, but knew her father wouldn’t want to hear that. Not tonight. He was showing her, in his way, that he cared and was worried.
