There’s a dull throb pounding against my temples, and my entire body feels like it’s been thrown down a damn mountain. And what the hell is that noise!?
Prying my eyes open, I glance around the room, finding sterile white walls and a window that looks out onto a city skyline, tall buildings reaching toward a cloudless blue sky while the mountains look tiny on the horizon. A machine is beeping to the right of me, wires connecting it to my body.
Why the hell am I in a hospital!?
“Mrs. Calloway?” A woman in a nurse’s uniform comes toward the bed. “You’re awake.”
“Why am I here?” I croak, voice feeling a little raw and scratchy.
“You were in an accident, sweetie,” She says softly. “You don’t remember?”
I remember leaving the ranch this morning to head to the bar, pulling out onto the road, but then there was a cat or something… I swerved to miss it and slammed on the brakes, but the car wouldn’t stop.
Shit. I crashed Roman’s truck.
“Is the car okay?” I frantically ask.
The nurse frowns. “Ma’am, you understand there was an accident?”
“Yes,” I try to sit up, but my head swims, and I flop back down onto the pillows.
“Alright, you rest. I’ll go get your husband, okay?”
I wet my lips and nod, the beep of my heart faster now in my panic. Shit. I can’t believe I crashed his truck, but I didn’t want to hit that cat. I just don’t understand why it wouldn’t stop!
The door opens again, and Roman storms in. There’s no pause or hesitation. He’s by my bedside in a blink, his hands cupping my face while he looks me over intensely and then his lips are on mine.
It’s both soft and desperate at the same time. I can feel him holding back, and yet he isn’t letting go. He finally breaks away and rests his brow against mine, his breathing coming out in heavy, rough pants.
“You’re okay,” He finally speaks, voice full of gravel, the words more to convince himself.
“I’m okay,” I whisper. “I’m so sorry.”
He snaps back, “What!?”
“I crashed your truck.” I try to sit again, but the dizziness returns, forcing me to stay down. “There was a cat, and I swerved, but I just didn’t stop. It didn’t stop. I’m so sorry. I’ll pay whatever damage there is.”
“I don’t care about the truck,” He grinds out. “Fuck the truck.”
His hands smooth back my hair, eyes on the spot that hurts the most on my head. “That scared the shit out of me.” He admits.
“I’m okay,” I assure him, “A little sore and somewhat dizzy, but I think I hit my head pretty hard.”
“It’s my fault.” He releases me and steps back, walls coming down around him. I see his eyes close off, his body grow taut with every step he takes away from me. A mix of panic and dread blooms in my chest, and I swallow hard, trying to keep calm. “The truck — it was my fault.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I haven’t told you everything Niamh,” He sighs as he turns to the window, looking down at the city. We’re so far away from the Ranch here, it’s like an entirely different world. There’s a haze in the air that makes the mountains appear fuzzy, like they’re sitting behind a foggy screen. You can just make out the shape, but you can’t see the steep inclines or where the edges turn sharp. It’s all shades of gray, and I have to wonder how anyone could enjoy the view when it looks so simple. From here you can’t see the blotches of green where trees climb the mountainside or the snow on the peaks.
“Roman?” I don’t try to sit, not when my head is this fuzzy, but I never take my eyes off him, willing him to come back to me.
“My mother didn’t just die; she was murdered.” With every word that comes from him, his shoulders grow tighter, his body becoming like armor. “We never proved it, but it was him. I heard him admit it.”
“Who?” I swallow.
“My father.” He rolls his neck from side to side, keeping his back to me. Why won’t he face me? “He wanted the ranch and had convinced my mother to leave it to him in her will, should anything happen to her, so she lied and told him that’s what she did. A couple of years passed, long enough for people not to suspect anything, and then she died.”
“How?”
