Jesus fucking Christ!I smashed the brake pedal to the floor, praying to anyone who would listen that I wouldn’t skid right into her.The tires slid, and the car came to a safe but shaky stop on the shoulder.I’d unbuckled and jumped out the door before I knew it was happening, sprinting to the last person who should be on the side of the road in the middle of the night.
“Nana!” Her robe was cold as ice beneath my fingers when I grabbed her shoulders.“Oh my god, Nana.What are you doing out here?And why are you in your nightgown?”
Her blue-tinged lips remained closed.She blinked at me, confusion swimming in her distant, unfocused gaze.
My stomach twisted.My heart tried to climb up my throat to choke me from the inside as I guided her to the car.I buckled her in and draped my jacket over her lap before hurrying back to the driver’s side.The sole thought in my head was how to get Nana warmed up.I cranked the heat, turning every vent to blow warm air in her direction.When the air was warming her body, I pressed her fingers between my palms.“Jesus, Nana, your hands are like ice.”
“Oh, that’s n-n-nice,” she said through chattering teeth, rubbing her hands together.“My hands are f-f-f-freezing for s-s-some reason.I wonder if there’s s-something wrong with my circulation.”
I stared at her, my jaw agape.
“Something wrong with your circulation?”I repeated, dumbfounded.“Nana, you were walking down the highway.In a snowstorm.In your nightgown.Don’t you think that might have something to do with it?”
She glanced down, frowning.“Huh, would you look at that?I am in my n-n-nightgown.Isn’t that strange?”
“Nana.Why did you go out in the snow?”
She scoffed.“Pshh.D-d-don’t be silly.It wasn’t snowing when I started walking.”
An incredulous laugh slipped from my lips.“It wasn’t snowing when you started?Why were you out there in the first place?Snow or no snow, it’s freezing.”My stomach clenched, fear and frustration twisting inside me.“Nana, what were you doing out here?”
Nana folded her hands in her lap, studying them.“I … I c-c-couldn’t sleep.”
My grip on the wheel tightened.“You couldn’t sleep?Where were you going?”
“N-nowhere.I j-just went for a walk.”
“You went for a walk?In this?”
A yawn racked her slight frame as her eyes drifted shut.“That really tuckered me out.I bet I can sleep now.”
I released a shuddering breath.There was no way I’d get any real answers from her tonight.
“That’s okay, Nana.You rest.We’ll be there soon.”
Once I had her safe, I’d figure out what the hell was going on.
thirty-eight
flapping in the breeze
Liam
“Doc,openup.Iknow you’re in there.The lights are on in your apartment.”I pounded on the door of the doctor’s office again, my knuckles stinging from the cold.“Come on, it’s an emergency.”
Fluffy snowflakes piled in the streets, blanketing the town in what should have been a peaceful silence.Tonight, though, the quiet felt heavy, stifling.
“Doctor Madison.It’s important.”
Just as I raised my fist to knock again, the door swung open and I found myself subjected to a withering glare from a woman in a fuzzy unicorn onesie.
“Do you have any idea what time it is?”She scowled, crossing her arms over her chest.“What do you want?This had better be good.I’m in the middle of aBuffymarathon.”
I blinked.
“Who the hell are you?”I demanded when I’d finally gathered my wits.Apparently, I’d forgotten my manners at the side of the road where I found Nana.“Where’s Doctor Madison?”Doctor Madison set my broken arm when I was a kid, and this angry, pyjama-clad woman wasclearlynot him.
She rolled her eyes, heaving a beleaguered sigh.“ThatDoctor Madison is semi-retired and spends his winters in Barbados now.I’ll tell you what I’ve told everyone else since I started working in this godforsaken town.Come back in June if you’d prefer to see him.”
