Snowstorm Confessions. Rachel Lee

would have been seriously worried. His confusion was normal, but she found a penlight in the drawer and checked his pupils again anyway. She needed to see for herself.

      “What are you doing?”

      “Making sure you’re okay.”

      “I don’t feel okay. Where did you go?”

      She ignored the last question. “You fell. You hit your head and broke your arm and leg. Just relax. Everything’s fine.”

      Everything except her.

      “I lost you,” he muttered. “I couldn’t find you.”

      Oh, boy, this was going to be fun. When she could, she sat again and waited for the next round. Hearing repeatedly that he’d lost her was not making this any easier to take. For three years or more, she had pretty much decided he had thrown her away. Now he was saying he’d lost her?

      Deliver me, she thought as she sagged on the chair. It didn’t help any to remind herself that he was concussed and making little sense. She didn’t want to peek into these thoughts, however addled, from a man who should have remained in her past. And she hoped like hell he didn’t remember saying any of this when he improved.

      They weren’t words that would make either of them happy.

      * * *

      By dawn, Luke no longer asked where he was and what had happened. He now remembered it from one moment to the next—an excellent sign. He was even aware enough to tell Bri to go home and get some sleep. She didn’t hesitate. He wouldn’t be released before noon, unless he made other arrangements, and frankly she didn’t want to be around for the pain he was going to experience the first time he sipped broth through a straw.

      “Get him a milk shake,” Sheila suggested. “He doesn’t look like someone who will make it for long on broth.”

      “Probably not. Call me if anything develops. Has anybody seen the guy who brought him in?” That was beginning to trouble her. Shouldn’t a coworker have been here to check on him?

      “Not yet. I’ll let you know. Girl, you look dead.”

      “I feel halfway there.”

      “At least you have the next four days off.”

      She’d forgotten that. She could catch up on her sleep. Maybe. Unless she needed to watch over Luke at her place, in which case she’d rather be working. It would be a great excuse to make him call someone else.

      Her eyes felt gritty and burned. The bright sunlight almost hurt, and for a moment she had a wild idea that maybe the night had turned her into a vampire. Nope, her skin didn’t smoke.

      The silliness indicated that she desperately needed sleep. Next thing, she’d be hallucinating. Aware that she wasn’t at her best, she drove with extra care and finally pulled into her driveway with a huge sense of relief. Home. Bed. Sleep.

      She might have left Luke at the hospital, but she realized as she climbed out of her car that he had come home with her anyway. She couldn’t erase the anguished tone of voice in which he’d said he lost her.

      Concussion craziness, she told herself sternly. Icy snow still covered the ground, and she walked carefully, wishing spring would just get on with it. She needed some warmth. She needed to be able to stride freely again without fear of slipping.

      Dissatisfaction followed her and she tried to blame it on a rough night. She was happy with her life, she loved living in a place with seasons, including winter, and so what if one of them lasted too long?

      Dang. Her own thoughts were getting as addled as Luke’s.

      “Bri?”

      She looked around, startled, and saw Jack standing a few feet away. A man of about thirty, he was thin enough to look like he was still a kid. His dark hair was shaggy, his dark eyes strangely penetrating. “Jack? Is something wrong?”

      He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I don’t know. One of the cops was here a little while ago looking for you.”

      “Thanks.” Somebody at the hospital had probably reported that Luke had said he’d been pushed. And that she was his ex-wife. Lovely. What was she supposed to know about anything? “I’m sure they’ll come back if it’s important. Are you on your way to work?”

      “Yeah.” He nodded and started to shuffle away.

      She stared after him for a moment. Somewhere in the fog that wrapped her brain, it struck her as odd that he would have known the cops were here. Then she shrugged the thought away. Jack was a pretty lonely guy, she figured. Always nice and polite, but he’d probably been walking past here when the cops came and had just waited to tell her. Made him feel important.

      Inside, she barely paused. She pulled off her clothes, letting them lie where they fell as she stumbled down the hallway. Her bed was the only thing she wanted. She took just enough time to pull on a long flannel nightshirt, then crawl under the covers. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

      Luke and all the problems he might raise could wait.

      They only waited a few hours, however. The phone started ringing off the wall around noon. Like a well-trained nurse, she came instantly awake. A headache had settled in while she slept but she ignored it, reaching for the phone beside her bed.

      “Bri? It’s Jan. Dr. David asked me to call you. We’ve got a lion who wants out of the cage, but he can’t be released until we know he’ll have care. So...”

      “On my way. What about the guy who was working with him?”

      “He showed up, too. That’s part of what’s going on here. Plus a deputy. Sorry.”

      “What am I supposed to do about that?”

      Jan laughed quietly. “Soothe the raging beast? I don’t know. It’s kind of funny, actually.”

      Bri sat up and realized her head was pounding. A migraine. Lovely. Funny? What in the world was Jan talking about?

      Groaning once or twice, Bri struggled into her clothes, popped some ibuprofen for the migraine and grabbed a roll for breakfast. On the way to the hospital she stopped to get a large milk shake at the diner, wondering why she even bothered. Sometimes she was too nice for her own good, she thought irritably. This was not going to be a good day.

      It started getting interesting, though. As she walked down the corridor in the ward where Luke was being kept, she could hear him.

      “Don’t you tell me I can’t leave! I can leave anytime I want. You can’t keep me.”

      Apparently he was not fully over the concussion. Luke might not like being trapped in a hospital bed, but he’d always been sensible. This didn’t sound sensible.

      She entered his room to find Dr. David, Jan, Police Chief Jake Madison and a strange man clad in heavy work clothes. Firmly stuck in the bed by his elevated leg and broken arm, Luke was holding forth, his words slurred by the swelling in his face.

      She rounded the bed, took his good arm, put the milk shake in his hand and said, “Shut up and drink.”

      Luke paused midsentence, blinked and said, “Bri?”

      “Who else? Shut up and drink. Let me find out what’s going on.”

      “They’re keeping me prisoner.”

      “You don’t look ready to walk out of here. Now put the straw in your mouth and drink.”

      To her surprise, he obeyed. He took one pull on the straw and looked at her. “Do you know how much that hurts?”

      “Not as much as you’re going to hurt if you try to stand on that leg right now. Drink.”

      She turned to everyone else. “How about you all tell me what’s happening?”

      Dr. David—all the docs here preferred to