A Soldier's Promise (Crystal Lake Series Book 2) (3 page)

Deputy Thomas scrunched up his forehead. “Name doesn’t ring a bell,” he said slowly. For a moment, Derek thought the deputy would see right through him. “But then again, we get lots of tourists up here from Northern Illinois. Probably a good thing his name doesn’t sound familiar, right?”

A wave of overwhelming relief almost caused him to fall off the gurney. It took a moment before he could speak. “Can I get a copy of the accident report for my insurance company?”

“Sure, just give us a few days to get everything processed. Might be ready by Monday.”

“Thank you.” Derek smiled and hoped Deputy Thomas would leave. Soon. Like now.

“Anything else you need?” Thomas asked.

For a moment, he was tempted to ask for a ride but decided it wasn’t worth the risk. For all he knew, Claire’s parents had already put out the alert. “No, I’m fine.”

“Okay, then, take care.”

“I will.” He held his breath until the deputy had gone. For a moment, he closed his eyes, tempted to say a tiny prayer of thanks.

Except he didn’t pray anymore.

“Are you okay?” Julie had returned and was looking at him with concern. He forced another smile, hoping he didn’t look nearly as bad as he felt.

“I’m fine.”

She held out a slim device. “Here’s my mobile phone. I have the number for the Crystal Lake Motel programmed in if you want to call them, but I can already tell you they’re booked. And so is every other motel and bed and breakfast within a twenty-mile radius. The Fourth of July is Tuesday, and lots of people are making a long weekend out of the summer holiday.”

His heart sank as he took the cell phone. He made the call even though he knew she hadn’t been kidding. No vacancies. Within a twenty-mile radius. And he had no car. Maybe he should have taken a ride from the deputy? His shoulders slumped as he tried to figure out their next best option.

Too bad he was all out of ideas.

“Look, Mr. Ryerson,” she started.

“Call me Derek,” he interrupted.

“Ah, okay, Derek. Please reconsider staying overnight here.”

“No can do.” He slid off the gurney and reached for the scrubs. “We’ll figure out something,” he said with more confidence than he felt.

Julie turned away, her expression grim. Abruptly, she spun back to face him. “Look, I own a side-by-side townhouse. I live on one side, and the other side is undergoing major remodeling. But the good news is that the bedrooms are fine; it’s the kitchen and living rooms that are pretty much gutted, so you won’t be able to cook. But you and your daughter are welcome to stay there, if you don’t mind spending the night in the middle of a construction zone.”

Was she serious? With a flare of hope, Derek pinned her with an intense gaze. It was then he noticed the slender cross she wore around her neck. She was a Christian, and offering a place to stay for a family in need was exactly something a Christian would do.

His relief was short-lived as he tried not to think about how sweet Julie would turn her back on him in a heartbeat if she knew he was on the run with his daughter. Claire’s parents had filed a court order to take custody away from him, and he feared they had the power and the money to succeed. Would Claire’s parents file a police report about Lexi missing? Based on the Deputy’s response, he thought maybe they hadn’t gone to the police, at least not yet. Maybe they would use a private investigator, to keep things quiet.

Either way, Lexi’s grandparents wouldn’t stop until they got what they wanted. They were rich and entirely too used to getting their own way.

But there would be plenty of time to worry about them in the morning. Right now, he was grateful to know he and Lexi had a safe place to stay. Surely he’d feel better in the morning. “Thanks very much, we’d love to take you up on your generous offer, wouldn’t we, Lexi?”

His daughter, as usual, didn’t reply but simply stared at him, her bright blue eyes full of concern and a hint of fear.

His gut clenched, and he knew he’d do anything necessary to remove the last remnants of fear from his daughter’s eyes.

Anything.

___________

For a moment, Julie wished she could take back the impulsive offer. You’d think she’d have learned her lesson about getting too involved with a patient after the fiasco with Andrew, but no, here she was putting herself in the middle of Derek’s situation. But what else could she do? There really wasn’t anywhere else for him to go, and truly, she’d made the offer in the first place for Lexi’s sake.

