Where Forever Lies (6 page)

His son, well, she assumed it
was his son considering they looked a lot alike, looked around in
disbelief at the crash scene, and then at her.

“Yeah, I think so,”
she sighed, wanting to keep her cool since there was a child involved
and already staring at her as if she was a lunatic. “We’re
going to have to exchange insurance information, though,” she
told him while brushing her sweaty hair out of her face and getting
out her card. She was trying to calm down, but her nerves were
rattled. What was this guy thinking trying to blame his mistake on
another driver? She watched him dig into his wallet, his jaw clenched
tightly and a hard look on his face, as he pulled out his insurance
card. And then she looked down and noticed his cowboy boots. He was a
country boy and that kind of shocked her. She remembered how he had
referred to her as ma’am a few minutes ago and she couldn’t
remember the last time someone his age was that respectful. She
didn’t think the guys she knew had any idea that that word
existed.

She made herself concentrate on
what had just happened and told herself that, even though he seemed
respectful, he was probably the arrogant type who thought they could
do no wrong. She didn’t care if he was good-looking or not, or
that he was tall with a nice strong body, and that stubble on his
face gave him a nice rugged look to complement his cowboy boots
and...

“Excuse me, miss?”
An older man with curly gray hair and a bushy mustache interrupted
her from her misbehaving thoughts. She realized it had been way too
long since she had been with a man, if she was having sexual thoughts
about the careless, country guy who almost killed her. She looked up
at the older man walking over to them and thought he resembled her
grandfather in a way, maybe because they were both old with gray
hair, she didn’t know. All she knew right then was that her
mind was a little out of sorts.

“Um, I called the cops and
they should be on their way, are you okay, miss?” he asked, as
he leaned into Paige’s car and shut the engine off for her. She
was so upset that she had accidentally left her car running when she
got out.

“I’m okay, and
thanks,” she said to the older man, thinking how nice it was of
him to do that for her.

The cowboy handed his insurance
card to her and Paige reached out and took it. She looked down at the
name which read Tyler Evans.

As if reading her mind, he held
out his hand and said, “I’m Tyler Evans by the way, it’s
nice to run into you like this.”

She looked up at him and saw the
corner of his mouth twist and a half smile full of sarcasm formed on
his face.

The nerve of him to make
jokes right now
, she
thought. But as she reached out to shake his hand, she couldn’t
help but smile at his demented sense of humor.

“I’m Paige Griffin.”
His big hand swallowed her dainty one as he firmly shook it and she
was about to say something else when she heard someone yell her name.
She looked around, peering through the two wrecked cars and the line
of traffic still stopped on the highway, but didn’t see anyone
she knew. All she saw were nosy people staring from the windshields
of their still operable vehicles, and she couldn’t figure out
who would be yelling for her. She heard her name called again and
then she saw David walking up ahead. David was also with Sam, her
friend Natasha’s brother. The two brothers of her recently
deceased friends had just shown up at her car wreck. She shook her
head in disbelief as she walked over to them.

“What are you guys doing
here?” she asked, a little puzzled that they were together,
since she had not known that they were friends to begin with.

“Well, we saw your wreck
from the bridge up there and we wanted to come and make sure you were
all right. Are you okay?” David asked, clearly concerned as he
eyed the damage to her car.

“Yeah, I think so.”
She looked up at the bridge and was surprised that they had seen her
standing on the side of the highway from that distance, in all this
mess. “I’m still a little shaken up, though. I was just
stopped in traffic when that guy,” she pointed towards Tyler,
who gave her an annoyed look, and continued, “came flying down
the highway towards me and didn’t bother stopping. He slammed
straight into me, and now he’s saying it was because some other
car cut him off.” She felt goose bumps rise as she thought
about the situation. What were the odds of both of them being
together and driving by the minute she had a serious wreck? Weird,
she thought, and a small twinge of pain leapt at her heart as she saw
pieces of Randy and Natasha in them.

