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She nodded but motioned she was stuck.
“Cover your face,” he said and held up his tool that was used to break windows.
Sandra nodded her understanding and grabbed her jacket, shielding her face and arms. Once Kody was sure that she was safe he smashed open the window. It was an older vehicle, so the window broke easily. He cleaned away all the jagged remnants.
“You okay?” he asked.
“No, my head,” she murmured. “And I seem to be stuck in my seat belt.”
Kody handed her a knife. “I can’t climb in there—if I do it might dislodge the vehicle and it and you will tumble down into the water.”
She nodded and took the knife, sawing away at her seat belt; sliding a bit, she held her own and grabbed her purse, snaking it around her body.
“Take my hand,” Kody said.
Sandra reached up and he carefully helped her out of her SUV and into his arms. He held her close and backed away from the SUV and out of the mud. Just as they got back onto the pavement, there was a crack and her SUV continued its tumble down the embankment.
She buried her head in his neck and let out a whimper as he held her close.
“It’s okay. I got you.” His heart was hammering, and he was trying to catch his breath. All he could do was stand there and hold her. It was comforting to hold her, and he didn’t want to even think about what would’ve happened had he not been here.
“We should get out of here,” Sandra murmured, but still holding on to his jacket, her body still curled up tight against his chest.
“You’re right.”
“I live just on the other side of the bridge. Down Denham Road.” Her voice shook as she spoke, and he didn’t blame her.
“The bridge is washed out, but I know another way.” He carried her to his car and helped her get settled into the back. He opened his trunk and tossed his tools back in there, before grabbing a blanket.
He climbed into the driver’s seat and handed her the blanket. She was wadding up some tissues for what looked like a superficial head wound.
“Thanks,” she said, her voice trembling.
“You’re safe. Let’s get you to your house and then I can call the team and tell them you’re safe and I’ll make sure that’s just a superficial wound.”
“Thanks.” She held the tissues against her forehead.
“Sorry about your vehicle,” he said.
“It’s just my SUV that’s totaled,” she muttered. “That’s a small price to pay for my life.”
Kody nodded, but his pulse was still racing. He couldn’t believe she’d been so close to death like that, and the thought of her losing her life terrified him and he didn’t know why.
Probably because you know her and you watched it happen.
Kody pulled away from the scene of the mudslide and took his time making his way carefully down the road and turning down the other road that led to Denham, but the moment he turned the corner, it was gone. The road was washed away and Burl’s Creek now looked like an angry river gurgling and rushing past them.
“Well, I guess we can...” There was a rumble and Kody watched in horror as the road behind them washed out. They were trapped on a small stretch of road and Burl’s Creek was inching toward them.
“We have to go on foot. There’s a small cabin not far from here. It’s on the edge of my property. It’s high ground,” she said.
Kody nodded. Sandra helped him grab what he needed from his truck, but it was hard for her since one hand was holding the now-wet blob of tissues against her head wound.
“Just lead the way, Sandra. I’ll follow,” he ordered.
Sandra nodded and headed up a trail off the road, higher than the river, up onto the range. It was a slippery climb, but she seemed to know her way up the stony embankment, through the cottonwood trees, and eventually they were out on the plains. It looked as if it was an old cattle ranch.
“My house is in that direction, but we’d have to cross the water to get to it,” Sandra shouted.
Kody nodded, but he couldn’t make it out, not through the rain, which was getting heavier. However, she had led them right—there was a cabin about five hundred feet away and they should be safe there, provided he could get a fire started and figure out a way to contact help.
“Let’s go.” He slung his pack of supplies over his shoulder and without thinking he took her hand and led her through the wind and rain to the cabin. She pulled out her ring of keys and unlocked the door.
Kody followed her in.
The cabin was dark, but it was dry, and it was shelter.
“There’s no electricity yet,” she explained through chattering teeth. “I was planning on having it renovated soon, to rent it out.”
“It has a fireplace, so I can get to building us a fire.” He set down his bag and Sandra sat on a sheet-covered chair, pulling the damp blanket around her tighter.
He pulled out his fire starters and was relieved that there was a bit of wood still in the cabin, so it would be dry. He knelt down and built a pyramid and set his homemade fire starters under. It didn’t take long before they had a fire going.
He pulled off his jacket and set it on the floor, while he rummaged in his bag for some rope. Something they could hang their wet clothes on so the fire could dry them. He pulled out the twine and set about making a makeshift clothesline.
“You’ve thought of everything,” Sandra said. She was visibly shivering, and the tissue was blood-soaked and wet under her fingers.
“Come closer to the fire and I’ll check out that wound.”
“It’s superficial,” she said.
“Dr. Fraser, get over here. Now.” He shook his head and she came closer to the fire and sat on the floor in front of him.
“I’ve never heard you be so forceful before,” she said and there was a twinkle in her eye, like one he’d never seen, and she was smiling. He liked her smile.
“I think you have a concussion,” he said dryly.
“Why do you say that?”
