Page 10 of Protecting Vidalia
Before she could refuse, he took the keys and headed out the door, pausing to wave after he turned the black pickup around and headed down the drive.She’d followed him outside and was staring after him with her arms folded across her middle, her face unreadable. She did wave back though.
***
JAKE PARKED AT THEend of the gravel lane and flipped open his cell phone to make a call to Dax.
“Dax Manning, here,” came the disembodied voice in the phone.
“Hi Dax. It’s Jake.”
“Hey, Jake. Did Vi make it up there?”
“Yes, she did, but she's petrified of storms.There was a big one up here last night,” Jake replied, watching a rabbit leaping across the road.
“That's understandable.”
“Yeah, the electricity went out so I stayed over last night.”
“You stayed over?” Dax echoed. “She let you stay over?”
“Technically, I didn’t give her much choice,” Jake said. “My jeep broke down on the way over here and it was starting to pour down rain once I arrived. I had no intention of walking three miles home in all that lightning and wind. It was blowing branches off trees.”
“Well, did you two have a good time?” Dax asked curiously.
“Hardly. Getting her to talk was like pulling hen’s teeth. Non-existent.”
Dax laughed. “Vi’s a pretty private person.”
There was silence for a few seconds, then Jake said, “Dax, what happened that Vi won't talk about? I can tell it’s really bothering her.”
Jake could hear the sigh on the other end of the line. “You've seen the news about the ten-year-old girl they found in the ravine up in Rangers Pass?”
“The one that was killed in the flash flood several weeks ago?”
“Yeah...that's the one,” Dax replied. “Her name was Dani Owens.”
“I do remember something about it in the paper. She got separated from her parents or something like that, and called 911in the middle of a thunderstorm?” Jake tried to remember the article, but couldn't recall all the details.”
“That's the one,” Dax said. “Vi got the call that night. She couldn't get the girl to do any of the things she asked her to because she was so terrified. She’d told VI she was in Rangers Pass, but the phone went dead in the middle of the call. By the time the medics found her, a flash flood had ravaged the ravine, and they found Dani's body near the bottom.Vi blames herself. She thinks she should have been able to talk Dani into getting out of the ravine or getting above the water, but the little girl was too petrified to move.”
“What a hard call for Vi,” Jake murmured sympathetically. “There's only so much a person can do for someone else, and Vi has to face that fact sooner or later.”
“We thought she was okay with it since she refused stress debriefing. But she's been getting short tempered and super tired at work, which means she isn’t sleeping well. We could all tell she was still stressed out about it.Ross suggested she take some time off and she said she’d been going to ask that very thing. He was relieved because he didn’t want to order her into stress debrief if she didn’t want to. So, I offered her my four-wheel drive and the keys to the cabin.”
“Taking time off was smart of her,” Jake agreed.
“Vi is damned good at her job, one of the best dispatchers we have,” Dax replied. “I hope she's able to make the transition, or I'm afraid she'll end up quitting or losing her job. I’d hate to see either of those things happen.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” Jake replied. “Dealing with loss-related stress can be extremely difficult, especially if you bottle it all up inside.”
“If anyone can understand, it’s you, buddy,” Dax replied quietly. “Maybe it’s a good thing you two met.”
“I don’t know if she thinks so,” Jake replied, thinking of the spanking he’d given Vidalia the night before. “She’s really stubborn, and you know me...I don’t do stubborn females.”
Dax chuckled. “Don’t tell me you...”
“I did,” Jake interrupted him. He told Dax what had happened the night before.
"It must just be your winning personality,” Dax teased. “Vi has always been cooperative here at work. The epitome of good behavior.”
