“I was trying to save money on the gas bill,” she says. “The fireplace does a great job of heating the house.” She winces. “But getting enough firewood inside to last the whole day and night is always the problem.”
Liam joins us, crouching beside me. “The paramedics are on the way, along with an ambulance.”
“Oh, I hate causing such a fuss,” she mutters, giving her twisted ankle a dirty look.
“Don’t worry about that,” I say. “All that matters is getting you all fixed up.”
She meets my gaze and she frowns. “Just occurred to me I’ve never seen you before, and here I am holding your hand.”
“No worries.” I smile, gently squeezing her fingers. “And yeah, this is my first day with GPPD.”
“I hope you get more exciting calls than this one. What could be more boring than helping a clumsy old lady?” She shakes her head. “Can’t believe I fell. I’m always so careful.”
In the distance I hear a siren. We keep Helen talking, hoping to distract her from the pain. The paramedics roll up first, followed by the ambulance. The paramedics are gentle with her, but she complains the whole time they load her onto the stretcher. She seems to think we should just take her into her house and put her in her bed. That’s not going to happen.
Once she’s loaded up, we watch the ambulance and paramedics drive away. We get back in our SUV and Liam starts the car.
“They’ll stabilize her at the clinic in town,” he says. “But given her age, I’d be surprised if they don’t transport her to the hospital down the mountain. If it’s a break, she’ll probably need surgery.”
“Damn. That’s rough at her age.”
“Yeah, but she’s tough. She’ll be back on her feet in no time.” He rubs his chin. “Although, she’s going to need help once she’s home for a little while. I think I’ll reach out to the localWomen’s Club and see if they can send someone over to take care of her for a few weeks. Just until she’s back on her feet.”
“That’s nice of you.”
“Well, duh.” He smirks. “I’m a nice guy.”
“You certainly seem to be,” I mutter.
He laughs at my tone and starts the car. “I think I’m also going to come over here on my day off and stack a bunch of wood on her porch. That way, whoever Helen has helping her out won’t have to go all the way out to that wood pile at the back of her property.”
I glance over, surprised at his plan. “You’re going to do that on your day off?”
“Sure. Why not?” He shrugs. “We need to look out for the folks in our community, right?”
“I suppose so.” I hesitate. “Do you… want help stacking the wood?”
Liam looks over in surprise. “You offering to help me?”
“Well, I don’t know anyone in town, so it’s not like I’ll have much to do on my days off. Might as well help you stack some wood for Helen.”
“That’s mighty nice of you, Jude.”
My stomach does a little flip-flop at his warm smile and the use of my name. “No problem.” I pull my gaze from his, disconcerted by how much I like his smile. Instead of fixating on that inconvenient truth, I instead stare out the window at the snow-covered pines. “Helping others is why I became a cop.”
“Oh, yeah? You like helping people?”
“Yes.”
He smirks. “You know, my kitchen sink is draining kind of slow lately. Maybe you could come over and fix it for me.” His tone is teasing.
I give a grudging smile. “Don’t push it, Martinez.”
He chuckles. “It was worth a try.”
After a couple more calls, we grab a late lunch at a small diner called The Grizzly’s Den. Liam seems to know everyone in town and they all appear to like him. Some of them are curious about me. They ask a lot of questions about Atlanta, and I’m caught off guard by how friendly they are. Liam takes all the attention in stride, as if he’s used to it.
Just as we’re finishing lunch, we get a call about a bear caught in someone’s garage.
