Page 44 of Tom's Chance
Tom jerkedawake at the feel of someone shaking him and he looked up to see Duane’s concerned face only inches from him.
“What’s wrong? What time is it?”
“It’s a little after six in the morning.”
Tom jumped up from the couch and caught Rose just before she hit the floor. “Is Lorissa home?”
“When was the last time you talked to her?”
“Around ten, she called me and said she was leaving Jared’s place as soon as he filled her travel mug with coffee. She reassured me that she would be home by midnight. I thought she would have woken me when she got home.”
“Shit,” Duane said as he ran his hands through hishair. “Sparrow called us about twenty minutes ago. There was an accident earlier, and when they got there, there was a three-car accident.”
“Lorissa?”
“She’s alive, but pretty banged up. We have to go to the hospital in Colorado Springs. I saw your truck and wondered what was up. Are you dating Lorissa?”
“Trying to,” Tom admitted as he took the cup of coffee Laurie handed him. He took a sip then excused himself to use the downstairs bathroom. When he rejoined them, they made their way outside, he noted the animals had been let out and they had fresh food and water.
“What happened?”
“Do you want to ride with us?” Duane asked as he pointed at Laurie and Lois as they climbed into his vehicle.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll drive myself.”
“That’s fine, all we know is that one of those on-board call centers called 9-1-1 when they heard of an accident. Sparrow said that there were two cars, and one truck involved. That’s all she’d tell me, well, that’s not right, she said all this to Laurie. She said we needed to get to Colorado Springs ASAP.”
“Follow me.”
“Why?”
“Because I can cut thirty minutes off our time if we take the back roads.”
“Got it.” Duane didn’t argue and climbed behind the wheel.
Tom started his truck and instead of heading into Fool’s Gold, he went in the opposite direction and nodded when he saw Duane following him. As he drove, he used his Bluetooth to call Sparrow.
“Sparrow, it’s Tom Stolls, you called Lorissa Gibson’s mother about an accident.”
“I did, and no offense, Stolls, but what concern of it is yours?” The voice on the other end of the line was cold. Cold enough to make Tom shiver.
“What did I do to you.”
“Sorry, it’s just a mess here. There are more questions than answers. Where are you right now?”
“Heading to the hospital. Duane Manchester woke me.”
“Where were you?”
“Sleeping on Lorissa’s couch.”
“You two dating?”
“Trying to, she was called out on a job yesterday afternoon. She called me before she left, said she’d be home, to her place, around midnight.”
“Okay, where was she calling from?”
“Jared Coleman’s ranch, he had a problem with a horse.”