“You’re joking with me.” He smiled at her and she laughed softly.
“I don’t think it’s a concussion. I think the adrenaline is wearing off.”
“So you’re saying it’s nerves?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” She laughed. “Thank you for saving my life.”
“It’s my job.”
“Still, if you hadn’t been there...” She trailed off and he knew what she was thinking because he thought it too. She would’ve died.
“Hold still,” he said as he gently peeled away the wet tissue to examine the wound. She was right, it was superficial, and it had mostly stopped bleeding.
“Superficial, isn’t it?” she asked.
“Doctors make the worst patients,” he muttered as he pulled out some antibiotic ointment and gauze.
She laughed again. “I suppose we do.”
Kody didn’t respond and bandaged up her head. “There, you’re all done.”
“Thanks,” she said and pulled the blanket tighter. “The fire feels good. You have a lot of stuff in that bag of tricks.”
“I have wilderness survival skills training and am a tactical paramedic.”
“Wow,” she said, sounding impressed. “I usually don’t meet a lot of paramedics with that level of training in an urban setting.”
“Well, when I got my certifications, I was preparing for a different life than being an urban EMT. Of course, fate sometimes has a way of kicking you in your soft spot.” He snapped the lid shut on his first-aid kit.
“I hear you,” she said. “I never thought in a million years that I would be here, in Austin, and living on an old cattle ranch.”
“Where did you expect to be?” he asked.
She cocked an eyebrow. “If I tell you, then you have to tell me about this different so-called life you were preparing for. Tit for tat.”
“Tit for tat?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m not going to give you my life story without something in return. Just know that it stays between us.”
“Deal,” he said, because they had to kill time somehow and the rain was starting up again something fierce. At least he knew that Lucy was safe, so he didn’t have to worry about that. And he wouldn’t mind getting to know Dr. Fraser better. He admired her and she was a closed book. “So, where did you expect to be? How has your life gone sideways?”
“I got divorced,” she said. “And we worked together in San Diego and I couldn’t stand seeing him all the time, so I came here.”
“There’s more to it than that.”
“What do you mean?” she asked carefully.
“San Diego is a large city. You transfer to another hospital—you don’t pick up everything and move a couple of states away.”
Sandra sighed. “Fine. I couldn’t have kids... He didn’t want to adopt. It was a hard and emotional breakup and I knew to put it properly behind me I’d have to leave.”
“So why Austin?”
“I was adopted and grew up with my parents in San Diego, but I was born here. Since my adoptive parents are gone, I thought I would come home. Besides, a few months ago my ex remarried and is having the biological family he always wanted.”
“And you desperately wanted kids,” he said softly.
She nodded and he could see the tears in her eyes. “I did, but it wasn’t meant to be. I can’t get pregnant. Trust me, we tried, and I went through a lot of procedures. He found someone else who gave him the kids I couldn’t.”
“Now I get it.”
“You get what?” she asked.
“Why you moved from San Diego and why you bought an old cattle ranch in the middle of nowhere.” He reached into his bag and dug out a couple of granola bars. He tossed her one.
“You get that?” she teased, opening her granola bar and taking a bite.
“I think so, and I see the appeal. Living in a city is not at all how I planned my life.” He leaned back against the wall. “I wanted to be an air paramedic in Alaska.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Wow, that sounds adventurous and explains the wilderness training.”
“It was going to be.” He smiled. “Of course, then my high-school girlfriend got pregnant when we were twenty-one, so we got married and both became paramedics. There wasn’t much work in North Carolina and with a baby we couldn’t pursue our dreams of Alaska right away. I took a job in Austin...” He trailed off because it was hard even now to talk about Jenny. It brought back all those memories. All their hopes and dreams that never saw fruition.
He never talked about this with anyone. Ever. Those were his hopes and dreams. Their hopes and dreams, Jenny’s and his.
He never shared Jenny with anyone but her parents, Sally, and Lucy; Jenny and their plans he kept locked away. It was easier to cope with the grief that way.
Is it?
“What happened?” Sandra asked softly.
“My wife died of cancer five years ago.” And he fought back the tears that were threatening to fall. Even after all this time, admitting it was hard.
“I’m so sorry.”
Kody nodded. “At least I have my daughter, Lucy. I have a piece of my wife still.”
“So, Alaska is on hold?”
He nodded. “My late wife’s parents followed us from North Carolina to Austin and are a huge help to me with Lucy. I could never take Lucy away from them.”
“I never knew you had a child.”
“You never asked.”
“No. I suppose I didn’t, but I haven’t made a lot of friends here in Austin,” she admitted.
“You will.”
A strange looked passed briefly over her face. “We’ll see.”
“Well, I’m your friend.”
“Are you?” she asked.
“Of course. I don’t talk about my personal life with just anyone.”
What he didn’t say was that he didn’t share any of this with anyone. He wasn’t even sure why he was telling Sandra all of this. Maybe because she’d let down her guard too and it felt good to let it all out. He’d been bottling it up for so long.
