Everything You've Got: Anything & Everything, Book 2 (19 page)

“Yes. I just feel a little beat-up. Nothing horrible.”

“Then let’s get you out of here and we’ll go from there.”

Sandra was able to unbuckle her belt, slide to the edge of her seat and swing her legs out. She stood, with help from Kat, and then Luke took over. He nudged Kat out of the way, looped his arm around Sandra’s waist, talking softly to her.

“I have friends who cuss every time they see a dead deer,” he told her. “They go out weekend after weekend hunting and never get a thing, but then nice ladies like you are just driving innocently down the road and
bam
, suddenly one’s right there in front of you.”

Kat smiled and shook her head as she followed them up the side of the ditch. Luke had a gift for making people feel better. She loved that about him.

Among other things. Many, many other things.

Luke helped Sandra into the RV where Kat wrapped her in a blanket to help with any shock symptoms that might set in, checked the cut on her head where the bleeding had slowed some and then gave her some water.

“I’d give you something for your headache but I better leave that to the paramedics,” Kat told her. “They should be here soon.”

“Rolland is only about eight miles,” Sandra told them. “I know everyone on that crew.”

Kat smiled. “Are they volunteers?” They were in most small towns, including Justice.

They chatted as they waited. Kat wanted to keep Sandra alert and awake. The conversation also allowed Kat to judge Sandra’s mental status. If she hesitated to find words or couldn’t think of something obvious, like the names of her children or what she’d been doing that morning, Kat would know there was a concussion that would need further assessment.

The ambulance siren wailed in the distance. While some of the symptoms of concussion could show up later, Kat felt confident that Sandra had a bump on the head versus a serious head injury. Thank God. She wasn’t sure she could handle another head-injured patient right now.

Her stomach dipped as she was thrust back into thoughts of what a mess her life and work at home were. She stretched to her feet keeping a smile in place.

“You’re going to be fine, Sandra.” She reached to help the other woman up.

“Thanks to you.” Sandra gave her a weak smile as she stood.

Kat lifted the corner of the towel from Sandra’s head. “The bleeding’s slowed but you’re going to need stitches. And a lot of headache medication.” She squeezed Sandra’s shoulders. “Could have been a lot worse.”

“Still, you didn’t have to stop. Who knows how long it would have taken for someone else to come along.”

“Well, I’m glad we were there when you needed us.”

“We’re happy to help,” Luke added. He held the RV door open.

They stepped out as the ambulance pulled up.

“Sandy!” The first person out of the back of the rig was a woman in her mid to late thirties. “My mom is going to freak out.”

Sandra smiled as the younger woman hugged her. “I’m okay.”

“You’re bleeding.”

“But I’m fine.”

“Really, she has no signs of concussion, she’s alert and oriented, she has no other apparent injuries, but a spinal x-ray would be a good idea.”

The younger woman turned to her. “Who are you?”

Kat offered her hand. “Dr. Kat Dayton. I practice in Justice and Alliance. We came upon Sandra’s accident and were the ones that called it in.”

“Oh, thank you!”

Kat suddenly found herself enfolded in the woman’s exuberant hug. Over her shoulder Kat looked at Sandra who smiled and shrugged. “This is my niece Lisa.”

“Hi, Lisa.” Kat awkwardly patted the other woman’s back.

“I’m so glad you were here.”

“Me too.” It wasn’t like they’d saved her life. Still, Kat appreciated being appreciated. Even more now, after everything with Tom.

And just like that she was back to thinking about that. She tried to swallow and managed it without choking.

Screw the whole thing, she thought stubbornly. They didn’t want her? Didn’t need her? Didn’t trust her? Screw them.

That was her new motto. The motto that would give Luke heart palpitations if he heard it applied to his beloved hometown.

And to think that two weeks ago she thought the worst thing Luke would find out about her was that she wasn’t a part of the newly formed women’s book club.

He wouldn’t like that much either.

Sandra was led off to the ambulance by one of the male paramedics. He attached a blood pressure cuff, checked out her cut and made her laugh. It was the last that was likely most important at the moment.

Lisa turned back to Kat, her eyes filled with unshed tears. “You have to come to town. My mom is going to insist on meeting you. And Dr. Haken might have some questions.”

Kat knew that having family involved in an accident, even a minor one, could be scary, but there was no way that Dr. Haken needed Kat’s report.

“Oh, we were just on our way by. We had to stop but we have to—”

“We’d love to come into town and meet everyone,” Luke said, looping his arm around Kat’s shoulders. “Any chance there’s a place we could park the RV and get some lunch?”

“We have a great camping area.” Lisa’s eyes brightened and she smiled. “I know the perfect thing for lunch. Oh, this is great. We’re having a big family reunion over the next few days. You have to come to tonight’s barbecue too! I’ll call Carl and tell him you’ll be at the park overnight.”

“A family—” Kat started. “Oh, no, we can’t—”

“That sounds great. I love barbecues.”

Of course he did. Anything to prolong this trip. If she didn’t know better she would have thought Luke had planned the deer running into Sandy. Not that she minded prolonging the trip now. It was completely chicken, of course, but the longer they stayed away from Justice, the longer it would be until Luke found out the whole story about Tom. If his ignorance could last until Tom stabilized and was back home and recovered, she’d consider it a favor from fate.

Tom’s recovery wouldn’t happen that fast, if it happened at all—Kat forced herself to swallow again—but the longer Luke went without knowing, the better for her heart.

She wished she were confident enough to just be satisfied that she’d done her best and that it didn’t matter what everyone thought. But it did matter. And it especially mattered what Luke thought.

Lisa stood grinning at them and Kat realized what this was—the chance for these people to show their appreciation, to say thanks. That was important, she knew.