“Are you sure you’re
okay?” David asked again, as he looked around at the wreckage
and ran his hands through his black hair, his chocolate brown eyes
studying hers. She wondered why he seemed extremely worried, but then
it dawned on her that this was, in a way, how Randy had died. Her
heart sank at the thought. It had only been a month now since Randy
had died and she was still torn in two by his loss.

“Yeah, I’m fine,
don’t worry. I’m glad that Kyra was not with me. Luckily,
I was just leaving work and she is at her grandma’s house.”
Paige sighed, as she looked at her car. “My car is probably
totaled though, but I’ll work something out with this guy and
his insurance company. And now, I have you and Sam checking up on me,
so I think I’m pretty lucky.” Paige said, reaching out to
touch his shoulder.

“I’m just glad
you’re okay. It looks like the cops are here so you probably
need to talk with them. Tell Kyra her uncle David says hi.”
David reached over and gave Paige a hug. She hugged him tightly and
then looked over at Sam, who, with his auburn hair, hazel eyes, and
slim lanky figure bore an aching resemblance to his sister. Natasha,
who was never out of her thoughts after all these months, who could
not fight the demons that fed upon her insecurities, and who left an
open wound on her soul that would never heal for the rest of her
life. The pain that stung her heart by that small reflection of the
past also woke her up to her trailing thoughts and she came back to
the present.

“It was nice that you guys
came and checked up on me, thanks,” she said, swallowing hard
as she leaned over and hugged Sam.

“Glad you’re okay,”
Sam told her quietly, as he returned her hug.

“Thanks. You both need to
keep in touch, OK?”

“We will,” they both
said at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed as they
turned to leave.

Paige smiled hesitantly, unsure
about what had just happened, and waved good-bye to them as they
walked back to their truck. Tiredly, she walked over to the accident
scene where a cop, his lights flashing crazily like a strobe light,
and a man with the wrecker ready to haul her totaled car away, were
waiting to talk to her.

She exchanged insurance info
with the cops and the other driver, and was relieved when her mom
finally pulled up. Remembering what was still hanging on her rearview
mirror, she quickly ran back to her car before the wrecker could haul
it away and reached inside to grab her lucky horseshoe necklace. She
held it in her hand and looked it over as the memories resurfaced.
Natasha had given her this necklace for her birthday last year and
told her it would bring her more than just good luck. She had never
asked what else it could give her, she didn’t think it mattered
at the time. It was the last item that Natasha had given her before
she had committed suicide and it would be something she would always
hold close to her heart. She never took it out of the car that she
was driving and knew this time it had kept its promise of giving her
luck and keeping her safe.

With the horseshoe necklace
clutched tightly in her hand, she took one last glance back at Tyler
and watched as his eyes caught hers as he talked with the cops, and
then she got into her mom’s car.

As she got in, she leaned around
to the back seat and smiled brightly at her little girl, thankful
this disaster wasn’t any worse than it was. She couldn’t
bear the thought of her daughter losing both her parents. Kyra,
wearing a pink headband with a bow and matching pink dress, gave her
a mischievous grin back and then continued playing with her toy. As
her mom pulled away from the accident scene, and she listened to Kyra
jabber in the backseat, she didn’t think twice about the
good-looking idiot who had hit her.

“I am just so happy you
are all right, are you sure you don’t need to go to the
hospital and get checked out?” her mom said, taking quick
glances at her and trying not to wreck, herself, as she maneuvered
out of the wreckage. She had both hands on the steering wheel and
Paige could tell she was a nervous wreck.

“I’m fine mom,”
Paige said, just wanting to get home and take a nice hot shower. She
did feel a little queasy but figured it was just her nerves. She was
starting to calm down now with the adrenaline rush gone, and it hit
her how lucky she really was. She was inches away from death and she
felt so thankful to be here right now.

They pulled into the parking lot
of her apartment complex and she gave her mom a quick hug.

“Thanks for coming to pick
me up,” Paige said as she got out and opened Kyra’s door.

“Do you need any help
getting in the door with her?”

“No, I’ve got it,
but thanks.” She set Kyra on the ground and grabbed her hand,
waving bye to her mom as they walked inside.

