Whirlwind Love: Libby's Journey (12 page)

S
outh Fork/Walsenburg, Colorado, Day 8 - Tuesday

Around 7:30 a.m. the RV park came to life. Libby tried to ignore the sounds, turning over in her bed.

“I need to talk to you,” Joe’s words popped into her head, causing Libby’s eyes to spring open. She scrambled out of bed and made her necessary connections for a quick shower. She grabbed a breakfast burrito from the freezer and tossed it into the microwave as she made a pot of coffee.

“Man, I’ve been hitting this pot way too much lately! Well, at least it’s hot, and I’m gonna need the caffeine today,” as she rubbed her weary eyes.

After disconnecting the hookups, Libby again sat behind the wheel. Less than four hours to the fairgrounds—she’d be there around lunchtime. She was looking forward to seeing Joe. Libby smiled at the thought. “I sure hope he’s not angry about Lubbock. Maybe it’s about the pictures...nah. Oh, I hope it’s not just about the pics.”

* * *

Hours later, the Walsenburg city traffic was picking up. Glancing at her clock, Libby muttered, “Just over an hour to go. I can’t wait to get out from behind this wheel for a while!” At a stoplight, she picked up the TBK itinerary from the console to find the sponsoring station. She turned on the radio to KSPK 102.3 to listen for details of the show.

With just miles to go for Interstate 25, Libby approached the intersection of Main and 6th Streets in downtown Walsenburg, Colorado. Traffic through the town moved very slowly. Libby spotted an SUV pulling a trailer with a flashing left turn signal heading toward her. “I wonder...nah, not possible” she muttered to herself. “Lord, when did I start talking to myself?” Libby laughed.

As the break in traffic ahead of her afforded the opportunity, Libby allowed the SUV to turn in front of her RV. As he began the turn, she recognized Chuck behind the wheel, but she didn’t see Joe in the vehicle.

Just as Libby turned her right signal on to follow Chuck, a speeding car with two police vehicles in pursuit barreled into the intersection from her right. Brakes locked and in a split second the car hit the SUV head-on, causing complete chaos. Libby screamed as she watched in horror. She pulled the RV over to the curb of the right-turn lane and ran over to open the front passenger’s door of the SUV.

“Is everyone okay?” she asked frantically. Seeing the gorge of blood on Chuck’s face, she yelled, “Call an ambulance!” She reached for the back door handle, and Joe fell forward as he lost his footing. Catching him, she stumbled backward before catching herself, too. Steadying him as best she could, she walked him to the curb and sat him down. She returned as others tried to assist Chuck. It appeared his nose was broken…blood was everywhere. Libby watched from the passenger’s door as a man reached for Chuck’s left hand in an effort to assist him, Chuck let out a yell at the touch.

As others tried to stabilize Chuck, she returned to Joe. “Are you alright?”

He seemed dazed. Joe asked, “What happened?”

“You were hit head-on,” she replied, stroking the hair from his face.

Joe looked at the SUV and the mayhem surrounding it. “Oh, hell! Is Chuck okay?” Joe rose, then sat back down and shook his head.

“Don’t stand, Joe...just sit for a few minutes and get your head straight,” Libby insisted.

Several more police cars arrived, and the officers began rerouting traffic.

Joe turned his attention to Libby. “Libby? How...what...where’d you come from?”

She couldn’t help but smile at him...he looked so helpless and confused. “Well, I was on my way to meet you in Pueblo—and you just...exploded…in my path. You really have a way of getting my attention!” she smiled.

The ambulance arrived, and the medics began working on Chuck, placing a collar around his neck and checking vitals.

“Is Chuck alright?” Joe asked.

“Looks like his nose may be broken, but let me go see. Stay here!” She returned to the SUV. “How’s he doing?”

One of the medics glanced up at her, “Are you with him?”

“Well, his brother, Joe, was also in the vehicle. He’s over here on the curb. Joe wanted to know if Chuck’s alright.”

Chuck waved his hand at Libby, signaling he was okay, but was unable to speak behind the bloody wad of gauze he held under his nose.

The medic glanced past her as he readied Chuck for the move out of the vehicle. He watched Chuck closely as they helped him onto the gurney. “Well, so far I think he’s okay, but with a broken nose for sure. He’ll need X-rays to be sure. Looks like his hand may have been between his face and the airbag though. I don’t think he’s going to be playing guitar anytime soon.” He looked at Libby with obvious awareness of who Chuck was. “Shame, too. I have tickets for tonight.” He looked at his partner, “You got this? I’ll go check him out.” The partner nodded.

