When It's Right (4 page)

“Cass!” Nate’s voice was more frantic now. His hand was on hers, fluttering and freezing.

She grasped it. She grasped at anything she could. “I’m fine,” she said. It was a quiet rasp, and she wasn’t entirely sure if it was even true, but she was here. Alive.

She laughed out loud.

“What—”

Turning her head to the side, she stared into his eyes, only to find them terrified. A thin gash trickled blood down the side of his face, but otherwise he, too, seemed fine. She stretched her other hand out toward him, but with the seatbelt taut across her chest, she couldn’t reach. Her fingers itched to touch the hair at his temple and feel his skin. She sufficed with breathing aloud, simply, “You’re okay.”

“Yeah, I’m—”

There was pounding on the window. Cassie jerked her gaze up, staring in confusion at the blurry face beyond the glass. A flannel shirt and rain, and—

“Oh, shit.” She let go of Nate’s hand and fumbled for her seatbelt. At the same time, he was lowering the window.

Voices and wind flew into the car at once. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Nate said raggedly.

Cassie got herself free. Pushed at the door and stepped out into the rain.

“We were in a car accident.” Everything in her mind was numb and disbelief. Staring at the remnants of her car, the shock faded and reality crept in. “We were in a car wreck.”

“Yeah, you were.” There were two men, both of them standing there in the wet, looking at her like she was crazy.

Where were they? She whipped her head around. The road was a few yards back, the black asphalt dark and shining, rain still falling. Behind them, tire marks tore earth from beneath the brown-gray grass, and she took a step through flattened branches. They were at the base of an embankment, the nose of the car buried in brush. Headlights shattered.

The rear bumper lay on the ground behind them.

Holy shit. She looked up and met the gaze of one of the men. “What do we do?”

The other guy was still hunched over the window, talking to Nate.

Nate.

Jesus.

The man was talking, telling her things about tow trucks and police, but she wasn’t listening. She was stepping over dead wood and leaves and shoving her body into the gap in the doorway. The door wouldn’t open all the way and there wasn’t much space, but she could see. She could see Nate.

“Nate.”

His head whipped around, his eyes not quite focused as they found hers.

“We crashed the car,” she said, breathless.

“I know.”

“But you’re okay.”

“I’m okay.” He looked unsure, the tremor to his voice and the fear in his gaze unnerving her. “You’re okay.”

“Yeah. Yeah.” She reached up and pulled her hair back and out of her face. Winced at the tug across her collarbone. It wasn’t bad, though. She felt the spot through her clothes. It was sound. No cracks or breaks in the bone.

“I’m so sorry, Cass. I’m so sorry. I just started spinning and—”

And he’d handled it better than she probably would have, Northern upbringing aside. “It’s fine. We’re okay.”

“We are.”

She stood again and turned her attention back to the people who’d braved the cold and wet to help them. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“You have a phone?”

“Yeah. We’re good.” She’d never felt such gratitude. “You can probably go.”

“You’re sure?”

She nodded, then reached back into the car and felt around for her phone. When she found it eventually, it was in the back seat, half the case missing but the screen intact. After telling Nate what she was doing, she dialed 911, kneeling on the passenger’s seat, one foot still on the ground through the gap in the door. With a cracking voice, she stated their location and the nature of their emergency. Let herself be transferred and kept it together all the while, explaining, giving mile markers. No, no other vehicles involved. No serious injuries. The good Samaritans finished speaking to Nate and then they disappeared into the gray, back to their vehicle. To safety.

“All right, ma’am. We’ll have an officer out to you right away. Stay in your vehicle until then.”

She nodded even though the dispatcher couldn’t see her. “Okay. Okay.”

The line went dead, and she fell into her seat. Closed her eyes. There was warmth, the heat of Nate’s body as it reached across hers, the sound of the door pulling all the way closed and then just the silence and the rain. The silence and the rain and them.

And she was shaking. She was shaking so hard.

“Come here.”

She bumped her thigh on the gearshift and hit her head on the ceiling. Could barely breathe for the pressure of the steering wheel against her side. Hands pulled her and quiet words soothed, and then she was there, in Nate’s lap, his arms so tight around her, his breath warm in her hair.

He rocked her.

And the whole time, he whispered, “We’re okay. You’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay.”

Chapter Five

It wasn’t the first time Nate had held Cassie. But unlike all the other times, all the little hugs and big hugs and the embraces that fell somewhere in between, this time he didn’t let go. Not when the state trooper finally arrived an hour later and beckoned them into the back seat of his patrol car to give their statements. Not in the back of Cassie’s wreck as they waited in the gathering dark for the tow truck. And not as they squished together in the cab of the truck beside the driver, staring out at the tempest that had nearly washed them away and that had fizzled down into a spitting mist so scant it seemed to mock him.

God, the entire time, all he could think was that he could’ve killed them. He kept reliving those aching seconds when the car had flown out from underneath him, the back fishtailing and his hands doing all the things he was supposed to do to bring it back under control, only none of it had worked. None. The sound of his own shouting and of Cassie’s scream. His heart stuttered just at the memory, and he winced, tightening his grip on her. He didn’t know if he’d ever stop hearing that.

Everything was wrong. His stomach churned with a rabid guilt—part for what he’d done and hadn’t done. For how he’d been at the wheel when they’d careened and spun off the road.

And part because, no matter how Cass had ended up in his arms, she had. And it felt
right
.

The driver, Hank, signaled, and they pulled off the highway onto a silent, empty road. Nate wanted to groan. He’d had to wreck them in the middle of nowhere. After passing a gas station and a fast-food restaurant, they finally rumbled to a stop in the deserted lot of an auto-repair shop. Hank nodded toward the door and flipped the locks.

