as a tactical paramedic and wilderness emergency medical technician.
If there was flash flooding, he’d be called in.
I should just take Lucy there now.
He knew he’d be called in. It was only a matter of time and he was thankful his in-laws were so close.
At first, he’d grumbled when Jenny’s parents, Ted and Myrtle, had decided to follow him and Jenny to Austin, but he was so glad they had and that they’d stayed. They were a huge source of help to him and they’d got to be with Jenny when she’d passed.
What had started out as a strained relationship when he and Jenny had been in high school was now a close relationship. He thought of them as a second set of parents.
They’d been his rock here in Austin, before Sally had followed him out here after her divorce.
Davises are cursed in love, apparently.
He punched in the number and Myrtle answered.
“Hey, it’s Kody.”
“Kody! So glad to hear from you. I take it you’re on call tonight?” Myrtle asked.
“I am and it’s raining hard. I’m worried there’s going to be some flash flooding up in hill country.”
“Bring Lucy over whenever. It’s been a while since she had a sleepover with Grammy and Gramps.”
“Thanks, Myrtle. I’m going to have dinner and spend some time with her before I bring her over.”
“See you soon, Kody.”
Kody ended the call and then took the plate that Sally had made up for him. He zapped it in the microwave and then sank uneasily into the kitchen chair. There was a flash of lightning and Lucy came scurrying into the kitchen.
“Hey, love bug. Do you think you could pass me some Parmesan cheese from the fridge?”
“Sure, Daddy.” Lucy opened the fridge and handed him the Parmesan cheese, taking her seat right next to him. He smiled at her. She reminded him of Jenny so much.
“Promise me you’ll open your heart again,” Jenny whispered.
“Don’t say that. How could I do that?” he asked.
Jenny smiled weakly. “I don’t want you to be alone. I don’t want Lucy to grow up without a mother.”
A lump formed in his throat and he shook the memory away. He was breaking his one promise to Jenny. She’d wanted him to be happy again. She’d wanted a mother for Lucy, but he couldn’t risk opening his heart again.
He couldn’t risk losing another mother figure for Lucy.
He couldn’t risk his heart again.
But you’re lonely.
“You okay, Daddy?”
“Fine.” Kody smiled, but it was a fake smile for Lucy.
He was lonely and it had been five years since Jenny died, but how could he move on from her? How could he let his heart open again to that kind of pain? That kind of grief over the possibility of losing someone else he loved?
He just couldn’t.
“So, there’s a bad rainstorm...”
Lucy sighed. “I know. You have to go help others. Does this mean a sleepover at Grammy’s?”
Kody chuckled. “It sure does. How about you go pack an overnight bag and after I finish dinner we’ll head over to Grammy’s?”
“Okay.” Lucy ran off to her room.
He’d lucked out on having such a great, well-adjusted kid and he credited that to Jenny’s kind disposition and to all the help he’d had in raising her.
As he finished his dinner and cleaned up, his cell phone buzzed with a text message. He was being called in for emergency duty. There was some flash flooding, just as he’d expected. He flicked on the coffee machine and jammed in a pod. It was going to be a long night.
While it whirred and hummed Lucy came out of her room with her bag ready.
“I’m ready to go!” she said brightly.
Kody grinned. “Good. I’ll just get my coffee in a travel mug and we’ll get out of here. Go put on your rubber boots and dig out the umbrella.”
“Right, Dad.”
Kody stifled a yawn. Yep, tonight was going to be a long, long night.
Sandra had her wipers going at maximum speed, but she still couldn’t see through the rain that was coming down in sheets.
I should’ve just stayed at the hospital.
The thing was, her shift was over, Mr. McIver had died and after what had happened today she was emotionally drained. For the first time in a long time she’d decided to actually go home instead of lingering at the hospital, even though she hated going home to an empty house.
You’re the one who bought a ranch outside the city.
She hadn’t been thinking straight when she’d bought the ranch house on an old cattle range when she’d moved out here from San Diego. Although she’d always loved the country over the city. She’d had hopes of buying a large piece of land outside San Diego where her kids could grow and run.
And her heart hurt when she thought about that.
Kids.
She desperately wanted them, but, after rounds and rounds of IVF treatments that hadn’t worked and too many miscarriages that had broken her heart, she knew that she would never have kids. She wanted to adopt, as she was adopted, but it was about the time she’d started the process of adoption her now ex-husband had suddenly announced that he didn’t want kids. And she’d realized Alex never had been the right man for her.
She wanted kids and he didn’t, at least not ones that weren’t biologically his.
And that was the reason he’d said he wanted a divorce: because he couldn’t open his heart to someone else’s child. He wanted his own and she couldn’t give him that.
She’d had to walk away, though it had broken her heart to do so. It had been the right thing to do.
Alex had made her feel, for an inkling of a second, that she had somehow failed as a woman. It had taken her a year to shake that thought of failure from her mind. Staying in San Diego and working with him had never let her truly heal. Which was why she’d bought this old ranch outside Austin and moved away from San Diego.
There was no family keeping her in San Diego anymore. Her beloved adoptive parents were gone. It was just her and she had to do something for herself. So she’d decided to go to the place of her birth. To find roots, and what better place to find roots than a beautiful piece of land on the outskirts of the city?
Of course, now, with this crazy rain, she was really regretting her choice of living outside the city.
Sandra leaned over her steering wheel, trying to peer through the sheets of rain. Thankfully it wasn’t completely dark out, but the sun was setting behind the gray rain clouds. She had to get home soon, before it got dark and made it completely impossible to see anything.
She slowed down as she approached a small one-lane bridge and pulled over as a driver coming in the opposite direction crossed over.
There was a crack of thunder and a rumbling sound, which made Sandra’s blood run cold. She glanced out of her driver’s-side window in time to see a wave of mud washing down over the hill.
Oh, my God.