Page 71 of This Loving Feeling (Mirror Lake)

“Great, then help me up,” Lukas said.

“You hit your head and blacked out.” Ben laid a hand firmly on his chest. “Stay put.”

Just then, two paramedics set down a stretcher and some equipment next to his head. Ben moved aside to let them do their job.

“Send them away,” Lukas said to Ben. “You said I’m fine.”

“I said you’re fine, but I didn’t say you’re not going to the hospital. Strap him to the backboard,” Ben said to the paramedics.

“Some compassionate doctor you are,” Lukas said.

Lukas motioned with his hand for Sam to come closer. She knelt down on the grass beside him and bent her head low. Her silky hair brushed his face, its sweet fragrance enveloping him.

“Did you like the song?” he whispered.

Her eyes were soft and teary and full of feeling. “Yes.” He wanted so badly to touch her, to wipe her tears away, to kiss her, dammit, but they were slapping on a neck brace and strapping him down to the backboard and he couldn’t even reach for her.

“Our song.” He was having a difficult time talking. He might have been mumbling but he wasn’t sure. He must’ve really whacked his head on that drum set. But he really wanted her to understand. Needed her to understand. “I thought I lost you. I thought you spent the night with him.”

He felt something touch his hand. Her fingers, closing over his. He shut his eyes for just a second, lavishing in her warmth. Her softness. Her presence.

“Be with me,” he whispered.

“You stupid fool,” she said, crying openly now. “You had me when you said you wrote a song for me.” She paused and wiped a few tears from her cheeks.

“I wroteeverysong for you.”

“Okay, lovebirds,” a gray-haired paramedic said. “You’re not the only citizens of Mirror Lake who need help. Plus it’s about to pour. This bus is leaving.”

“I’m riding with him,” Sam said to Carol Abrams, one of the paramedics who’d been on the squad for about twenty years. Except she wasn’t sure Carol heard because she was busy humming a tune. It sounded a lot like the one Lukas had just sung.

“How do you know that song?’ Sam asked. “It hasn’t been released yet.”

“Howie Zambrosky from the precinct recorded it on his phone and sent it to us. He may have uploaded it to YouTube too. Great song.”

The song he’d sung forher. She was the girl he couldn’t forget. He’d come here to fight for her. Nothing else mattered but being with him, making up for lost years. Having the chance of a lifetime to start fresh.

Her heart knew this was right. More right than anything she’d ever felt. She didn’t know where this would lead her but she had to take the chance or she’d regret it the rest of her life.

Tom helped her into the EMS vehicle next to Lukas and handed over her purse. Sure enough, Brad was there, standing next to Tom, a big scowl on his face. “Are you okay?” he asked, looking at her with concern and tenderness that made her even more emotional.

She nodded. She tried to communicate to Brad with her eyes. Please don’t judge me.He looked worried, and he looked skeptical—the typical Brad look. He was sure to be disappointed in her for her rash choice.

But she just couldn’t muster up guilt. She wasn’t nineteen anymore. Her decisions were her own. She wanted to reassure him, tell him everything was going to be all right, but who knew? She was leaping into this without a clue as to what their future would hold. And of course Brad sensed that too.

On impulse, she reached out her hand to Tom, who kissed it and flashed his dimpled smile. Then she reached for Brad. He met her gaze, and she met his. Slowly, he nodded and gave her hand a warm squeeze. It seemed to say that he might not agree with her choices, but he loved her anyway. All right then. Good enough.

A strange sense of exhilaration overcame her as she climbed in beside Lukas for the ride. She was conscious that she’d made a choice, one that had severed a big chunk of her past—Harris—in exchange for a walk through uncharted territory. She’d never been one for uncertainty, but for the first time in a long time she felt—free.

“At the very least he’ll need a few stitches,” Carol said, examining the back of Lukas’s head. “And can I take a selfie with you?”

“Only if you get my good side,” Lukas said, shifting his eyes toward her since he couldn’t move his head, which Carol thought was hysterical. “What’s the verymostI’ll need?” he asked Ben.

“Brain surgery to help you write better lyrics about my sister.”

Lukas’s mouth turned up in a half smile.

Carol laughed and took a picture. “Hey!” Lukas said. “I was kidding. That better not end up on TMZ.”

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