“Nate?”

He looked down at Cassie, frowning as she tried to pull away. “What?”

“I can’t get out unless you let go of me.” Her lips were red, her cheeks and chest flushed. Almost as red as the welt from the seatbelt on her collarbone.

He had to force himself to unwind his arms. Did he imagine that she lingered against him for a second too long? If so, it was over before he could really process it. She pushed the door open and hopped down onto the pavement. Nate stared after her as she took the first few, stiff steps toward the shop’s office.

“Go on ahead,” Hank said gruffly. “Sherry’ll still be in there.”

Nate glanced at the clock on the dash, and this time he didn’t bother to hold back his groan. It was almost eight o’clock. By the time they got a hold of the insurance company it would be too late to get a rental car. He should have called earlier, while they were waiting, but all he’d been able to focus on then was the solidity of the girl in his arms. The girl who was still alive.

Did a town this size even have a motel? If they had to sleep in the back of the wreck…

A figure pushed open the door of the shop, silhouetted in the dim light pouring out from within. Cassie shivered and doubled her pace. Nate gave the driver a nod of thanks and followed her.

Inside the office, things seemed even grimmer. The space was grungy and cramped, full of file cabinets and shelves, lit by a single, flickering fluorescent bulb. A woman with big hair and long nails snapped her gum, giving off a scent of cigarettes and mint. Sherry, he presumed.

“Looks like y’all had quite a night.”

“You could say that,” Nate agreed. The adrenaline had more or less worn off now, and he was all too aware that his clothes were damp and it was freezing. He was exhausted and starving and didn’t know…

“Well, we’ll get you all taken care of.”

Nate stood by numbly as Cassie answered the questions put to her. When they were winding down, he interrupted, “We need to call our insurance company and…”

He didn’t even know what else. He’d been in a fender bender or two in his lifetime but never anything like this. The car was totaled for sure, and they were stranded.

His throat burned as he laughed. This trip had been all about new beginnings. And wasn’t a disaster like this just a fitting way of ending such a shitty, shitty year?

“All right.” Sherry bent over some paperwork. “I’m closing up real soon, though. And it’s gonna take them a couple days to get an adjuster out here to look at your car. Maybe more with the holiday.”

“Days?” Nate’s heart sank.

“Yeah. Where y’all on your way to?”

Cassie explained as Nate sank into one of the waiting chairs. He hardly heard a word until Cass plunked down beside him. Her hand found its way to rest inside his, and he looked up to find her smiling at him. “Hey. It’s okay.”

“It’s not.” He shook his head. “It’s really, really not.”

Then she did something he never expected her to. Lifting their hands, she brought the back of his to her lips. Pressed a firm kiss to the knuckles. “It will be,” she said.

The very familiarity of it hurt. This was how their friendship worked. He’d held them together in the aftermath of the crash, but as soon as his reserves were gone, she stepped up. She gave it back to him.

“You’re amazing.”

She was.

As he sat there and as Sherry filed her nails, Cassie got on the phone, navigating through what sounded like one menu after another until she finally reached a person. He watched her face as she went through the whole saga again before mumbling a long series of
uh-huh
s and
okay
s. She looked up and into his eyes toward the end, and then she said
thank you
and
goodbye
.

She slapped his thigh and stood. “The good news?”

“Yeah?” God, he could use some of that.

“They won’t be able to get an adjuster out here for a few days. But we can get a rental car, and it’s all covered.”

“That’s good news?”

“It could be worse.” With that, she turned to Sherry, who had begun pointedly packing her purse. “It’s too late for us to get a car tonight. Is there a motel somewhere close by?”

Sherry snapped her gum. “About two exits up is your best bet.”

Nate’s heart sank. “Don’t suppose there’s a cab company around here?”

“Nah. But me and Hank are heading home. You’re only a few miles out of the way. You’ll hitch a ride with us.”

“We couldn’t—” Cassie started, but Nate was beyond that.

“Sherry,” he said, exhausted. “You are a wonderful human being.”

Sherry’s mouth turned up into a smile. “Oh, I like this one.” She looked at Cassie with a wink. “Gorgeous and polite. You better hang on to him.”

Did Cassie’s voice rise? “Oh, we’re not—”

“Don’t worry,” Nate interrupted again, winding his arm around her waist. It still felt right. “I’m not letting go. Not for anything.”

“Here you go.” With a
thunk
, Hank lowered the gate on the back of a truck that looked like it had seen more wear and tear than even Cassie’s old wreck had, right up until this afternoon.

Cassie balked, seething at Nate beneath her breath. “You have got to be kidding me.”

Nate wasn’t hearing it. As Hank tossed the first of their bags into the bed of the truck, Nate held out his hand to Cassie to help her climb on up. “It’ll be fine.”

Misinterpreting her anxiety, Hank reassured them, “It’s been under the car park out back all day. Ain’t wet in there or anything.”

Cassie glared at Nate, but after only a moment’s hesitation, she grabbed his hand and clambered into the bed. Nate tossed their other bag up to her before following. With a nod of thanks, he thumped the side of the truck. Hank raised the gate and locked it into place. As he disappeared toward the front, Nate scooted over to where Cassie was braced against the rear windows of the cab, trepidation written on every inch of her.

She’d been so strong for him when he’d given into the lure of hopelessness back at the shop. It was his turn to be the steady one again.

Flashing her his most winsome grin, he threw his arm over the side of the bed. “Come on. Don’t tell me you never did this when you were a kid.”

“No.” She grimaced, her tone dripping sarcasm. “We rode in cars. Cars with seatbelts.”