The medic picked up his bag and ran over to the curb. Leaning beside Joe, he began to get his vitals and asked questions to determine potential injuries. Libby joined him and sat beside Joe.

“I think your brother’s going to be okay, but we’ll be taking him to the hospital. Did either of you experience any blackout?”

“No,” Joe replied, “Well, I didn’t.”

“Where are you taking Chuck?” asked Libby.

“St. Mary’s in Pueblo is the closest—it’s about 45 minutes from here.”

Joe stood, swaying. Libby quickly followed, reaching for his arm.

“I was asleep in the back seat. I don’t know what happened. I need to see Chuck.”

She nodded and walked with him to the ambulance her arm wrapped around his waist. “Ma’am, were you in the vehicle as well?”

“Oh, no. I’m in the RV.”

The medic nodded and turned his attention to the man from the other vehicle, who was now in handcuffs. A wrecker pulled up behind the police vehicle, and the driver stepped out and greeted the officer.

“What’s up, man?” Joe asked Chuck.

Chuck glanced at Joe with a wad of gauze under his nose and said, “Man, he just plowed into me. I don’t even know where he came from! Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’ll be at the hospital as soon as I can...okay?”

Chuck waved his mangled hand in the air, “Don’t think I’ll be playing.”

Joe smiled, “No worries: I’ll take care of it.”

As they loaded the other driver into the ambulance, Joe turned to Libby. “I still don’t get it-where’d you come from?”

She smiled, “I’ll tell you later.”

Joe exhaled and smiled. “Girl! It sure is good to see you,” and he put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close. She put her arm around his waist, and they returned to the corner.

“Joe, your SUV’s totaled,” Libby said. Joe turned to observe the damage as the tow-truck driver was pulling the other vehicle out of the SUV’s front end.

“Ah, no! The guitars! Are they okay? I’ll need to rent a car, quick.”

“No worries!” Libby exclaimed. She flashed a key on her keychain, “I’ve got plenty of room as she nodded toward the RV.

Joe laughed, “Oh, yeah? Not for long! You’re sure?”

Nodding, she directed him toward the storage boxes on the outside. “What doesn’t fit in those, we’ll just put in the RV, and we’ll figure it out later. Just leave a path,” she smiled.

Joe rubbed his arm as he walked over to the policeman to discuss the situation. As Libby began to unload their vehicle, two policemen joined her to move the contents of the SUV and trailer. The SUV had pushed the trailer at least an inch back from the wheels underneath it. As a result, it was tilted backward. Several onlookers stepped up to assist. Libby picked up a fast food bag from the floorboard to gather the CDs, GPS, and the glove box and console contents. As soon as they finished, the tow-truck was in place to load the SUV and trailer. Joe talked with the tow driver, exchanging contact information. He trotted with a limp to the SUV to be sure everything was cleared out. Finding nothing, he checked the trailer and walked over to Libby at the RV.

Joe looked at his watch, then at Libby, “I’m gonna have to call into the radio station. Libby can we go see about Chuck?”

Libby and Joe stepped inside the RV and around the suitcases and guitars. Joe put his hand on Libby’s shoulder. She turned to face him, and he planted a passionate kiss on her lips.

“I thought I’d lost you, again,” he said breathlessly.

She blushed, “What do you mean?” Her head was spinning.

He pulled her closer to him, hugging her tightly. “I looked for you back in Albuquerque.”

“You didn’t get my note?” she pushed away from him to look into his eyes, but held onto his waist.

“Apparently not,” he smiled. “Guess we should move.”

They both began to make their way around boxes of clothes and equipment to the cab of the RV. Smiling, Libby sat behind the wheel as Joe took the passenger’s seat. She started pressing buttons on the GPS for St. Mary’s.

Joe pulled out his phone. “Rick, hey man, I hate to bother you, but we had a wreck. Chuck’s at the hospital...no, I think he’s fine, I’m on my way now. He broke his nose for sure, and his left hand’s…mangled. Can you make it to Pueblo for the gig tonight at 8 o’clock.” After a long pause, Joe said, “Thanks, man...I owe you another. We’re at the fairgrounds. Okay...I’ll stall if I need to. I’m booking a flight from Nashville, and I’ll text you the details. See you then.” Turning back to Libby, he added, “Our younger brother.”

She nodded, checked traffic and pulled out as Joe used his phone to lookup flight information.

