Page 3 of All Autumn
“Are you decent?” I asked, still keeping my eyes averted.
She let out an annoyed sigh. “Yes, Connor, all my lady parts are covered. You don’t have to worry about hurting your eyeballs again.”
For sure, my eyeballs hadn’t been hurt. Not even in the slightest. Like I said, Autumn and I were friends from way back. I’d never thought about the girl I used to climb trees with the way I was now. But hey, I’m a man. Flash us a picture of a woman’s pretty pink lady parts and all bets are off. And Autumn’s? Perfection.
She’s your friend, douchebag. You will wipe that image out of your mind. Right. That’s what I’d do. Besides, it was so not cool to get turned on when your married friend had just been in an accident and was traumatized.
“I wish you’d stay still and let me call for help,” I said to her retreating back. Or not. When she stopped to study the steep hill she’d need to scale, I chased after her. “You’ll never climb up that by yourself.”
“You think so?” She eyed me as if I were a pesky nuisance. “I have so much rage inside me right now that I could probably fly to the top.” She frowned as she studied the embankment.
I put my hand on her shoulder. “Autumn, what’s going on?” At my touch she looked up at me, tears pooling in the eyes that were filled with anger only seconds ago. Oh, hell. She was crying again. Time to shut up. Whatever the deal was, it was none of my business.
Except she was my friend and obviously upset about something. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t try to find out what the problem was and do what I could to help?
“Here,” I said, taking her hand. “I’ll pull you up behind me.” No way was I going to push her to the top because then I’d be looking up, seeing what I’d banished from my mind once already. Sorta. Okay, I was working on it. But getting a second look would permanently imprint it in my brain.
Autumn was pretty damn agile, thankfully, and we made it up the hill surprisingly easily. At the top we both stood at the edge, peering down at her car. I figured it was totaled, as the tree was implanted halfway into the engine. Did she have any idea how lucky she’d been? If not for that one, lonely tree on the plateau, she and the car would have tumbled thousands of feet to the bottom.
“Well,” she said. “That was too close for comfort.”
“No kidding.” I was actually glad I hadn’t known it was Autumn in the car when I’d watched it go over the drop-off. I’m not sure my heart could have handled that. “We need to call and report this.”
“Would you just take me home? I’ll send Brian an email telling him where he can come get the stupid car.”
Uh-oh. Trouble in paradise? “I think that would be considered leaving the scene of an accident. Maybe you should stick around for the cops so you can explain what happened.” I turned to face her. “Exactly what did happen?” She’d almost hit me head-on, for Christ’s sake.
“I didn’t see you, and then…” The blood drained from her cheeks. “Oh God, Connor. I could have killed you.”
She launched herself at me, and suddenly there I was, standing on the side of the road with an armful of woman naked under her raincoat—yep, I hadn’t forgotten—that I wasn’t sure what to do with.
“I’m so sorry.” She started crying again.
“Hush now.” I patted her on the back. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
“No, it isn’t.” Pushing away, she marched to my car, slid into the passenger seat, and closed the door.
Okay. Now what? Other than wishing this day was over, I didn’t have a clue what was going on with her or what I should do about it.
“I’ll take you home, but we have to call this in first,” I said after I got in the car.
She let out a weary sigh as she pushed her head back against the seat. “Fine. I’ll call Jenn. She can send Dylan out here.”
That was actually a good idea. Jenny Nance was not only Autumn’s best friend, but Jenn’s fiancé was our new police chief… Although he’d taken the job six months ago, so I guess he wasn’t exactly new. Everyone just referred to him as the new chief and probably would for years.
“Crap. My phone’s in my purse, which is still in the car.”
“Use mine. I’ll go get your stuff while you call Jenn.” I put my thumb on the bottom of my cell to open the screen, then handed it to her. While she made the call, I retrieved her purse. When I returned, she was still talking to Jenn.
“I’m going to divorce the jackass, that’s what I’m going to do. Listen, I’ll call you tomorrow. We’ll meet for lunch or something,” she said.
Divorce? What the hell had happened? She hung up, then handed me the phone. “Is Dylan coming?”
“Yeah, she’s calling him now.”
“Autumn, why are you wearing a raincoat and nothing else?” I didn’t mean to ask that, but the question was driving my mind nuts. And I should have kept my mouth shut. Her eyes filled with tears again.
“I was going to surprise Brian. It’s his birthday, you know?”
