Page 13 of Whenever You Call

The shitty games we played…

A pitiful laugh bubbled in my chest, and I was about to set it free when I heard an almighty bang somewhere up ahead that had me sitting bolt upright and looking out of the windscreen.

“Oh my God,” I whispered.

Two vehicles had collided. A dark green Jaguar had taken the brunt of the impact on the driver’s side, where a black Ferrari sat, the front end of it crushed up with white smoke pouring out of the hood. It took me a second to register what I was seeing, and it took even longer to realize that I was the last parent still parked outside the school after everyone else had driven away.

“Shit!”

Without thinking, I scrambled out of the Range Rover and jogged over to the wreckage. The closer I got, the more I saw. An elderly couple were still in the Jag, their heads hanging forward, unresponsive. The Ferrari held two passengers, too, but I could only see the top of the head of the guy on the non-driving side, which rested against the cracked window, limp.

My skin turned cold, goosebumps scattering over every inch.

I pulled the phone out of my back pocket and dialed 911 before bringing it to my ear.

“I-I need an ambulance. There’s been an accident. Hurry!”

A few teachersfrom the school had gathered around me since the fire department arrived, which had EMTs working on the injured parties as much as they could. Mrs. Seymour had her arm wrapped around my shoulders, and it wasn’t until she began to rub my skin that I realized I’d been shivering, despite the heat of the LA sunshine beating down on us.

Soon, more sirens filled the air, and a red paramedic truck sped toward us before coming to a stop in front of the collision. A man in a navy-blue uniform jumped out of the unit with a heavy bag slung over his shoulder, springing into action, instantly making my heart skip a beat.

I’d recognize his face anywhere.

Logan…

The stranger who saved me not so long ago.

As if he’d somehow sensed me, his head snapped up, and his eyes found mine. He paused in his steps, his lips parting as he stared for a second too long before he snapped himself out of whatever thoughts he was having, and he ran to those in need.

It’s my job to take care of people.

“See, sweetheart,” Mrs. Seymour said, pulling me closer. “They’ll make sure those poor people get the help they need. Everything’s going to be okay.”

Logan got to work quickly, confident in his every action, with not a moment of self-doubt on display. He moved without instruction, shouting orders to the men behind him who could help, making sure the cars were cut in the right places to get the immobile patients out of there safely. I watched on in utter rapture. His body was strong and lean, the muscles in his arms working overtime whenever he had to lift or pull or drag something across to the scene that would help keep the people involved alive and well. I had no idea of his position or whether he was in charge of the other man working beside him, but on duty, Logan had a commanding presence about him that everyone bowed to. He knew just what to do and how to keep everyone calm and where they were supposed to be.

I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

It took a lot of effort to get all four people out, and by the time they’d loaded them up onto gurneys, more emergency services had arrived to help out. The way the paramedics worked was hypnotic to watch, their movements a subtle yet well-choreographed dance they performed around each other, each of them knowing exactly where to go, what to do, and when to do it.

But when I saw the first gurney with an injured party being wheeled over to the ambulance, I imagined that being Cole’s body. That it was him being whisked away by people he didn’t know, with no one familiar around him. No loved ones to beg him to stay.

I left him. I walked away, and he had to suffer through his last moments alone.

The hands of guilt snaked up my spine before they tightened their grip around my throat and began to squeeze, making it harder to breathe.

The world around me started to shrink, the dizziness stealing all of my control. My breaths came short, and my limbs began to tingle until they turned numb. The stabbing pain in my chest had me sucking in a sharp breath that didn’t quite reach my lungs, and that was when my knees began to buckle.

“Mrs. Newman? Are you all right?”

I barely recognized my married name from her lips.

Newman.

Ihadbeen Mrs. Newman, even though I’d insisted on staying Mrs. Moore.

Was that why Cole was taken from me? Had I not been devoted enough to him to deserve him for a moment longer? Had I given up on him from the very start?

That thought faded away when Mrs. Seymour cried out to the paramedics in front of us, but the noise around me grew foggier until I was blinking rapidly to try and bring everything back into focus.

---