“He’s gonna be cuttin’ it close: flight leaves Nashville at noon and gets in at 7:50.” Joe purchased the ticket, then sent the information to Rick.

Joe’s next call was to the radio station.

“Hey, Darrell…Joe King. Sorry that we didn’t make it for your show. Yeah…well, we had a little accident just up the road…yeah, that was us. Some guy ran head-on into our SUV. Chuck’s in the hospital right now. Nah…I think he’s gonna be okay—I’m on my way there now. Hey, listen, soon as I check in with him, I can give you a call back. We can do a phone interview, if that’s okay? Great…hey, thanks, man. Talk to you later.” Joe hung up the call.

As they were driving down the interstate, Joe turned, looking back into the RV. “Wow, we sure made a mess in here...sorry about that.”

Seeing the guitar cases, he slipped out of his seat and began checking them for damage.

“Nah, it’s no big deal. We’ll figure it all out later. There’s plenty of room in here, we just need to get creative,” she laughed. She looked at the itinerary, “So, you have one more show after today—next weekend. What are you all going to do for the rest of this week?”

“That’s a good question,” Joe responded as he reclaimed his seat. We were thinking about going home. I guess we can figure that out.”

“Well, my carriage is at your service,” Libby laughed.

Joe smiled back at her.

“Guitars okay?” she asked.

“Good to go, as far as I can see. So, what do I need to know about you? You’re a woman of mystery. I love a good mystery,” he smiled.

“I came out here for a specific goal. We never had the chance to talk about that—but there was a balloon festival over the Grand Canyon yesterday morning at sunrise. And, well, I’ve waited ten years to see it. That’s why I came out here. If I’d stayed…”

“Oh, wow, you didn’t get much sleep then. That was a long drive!” Joe exclaimed.

“Yeah…to tell the truth, I’m ready to get out from behind the wheel!” she laughed. “Well, I found your itinerary backstage,” she motioned to a piece of paper on the RV console. “So, you didn’t get my note?”

“I didn’t see anything, or you. I looked. Hey, if you need me to drive…”

“I’m so sorry, Joe,” she said softly. “I never meant...I left you a note that I’d catch up to you--tacked to the pole just off stage. I didn’t want to leave that way, but I couldn’t wait.”

“No, hey, you had things to do...I can appreciate that. Balloons, huh?” Joe paused, the corner of his eyes crinkled disconcertingly.

“I’m glad you found us again, for obvious reasons,” he smiled, “And maybe a few that…aren’t. Seems like you and I just can’t get into any kind of groove. I gotta tell ya, Libby…I’m not really likin’ that. I’d kinda like to see you...sit still...for a while.” Joe laughed. “Hopefully, next to me, that is. And I thought I was in the road too much! Are you always runnin’ around like this?”

Libby smiled back at him. “I’d like to be still…next to you. I owe you an apology for Lubbock, too. I didn’t mean to…overreact, but there are some things, I guess I’m sensitive about.”

“Ah, Lubbock…I hope you know, though, I don’t normally react the way you saw me in the parking lot that day—when you first saw me. We’ve been having problems with management for a while. This is the last tour—so once we finish these fairs, I know I need to find someone else to manage the band. I just haven’t been able to…focus…on it. Tell the truth, I’m looking forward to a little break. Hey, you caught me on a bad day—Libby, I can’t imagine anything you could do to make me be that angry with you.” Joe looked apologetically at her. “I’m just sorry you saw...
that
.”

She smiled back at him. There was something in his voice that captivated Libby.

“Clearly you’re a passionate man. Now, there’s no doubt I would NOT want to be on the other end of an argument like that, but I
can
say your fire is...intriguing,” Libby laughed as she shot a look at Joe’s reaction.

With a little smile, Joe studied Libby intently. “Libby, I’ve been doing this for a long time now. I’ve come across some real winners in this business. People think nothing of stealing your work. They get a thrill out of telling you what you can and can’t do—just for the power trip, not because it makes any sense. I almost quit on more than one occasion after coming up against these assholes. They don’t belong in the business, but you can’t always tell the sharks from those who really are in the business for the right reasons.”

After a long pause, Joe continued, “I’ve gone to the dark side, Libby. I’ve scared myself...so
angry
. I’d hate to admit to you the thoughts I had. There’ve been some pretty bleak times lately. I’ve let those assholes drive me down. I don’t ever want to be that way again. Sometimes it still scares me,” Joe laughed, “and I’ve never admitted that to anyone, so why am I admitting this to you...” Joe looked at her to gauge her reaction.