Page 86 of One Night With You

Claire stiffened next to me, and I wrapped my arm around her. Hudson came closer, a scowl on his face.

“What do you mean they found the car?”

In the weeks since the accident, they had been searching for the driver and car that had run Claire off the road and almost killed her. But they hadn’t found it. The lack of evidence, and the snowstorm had pushed everything behind. Then there had been a giant pileup on the highway, as well as a double homicide in the same area, and while it had nothing to do with Claire’s accident, it did pull focus.

But not for us, never for us.

“They found the car abandoned, about ten miles outside of Westminster.”

I blinked. “All the way down there?”

He nodded. “Yes. It made it all the way down there,and there was clear evidence that it was the car that hit Claire.”

“What happened to the driver?” Claire asked, her voice low.

Ford shook his head. “Turns out he turned himself in this morning.”

My jaw dropped as Claire gasped. “Just like that?” I asked, anger rising. “After all this time?”

“It was a kid, Claire,” Ford said, speaking directly to her and wisely ignoring my anger. “The cops are going to call you in the morning because they were still working through things. I just have a buddy that was keeping me in the loop because we’ve been helping him with another case. That’s the only reason I know now. And I literally just found out. It was a kid. Some seventeen-year-old who had been drinking cheap booze and didn’t realize what he was doing. He stole his dad’s car, and then kept driving because he was so damn scared. And when they found the car, the kid wasn’t home, but the dad was. I don’t know the whole story, but the kid showed up at the precinct, and told them everything. I don’t know what’s going to happen to him, it’s not going to be good. He’s seventeen, they can treat him like an adult. But he was scared shitless.”

“He almost killed Claire,” I growled.

Claire patted my chest, her voice soft when she spoke. “But I’m fine. How scary for that kid though?”

“Don’t…don’t pity him,” I snapped.

“I’m with Kingston on this,” Hudson agreed.

“I can be angry with him later. I’ve been angry with whoever this imaginary person was this entire time. But right now, I’m just sad. His entire life has changed, and I’m fine. Yes, I was scared, but we’ve been through worse. Every single person in this room has been through worse. Which is terrifying considering what happened. But we’re okay, and we’re in this new year, and I just want good things to happen. So let’s have this family dinner which has been stressing me out all day because it’s a meet the parents thing even though I know you guys, and well, here I am. Panicking over this. But I love all of you. Every single person in this room. So let’s just deal with it tomorrow. Because I’m okay.” She repeated, looking at me, “I’m okay.”

I sighed, and wrapped my arms around her, as I saw out of the corner of my eye my mom wiping tears from her face. “Well, I always wanted a daughter. I’m glad that I have you.”

“Mom,” I whispered.

“Oh shush. I’m not pushing you into marriage or defining your relationship—I’m adopting her. It’s going to get a little weird later with the paperwork, but she’s mine now. I’m sorry.”

I laughed, as my mom took Claire from me, andEthan held me close. “I love you, son. Don’t be angry. You’ll deal with it later.”

I met Ford’s gaze, and he nodded, and I knew we would.

My job was protecting people. And finding ways for them to protect themselves. The fact that Claire was able to find that space in order to say what she did? She was so much stronger than any of us. And maybe, just maybe, I hadn’t failed as many times as I thought. So we would deal with the future together, all of us. We would deal with the driver, with the next calamity that came to the Montgomerys, and anything that the world threw at us.

Claire looked over her shoulder and winked at me, and I lifted my chin, before I went over to her, my family surrounding me.

One night had changed everything, but in the end, I got the girl.

I had finally fallen for the girl who had always been there.

And it was about damn time.

20

CLAIRE

Dear Diary,

I haven’t written in this journal since right after the attack and now I realize that maybe that was for the best. I didn’t need to show you who I was when I didn’t know who that person could be.

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