Because of Amelia.

She couldn’t, in good conscience, simply let Derek and Lexi walk out the door without a vehicle or a place to stay. She’d just have to make sure she kept her distance emotionally.

She forced a smile. “Okay, give me a few minutes, and we can leave. My shift ended well over an hour ago, so this won’t take long. If you need help getting the scrubs on, let me know.” She hoped he didn’t notice her blush.

“Thanks,” he said again. And the genuine sincerity reflected on his face knocked her off balance.

Last year, after the painful disintegration of her engagement, she’d made a conscious effort to avoid men. Which hadn’t been too difficult, since there wasn’t an overabundance of single men in Crystal Lake.

A fact that had suited her just fine.

Derek Ryerson was a patient, just like Andrew had been. But Derek was different in that he was a father with a young daughter. As soon as Derek was healthy, they’d be on their way to wherever they were headed. Hardly anyone came to Crystal Lake with the intention of staying.

Soon enough, things would go back to normal.

Ignoring her aching feet, she walked to the computer to finish up her charting. Thankfully, Merry had taken care of Lexi’s discharge note before she’d left for the evening, so all she had to do was to finish Derek’s. After five minutes, she sat back, satisfied she’d completed all the required documentation, and logged off the computer.

When she returned to Derek’s room, she noticed he’d managed to get the scrub pants on and the scrub top, too, although he’d hacked at it with a scissor, cutting it down the front so that he didn’t have to lift his arms over his head. The wallet he’d tucked into the front pocket of the scrubs made the fabric hang crooked.

Why his resourcefulness made her want to smile, she had no idea. “Are you both ready?” she asked.

“Sure.” He reached over to take Lexi’s hand, and she recognized the quick flash of pain that he tried to hide.

“Why don’t you both wait out front for me, and I’ll drive my car up to the door,” she offered. “Save you some walking.”

She almost expected him to argue, but he nodded. “Okay. What kind of car do you have?”

“An old green Honda.” She left Derek and his daughter standing outside in the cool, summer night and jogged to her car, trying to ignore the screaming protest of the soles of her feet. She reminded herself that her aches and pains were nothing compared to how Derek must feel.

She drove up to the main emergency entrance and found Derek holding Lexi’s hand and leaning heavily on a cement pillar. She’d suspected he was hurt far worse than he’d let on.

At least with him staying at her townhouse, she could keep an eye on him. And help take care of his daughter at the same time.

“I don’t have a booster seat for Lexi,” she pointed out apologetically, opening both the front and back passenger doors. “Luckily, my townhouse isn’t far, just ten to fifteen minutes away. She should be fine in the backseat.”

“I’ll sit in back with her,” Derek said, making Lexi scoot over while he carefully lowered himself into the backseat. She noticed that he looked like he was still in pain, but didn’t say anything. He’d refused to stay at the hospital, and there was no reason to keep harping on him about it.

She shut the doors and then ran around to the driver’s seat. The silence from the back was a little uncomfortable, so she found herself chatting idly as she headed toward home. “Crystal Lake is a spring-fed lake, about six miles wide and nine miles long. It’s very peaceful at night, but during the day there’s lots of activity—boaters, water-skiers, wave runners, and inner-tubers.”

She glanced in the rearview mirror, not entirely surprised to find Derek with his head back against the seat and his eyes closed. Lexi was wide awake, though, staring straight ahead, possibly listening, although she didn’t say anything.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever been inner-tubing, Lexi, but it’s great fun. You sit in the middle of an inner tube, and a boat pulls you around the lake. If you and your dad plan on staying for a few days, maybe we can try it.”

Lexi blinked and gave a tiny nod. Julie frowned, thinking the young girl was unusually quiet for a six-year-old. Amelia had talked nonstop, asking dozens of questions, ever curious.

