“Just for the record, though, bro,” Finn says as Nova walks out of the kitchen with a tray of lobster rolls and onion rings just for us. My mouth instantly starts to water. “You’ve made amends and shouldn’t have to keep feeling like a fucking villain. So the big question is why are you letting her treat you like one?”
“Deep question, Finn,” I say with a sarcastic smile because he knows why I feel like a villain. “Here’s a better one. Why do you date women who automatically assume the worst aboutyouand then throw drinks onme?”
Jake and Nova laugh and I can’t help but join in. Finn shrugs and responds back with the same amount of sarcasm. “You know if you actually started dating, you could have girls throw drinks at me.”
“Sounds like a lot of work for a little revenge,” I reply and reach for my lobster roll just as my phone rings. Damnit. Then I see the name flashing on the screen and my heart stops. Casco Bay Memorial Hospital. Someone is hurt? Is it River? My parents? Is something wrong with Terra’s kidney transplant?
“Hello?” I say and walk away from the counter and head to the back corner of the restaurant where my family can’t distract me.
“Logan Hawkins?”
“Yes.”
“Paramedic Logan?”
“Yes.”
“I thought it was you. I mean how many Logan Hawkins are there around southern Maine? It’s Liz, head nurse at Emerge at Casco Bay,” she says and her casual tone tells me that whatever this is, it’s not life or death.
“Hi Liz. How are you? What’s up?”
“A woman named Chloe Hale was brought in. She has a head injury.”
“Who?”
“Chloe Hale,” Liz repeats. “She said you were her emergency contact.”
My brain starts spinning like a Tilt-a-Whirl at a carnival. I’m confused and although I have all the pieces of this puzzle, they don’t want to fit together. Chloe Hale, my landlady, has a head injury and told the hospital to callme? Hell, I don’t think I’m Jake’s emergency contact and I actuallyknowhim. I didn’t even remember Chloe’s last name until Liz just said it. She must have one hell of a head injury to pick me to call.
“You don’t know her?” Liz says, sounding panicked. “Oh shit. Did I screw up?”
“You didn’t screw up. I know her. I just…what happened?”
“Ms. Hale slipped on ice and hit her head on some steps while shoveling snow,” Liz explains. “She was knocked unconscious, and her neighbor called nine-one-one. She doesn’t want to be here, but she should be. All signs are saying she’s concussed and you know we can’t discharge a person with concussion symptoms if they’re alone.”
“Right. They need to be picked up by a friend or relative,”Of which I am neither, I think to myself. “Okay. I’ll be right there.”
I hang up and walk back over to my family at the bar. “Gotta go.”
Finn’s face is filled with disappointment. “But we were going to watch the end of the game. And what about the lobster rolls?”
“Hospital called about some paperwork. It’s easier if I just go in,” I say, keeping it vague because if I tell them specifics they’ll have as many questions as I do. Especially because I haven’t told them my landlord is a beautiful woman my age who I think about more than I should. Nova hands me my jacket from behind the bar. I shrug into it and reach for my lobster roll. “And I’ll have this finished before I reach my car. Later kids.”
I take a massive bite of the lobster roll as head toward the door.
“If you’d just stuck to being a lobster fisherman like Dad, you’d be able to have fun tonight!” Finn calls out as I go. “But no, you had to be a do-gooder!”
I ignore him and step out into the blizzard, pushing my feet through the unshoveled sidewalk, which is already a foot deep with snow, toward my car. As I make my way to the hospital, I wonder why Chloe gave the hospital my number. She’s barely said more than hello to me since I moved in and I haven’t gone out of my way to be friendly either. It’s beginning to feel like we are purposely avoiding each other. In fact, IknowI was purposely avoiding her. Because on the rare occasions we did chat, she had a warm smile and there was a sweet twinkle in her eyes that captivated me. Plus, the way she loved and doted on those dogs of hers…she was definitely my kind of person. I needed the apartment more than I need to develop any sort of relationship with the pretty landlord so I kept my distance.
But now she needs me, and I’m coming like some kind of hero. Only I’m no hero. Finn is right though, Iama do-gooder…because I’m trying to fix all the shit I’ve destroyed in this world when I couldn’t keep my lips off a bottle of booze. Maybe helping Chloe will ease the guilt I’ve been living with for five years. Nothing has worked yet, but I’m not going to stop trying.
4
Chloe
“Mrs. Hale, I do not advise—”
“Are you going to hold me against my will?” I say, swinging my legs over the side of the bed in the emergency room and glaring at her…well notdirectlyat her since I have blurred vision, which I didn’t tell her about. Even when she asked the question point-blank.
