Page 61 of Break My Fall

“I would have, but my only choice for a protector is Gray. Cal and Landry are going somewhere for an early Valentine’s Day weekend. So are Mom and Dad. Mo will be in Charlotte all day on Saturday for some kind of meeting with a client who lives in the Pacific Northwest and wants to meet with him in person. And Donovan is working.”

Bronwyn grimaced. “What about Connor or Chad?”

Cal’s older brothers, who were like Meredith’s older brothers, would probably have stepped in. “I couldn’t bring myself to ask them. I mean, what if something did happen? They have wives. Kids. I can’t risk that.”

Bronwyn threw her arms around Meredith and gave her a huge hug. “Your heart is ridiculous, and I’m so glad I know you.”

They rocked back and forth, laughing, and as they broke apart, Meredith caught a glimpse of a dark figure hurtling toward them.

Before she could process what was happening, she was shoved into the middle of Main Street. She’d taken the hit in her stomach, and either the blow or the landing had knocked all the air from her. She lay in the middle of the road, desperately trying to pull in some oxygen and clear her head when she heard a sound that some part of her recognized as a vehicle.

She managed to sit up, but the dizziness drove her back down, elbows resting on the pavement.

Bronwyn lay a few feet away, eyes blinking rapidly. “What—?”

The headlights were probably what saved her life. Meredith saw them and had a flash of insight. The fast-moving vehicle was headed straight for them. She scrambled to her knees. “Run!”

Neither of them could get up, but they crawled into the emptyspace between her 4Runner and Bronwyn’s BMW seconds before a large truck screamed past them.

Meredith had no memory of getting from the street to the door of the coffee shop. But she and Bronwyn reached it at the same time and pounded on the door until Judy rushed forward and unlocked it.

“What’s going on?” she asked as they shoved past her.

“Lock the door. Quick.” Meredith managed to gasp out the warning before she collapsed into a chair.

Judy locked the door and turned to where Meredith and Bronwyn were huddled together. “What’s happening?”

“Call the police.” Bronwyn bit the words out. “Please.”

Judy nodded. “My phone’s in the back. Hang on.” She jogged away from them.

“Judy,” Meredith called after her, “make sure the back is locked.”

“I’m on it. I’ll set the alarm too.”

Meredith wasn’t sure when the shaking started. But once it did, there was nothing she could do to stop the full-body tremor that racked her frame. Bronwyn, for her part, had managed to pale underneath her normally brown skin. Her eyes were wide, and her breathing was coming in short little gasps that didn’t seem healthy.

Not that shaking from head to toe was healthy.

“I think we might be going into shock,” Bronwyn forced out as Judy returned to the main room.

“I don’t know what happened. That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” she said into the phone. “Meredith Quinn and Bronwyn Pierce just beat down my door. They look like someone roughed them up. And they told me to call the police.”

A pause.

“They might be going into shock. There’s some blood on Meredith’s face.” Another pause. “Yeah. Call her. Okay.” She held thephone away from her ear. “Jeremiah Dawkins is on the desk. He can’t leave the station, but he has someone on the way here. And he’s calling Dr. Shaw.”

Judy walked behind the cash register and came back with two towels. She handed one to Meredith and one to Bronwyn. “You, um, there’s some blood.” She pointed to Meredith’s face and Bronwyn’s hands.

“It doesn’t hurt.” Bronwyn looked at her hands like they belonged to someone else.

“Same.” Meredith held the towel to her temple and brought it away. “That is actually a lot of blood.” She should be worried about that. Shouldn’t she?

Judy pressed the towel back to her head. “Hold it there. Keep pressure.”

A second later, the front door rattled. Judy ran to it, peered outside, then opened it. Donovan came inside, took one look at Meredith and Bronwyn, and spoke into the walkie-talkie contraption on his shoulder. “Tell Dr. Shaw she might want to hurry. And call the chief.”

“Don’t call the chief.” Meredith shook her head to disagree, and the pain that split through it had her dropping her head to the tabletop.

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