Until a rare form of leukemia had taken her young life.

Her chest constricted, and she shoved thoughts of her niece out of her mind. Even after eighteen months, the memories sneaked up on her, blindsiding her with their potency.

“Your dad mentioned something about food. We can stop for a pizza on the way home,” she offered. “Do you like pizza? Or do you want something else?”

There was a long pause, and this time Lexi answered in a soft voice. “Pizza.”

Derek roused himself, giving his daughter a nudge. “What do you say, Lexi?”

There was a slight pause. “Please.”

“Okay, pizza it is.” She smiled at Derek in the rearview mirror. “I thought you were asleep.”

“No, just resting.”

Belatedly, she remembered the prescription for pain medication. “I should stop at the pharmacy first, so we can get your prescription filled.”

“No need. The doc gave me a few samples. I should be fine until tomorrow.”

She wasn’t surprised Gabe had given him some free meds, since he’d mentioned Derek’s lack of health insurance. She wondered if Derek had enough money to get the prescription filled.

There was a pizza place in town that sold pre-made cheese pizzas for five bucks each. She bought two and then headed home.

Her townhouse was on the outskirts of town, overlooking the lake. The place had been partially destroyed by a kitchen fire, and the former owners, who lived in Illinois, had sold it to her at a steep discount. Julie was hoping she could eventually fix it up and either rent out the one half for a little additional income or potentially sell it, depending on what happened with the real estate market.

After almost two years, though, she wasn’t nearly as far along on the remodeling as she’d hoped to be. Partially because sinks, commodes, counters, and cabinets cost far more than she ever would have imagined. And she’d also have to pay someone to help her install the new items, which would cut deeply into her meager savings.

She’d spent most of the first year making her side more livable and had only recently started on the other side.

“Here we are,” she said brightly, as she pulled into the driveway of the unoccupied side of the townhouse. The layouts of the two townhouses were mirror images of each other. In the back, there were patio doors from both kitchens leading out to a cement slab, where she had some secondhand patio furniture. “Lexi, will you carry the pizzas while I help your dad?”

The girl wordlessly took the boxes she gently placed in her arms, while Derek tried to maneuver his way out of the backseat on his own.

“Stubborn man,” she muttered half under her breath as she went around to the passenger side to give a helping hand. “Let me help,” she advised. “If you pass out on me, I’ll never get you inside by myself.”

“I won’t pass out,” he said, his voice low and raw with pain and determination.

She didn’t bother to point out the obvious, that he might not have much choice in the matter. She ducked her head inside the car and hooked her left arm beneath his right armpit. “Grab on to the car frame with your good arm,” she directed. “On the count of three, we’re going to swing you out. Ready?” He nodded, and she braced herself with her right arm on the car the best she could, as well. “One, two,
three!
”

They both pulled, hauling him to his feet. Derek groaned, sagging against the car as if his legs wouldn’t hold him up. She held on to him, pressing him back against the car, hoping he wouldn’t fall.

“Are you all right?” she asked, glancing up at his face, which was disconcertingly close.

“Yes.” His voice sounded weak, thready. “Give me...a...minute.”

“Take as much time as you need.” He was too big, too heavy for her to do much else. She needed him to be able to get into the house under his own power. She glanced over at Lexi, who was staring at them both with her wide eyes. “Are you hungry, Lexi? Because I sure am, and that pizza smells really good.”

Derek opened his eyes and straightened, as she suspected he would the moment she mentioned Lexi. Derek’s strength when it came to his daughter was nothing short of amazing. “I’m hungry, too,” he said in a forced tone. “Let’s get settled inside so we can eat.”

Once she ascertained he was actually supporting his own weight, she slowly moved away. She went around and opened the front door, using her key. She flipped on the living room lights, wincing a little at how awful the walls looked. In some areas, the blackened drywall was still in place, and in others, the drywall had been stripped away, revealing bare studs and electrical wires. She held the door open for Lexi and Derek.