After getting the door opened,
Kyra squealed with excitement and immediately ran to her toy pile on
the rug. Paige started picking things up around the house and sighed
as she thought about the last year. It had been a rough one, with
Natasha dying, then Randy a month ago, and now her car was totaled
and she had no transportation, and could have died herself. She felt
like bad luck was looming over her. She figured things could be
worse, at least she was alive and healthy and Kyra was too. She
should be grateful and not be dwelling on the negative side of
things. She was still grieving the friends she had lost, but knew
that would heal in time.

After a long day, nothing
sounded better than sleep. She put Kyra to bed and then took a long,
hot shower, hoping it would ease her already sore and aching muscles.

“I told you I have to have
a car as soon as possible so I can get to work,” Paige said as
she paced irritability around her living room, trying to convey her
frustration to the insurance company without blowing up at them. She
didn’t want to come across as rude, but she was desperate to
get a rental car. “Ugh, yeah, I’ll hold.” She was
at her wit’s end and thought if they didn’t get her a
rental car today she would scream.

“Um, Ms. Griffin, it looks
like the other insurance company just faxed the information over that
I need and I think I have everything to get your rental this
afternoon. If you go to American Rental they should have a car for
you by four o’ clock.” The receptionist stated on the
other end.

“Thank you, that makes my
day.” Paige hung up the phone, relieved, and dialed Kyleigh’s
number to see if she could take her to the rental company. She had to
get this lined out because she was tired of stressing about how she
would get to work tomorrow or if she were to have an emergency. She
didn’t like feeling helpless.

Luckily, she had today off
because she was a little sore and stiff and she knew she’d be
uncomfortable taking care of the patients today. She hoped she’d
be feeling better by tomorrow.

An hour later, Kyleigh showed up
at her door. She was perky, vibrant, and full of energy.

“Hey, are you ready?”
she asked, jiggling her keys in her hand, and grinning mischievously
at her.

“Yeah, let me grab my
stuff. What’s going on with you?” Paige asked as she
gave her a wary look.

“Nothing, why?”
Kyleigh said, quickly.

“There’s something
going on with you, I can tell,” Paige said, eyeing her up and
down. Her shoulder length brown hair was lightly curled and her lips
had a touch of faded red lipstick on them which blended well with her
cream colored low cut shirt and dark denim shorts. Mascara covered
her eyelashes and her eyes had a smokey hue to them. Kyleigh wasn’t
one to wear makeup very often, or curl her hair. Paige studied her
closely and thought she wore it all really well. She looked vibrant,
beautiful and sultry. It was a little shocking, compared to how she
normally looked, but Paige liked it.

Kyleigh saw her staring and
waved her off with her hand, “Oh, I’ll tell you in the
car. Now, hurry up!” Kyleigh was down the hall and out the main
door before Paige could get the door shut.

Her mom had stopped by to pick
up Kyra so Paige could have half the day to get some errands done
once they picked up her rental car. She would need to start looking
for a new one soon, even though she was dreading it. She had some
money saved, but she hated to spend it. But, she also knew she
couldn’t go without a car.

She looked over at Kyleigh, “All
right, spill it.”

Kyleigh gave her a look, her
eyes darting from the road to Paige and then she sucked in a breath
and said, “I’ve made up my mind to leave Brad.”
Kyleigh’s face scrunched up as Paige let out a loud shriek,
making her ears hurt.

“Kyleigh, that is the best
news, ever!” she screamed, reaching over to hug her. “What
made you decide on that?” Paige asked as she turned the radio
down.

Kyleigh sighed, and a tired look
came over her. “I decided it the other night when he punched me
in the side, hard,” she said quietly, keeping her eyes on the
road.

Paige felt the tension in the
car escalate and she gritted her teeth, not believing that Brad
Ramsey thought he could hit her. “Kyleigh, what the hell?
Please tell me that’s the first time he’s done that?”
Paige questioned harshly. She wasn’t able to keep the anger out
of her voice.