“I love barbecues too,” she finally said.

“Great! We’ll see you in town.” Lisa turned and joined the rest of the crew.

“I didn’t think it was possible,” Luke said as they made their way to the RV.

“What? That we’d get invited to a barbecue by a bunch of strangers in a town we didn’t even mean to visit?” she asked.

He took her arm and stopped her, turning her to face him. “That I could want you even more.”

She felt her mouth fall open.

“I’ve never really seen you work before,” he said. “You were in charge, decisive, knew exactly what to do, how to do it. Very sexy.”

He was sincere. She could see it in his eyes. She smiled up at him. “You weren’t too bad yourself. You made her smile, you were right there with whatever we needed.”

“I’ll always be there with whatever you need, Kat,” he said, his voice lower now as he moved in close.

God she wanted that. She bit her lip on saying so, though. She also resisted asking,
Are you sure? What if Tom Martin doesn’t get better?
She gave him a smile that she knew was wobbly. “When we decided to pull over and park the RV for a while, this wasn’t what I had in mind.”

He gave her the sexy half smile. “Babe, I don’t care who or what’s around. Your mouth—both what you’ve said and what you’ve done with it—got us here. This is going to happen before that RV leaves this town.”

“What…exactly?” She wanted to hear it. Once it was out loud he couldn’t take it back. No matter what other phone calls might come in. To either of them.

It might have been completely selfish, but she wanted—needed—to make love with Luke at least once. And she was afraid that it wouldn’t happen if he heard what was going on back home.

Right there was the problem she’d been worried about all along. She wanted unconditional love from him. She wanted him to want her, to be with her, no matter what went wrong—even if it was her fault.

She did not, however, want to test that quite so soon.

“I’m going to strip you down,” Luke said. “Kiss every inch of your body and then make love to you until you never want to be anywhere but in my arms.”

She was already there. And she wanted to cry.

She pressed her lips together and nodded. Heat flared in his eyes.

He looked at her for another heartbeat then said, “I think the barbecue can wait.” He turned away before she could say anything and called out, “Lisa, I need directions to the campground.”

“Stay on the highway until you come to the lumberyard on the left. Turn on the road just past it, go about half a mile and you’ll see it. I gave Carl a heads-up that you’re coming and not to charge you a thing.”

“Oh, no, we’ll pay to stay. That’s not negotiable,” Luke told her.

“Please. We want to do this for you.”

Kat could see it mattered to Lisa, and she trusted Luke would understand too. It was important for people to feel that they’d properly expressed their appreciation. Sometimes it was hard to do that. This was a way for Lisa and Sandy to feel like they’d adequately thanked Kat and Luke for their help. While neither of them would ever expect it, they did understand.

She was right. Luke nodded and said, “Okay, thanks.”

The smile Lisa gave them was proof that it was the right thing to do.

“The barbecue starts at four. You can hang out at the park, or feel free to come downtown. There’s some shopping and Marcy’s café has great lunch specials.”

“That sounds perfect,” Luke assured her. “We appreciate it. I’m glad to have a chance to get out from behind the wheel.”

He didn’t even glance at Kat, but she knew the comment was directed at her. She could only imagine what he thought he was going to be doing out from behind that wheel.

Her body—and heart—had a few ideas.

The town of Rolland, Nebraska was only ten minutes from where they’d found Sandra and was small enough that the park was easy to find. There were four other RVs already parked and the doors banged open as Luke eased to a stop. Several lawn chairs had been grouped together under a tree a few yards from the parking area, and Luke and Kat were greeted by waves and grins from the people gathered there.

“Friends of yours?” Kat asked Luke.

He chuckled. “No, but it looks like they want to be.”

A black extended-cab pickup drew up next to them, honking. The woman in the driver’s seat was also waving madly and grinning, the man next to her climbed out with a huge cardboard box.

“You go first,” Kat said, eyeing the couple with trepidation.

“No way. We’re in this together.”

He got out and rounded the front of the RV as another car pulled in, also honking. Oh boy, this was going to be interesting. Kat took her time getting out of the RV. Meeting new people sometimes made her pulse race. Yes, she was the one who did her hair and makeup and she dressed the way she did on purpose. She always stood out, and people’s reactions were fascinating to her when she could be detached about it. But every once in a while she flashed back to high school and felt self-conscious and, yes, weird.

She watched as first one woman, then another, hugged Luke and the man shook his hand. Others from the lawn chairs started in their direction.

There was a huge sign hung on the fence surrounding the tennis courts that read
Haywood Family Reunion
.

Yeah, definitely interesting. They either thought she and Luke were some long-lost cousins, or they were crazy. Or both.

“I can’t tell you how happy we are to meet you!” the woman from the pickup was telling Luke. She peered around him to Kat. “This must be Dr. Kat.”

Luke turned to her with a big smile, brought her forward and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “It is. The gorgeous lifesaver herself.”

Kat met the woman’s gaze directly. Her eyes were full of admiration—in spite of the streak of blue in Kat’s hair—and Kat felt the tension in her body loosen a bit.

“Lisa called us from the ambulance, told us everything you did for Sandy and that you’re staying here tonight,” the woman said. “I’m Sandy’s sister, Donna. This is Michael.”

The woman from the car enfolded Kat in a huge hug. “I’m Connie. Another sister. I can’t believe that this all happened when we’re here for the reunion and everything. But thank God you were there.”

“It was no problem,” Kat insisted. It hadn’t been. She’d given Sandra a cloth to put against the gash in her forehead. It wasn’t like she snatched her from the jaws of death.

Kat mentally shook herself. She had to quit thinking like that. There was nothing she could do from here and worrying about it was only going to steal from her time with Luke.