Page 8 of Haystack

To be fair, Archie thinks everything is a death trap. The man’s not known for getting his hands dirty. The hard work is more my style.

I climb the ladder and head into the dark attic. For a brief moment, in the blackness, I wonder what it would take to convince Liv to sneak up here with me. I make a mental note to run it by her. She won’t tell me she loves me, but she says yes to a whole lot of other suggestions.

It’s triple-digit hot outside, which means the temperature up here is extreme, even for Texas. Think face-of-the-sun-hot. My shirt has got to go. I shrug it off and toss it down the attic entrance. When I do, I hear Archie chuckle and say something I can’t quite make out.

“Hey man, double-check the breaker for me,” I call out.

Archie doesn’t respond, but I’m sure he heard me. I hold my flashlight between my teeth and get to work unweaving the tangled web of wires. Sweat burns my eyes and the flashlight slips from my mouth. When I reach to pick it up, I hear footsteps below me.

“Liv?”

I back down the ladder in the dark. Somehow, I miss a step in the process. I lose my balance and reach into the darkness for something to steady me. My hand lands in a mountain of live wire. As soon as I grasp it, a shockwave shoots up my arm. I try to hold onto the ladder, but the current jolts through my body, and my muscles lock into place.

After that, everything goes black.

* * *

I groan, blinking my eyes open in a groggy haze. The wooden ceiling above me swirls out of focus. A searing pain shoots through my chest and limbs as I try to move. Archie is above me and Liv is here too.

I try to focus, but Archie is everywhere. He’s talking too loud and ordering people around. Liv looks frozen and I want to take her hand in mine. It’s difficult to retain the details, but outside an ambulance arrives in a flash of red and blue.

The paramedics load me onto a stretcher and talk to each other in low, calm tones. I pick up the wordselectrocuted, out for five minutes, heart rate erratic, and low blood pressure.It doesn’t sound great and it feels even worse.

When I’m strapped into the back of the ambulance, the paramedic turns to Archie and Liv. “Only one of you can be in the cab, the other can follow behind in a car. We’re headed over to the county hospital on farm road twenty-seven.”

“Well,” Archie barks, waving a hand toward me. “Olivia!”

But she doesn’t move. I want to wrap her in my arms and tell her that I’m okay. I need her to know that I’m not going anywhere, but my body won’t cooperate. In the end, Archie climbs into the ambulance beside me as the doors slam shut. The last thing I see through the window is Olivia standing alone in the driveway. Her arms are wrapped around herself and it breaks my heart. My eyes snap shut.

CHAPTER6

OLIVIA

The ambulance carryingTrent disappears down the winding country road. Archie is by his side instead of me, because I couldn’t move. The red lights flash in the distance. I stand alone in the driveway, my heart pounding with dread as the world goes blurry around me.

I can’t breathe. This is too much, too familiar.The echoes of the night we lost Jake make me want to drown.How can this be happening?One minute Trent was tossing his shirt down from the attic and Archie was joking about it. The next Trent was lying motionless on the floor. The image keeps replaying in my mind. I’ve never been so scared in all my life.

I've avoided confronting my feelings for so long. But in this moment of crisis, all my walls crumble down around me. Amid the chaos, there is silence.

I put a hand on my stomach and think of the luckiest baby in the world who will have Trent as a dad. I think of all the ways he’s brought joy to my world. I remember how lost I’d been until I saw him that day at the cottage. The truth emerges with absolute clarity.

I'm in love with Trent and I always have been. The connection between us is deep and fierce. He brings out the best in me and loves me at my worst. All he wants is to be by my side and I couldn’t get out of my own way to give him that. Now there’s a chance I’m going to lose him before I ever get to tell him exactly what he means to me.

Panic rises in my chest and before I can think, my feet are flying toward my car. I climb in and race to the hospital. I can't imagine a world without Trent in it. He's woven into the fabric of my life and I’m more myself when I’m with him.

There’s so much left unsaid between us. All I want is the chance to tell him exactly how I feel. I grip the steering wheel to steady my shaking hands. I’m ready to run, only this time I’m running toward him.

Trent has to make it through this. He has to. Our story is only just beginning. We’re having a baby. He and I are going to be a family. I refuse to consider any outcome other than Trent opening his eyes again.

I burst through the doors of the emergency room and shout at the first nurse I see. She tells me that only family can enter and without a single moment of hesitation, I introduce myself as Trent’s wife.

The woman pities me and doesn’t ask me for proof. Instead, she leads me to a private room in the ICU. Before I step inside, the doctors tell me the extent of his injuries. The awful words cut into me like a knife and include the phrasessevere electrical burnsanda dangerously faint heart rhythm.

When I enter the room, Archie stands. I shudder to see it filled with monitors, tubes, and IV lines. Trent is motionless on the bed, bandages covering his chest and hands. But the steady beat of the heart monitor tells me that I’m not too late and I hang on to that shred of hope with all I have.

“Hey,” Archie looks over at me, his voice low.

“I’m here now. I’m sorry. I wanted to ride with him, I just panicked. I thought—”

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