Page 74 of Every Beat of My Heart

“We’re not going to think about that. Let’s get to your girl and bring her home.”

That seemed to ease Wes’s mind. “Thanks for coming with me.”

“You would have gone with or without me,” I said with no question in my tone.

Wes sighed. “I can’t believe she drove in this.”

“Sutton hates family gatherings. She always comes to you,” I said, hoping something I said took his mind off the worst-case scenarios.

“Sutton said her grandmother was going to make an announcement. She was worried about it.”

“Isn’t her family always making some big announcement, and it turns out to be nothing?”

“Sutton thought this time was different. Her grandmother’s sick. She made some mention of the will.”

I gripped the steering wheel more tightly. “Her grandmother loves to talk about dying and her will.”

“To Sutton, it feels like a threat. She’s the only one in the family who loves the estate and the legacy. Everyone else just wants the money.”

“You think her grandmother is going to give the estate to charity? Just to screw her family?”

“Sutton’s worried, and whatever happened, she knows about it now. She could be upset.”

I got his unspoken message. Sutton was upset and driving in freezing rain. She might not be as cautious as she would otherwise be. “We’ll get her and bring her home.”

Wes shot me a grateful look. “I wish I could convince her to leave her family and do something else. Forget about them and their drama.”

“They’re her family. It’s hard to disregard them.”

“I get that.”

We fell silent for a while as I moved from the farm’s lane to the main road. Sutton was right; they were slick. I kept my attention on the tires until we saw a car off the road just ahead.

Wes leaned forward when he saw the red convertible. “That’s her. It’s Sutton.”

“Okay. Okay. Let me turn around.” I slowly made a U-turn, pulled past her car, and manuvered to the side of the road.

Before I’d come to a stop, Wes had ripped open his door and was running to Sutton’s driver’s side door.

He was a state police officer but worked for the Department of Natural Resources. He didn’t deal with car accidents.

I grabbed my bag and raced to Wes’s side. “How is she?”

I pushed him out of the way, logging the bruise on her head with a small cut that was bleeding. Most likely, she’d hit her head when the car slid off the road. She must not have been going fast enough for the air bag to deploy.

“Can we move her? Can we get her out of here?” Wes asked.

“Should be able to. How’s your head, Sutton?” I kept my words concise yet firm.

“It hurts.” Her hand drifted to her forehead.

“Anything else get hurt when you slid off the road?”

Her hand drifted lower. “My knee.”

“Okay. I’m going to open your door and take a look at you. If everything’s good, I’ll carry you to my truck. Then we’ll take you home and treat you there.”

Her forehead wrinkled. “What about my car?”

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