Someone Always Loved You
by Brooke Williams
Excerpt:
PROLOGUE
The bright yellow taxi nearly took the
curve on two wheels. She told the driver
that getting there fast was a matter of life or death. She just didn’t want to lose her own life in
the process. She thought longingly of
her car, up on blocks at the mechanics where it had been stationed for nearly a
week. Glancing out the window and seeing
another curve coming, she cursed herself for not maintaining her vehicle
properly. Bracing herself for the turn,
she held back tears as the phone call re-played itself in her mind.
“Mrs.
James?”
“Yes.”
“This
is Memorial Hospital. Your husband had a heart attack. He just arrived a few
moments ago…his condition is critical.”
“Is he
going to be okay?”
“We
just don’t know at this point.”
She clenched her eyes shut as she
remembered how her own heart nearly stopped beating as she heard those
words….heart attack…critical condition…don’t know.
The taxi had to get her there. She needed to tell him before it was too
late. Even if he didn’t live, he had to
know before he died. Even if he couldn’t
hear her, she was going to try.
As she thought about the exact words
she would use, the taxi jolted to a stop across from the towering emergency
building. She glanced at its massive
presence with a sense of dread.
She threw
bills at the driver, not waiting for change.
After the fancy curve work, the driver deserved every extra penny. In her rush, she didn’t bother to look both
ways. In her terror, she didn’t hear the
siren.
* * * *
It was his first day on the job. He had studied the maps for days at a time
and he knew the city streets better than the back of his hand. He knew the fastest routes at every time of
day. His first passenger would not die
on his clock. Not a chance. With the siren blaring, he drove swiftly, but
gently, so the emergency medical technician in the back could work without
disruption.
“She’s losing a lot of blood, Jay,”
the EMT shouted. “We gotta get there
fast, man!”
“Not a problem,” Jay replied. “I called ahead. They have her blood type ready. Plus we’re already there.”
Jay only glanced back for a
moment. He just wanted to see the look
on the seasoned EMT’s face as the man realized he’d just taken the quickest
ambulance ride of his career right through the city during rush hour.
The woman
darted out of nowhere. In his glory, Jay
never saw her.
The second he looked away had been one
second too long. As his eyes fastened
back on the road ahead, the ambulance pulled under the emergency room over hang,
and he caught the worry in her eyes an instant before the impact. The sickening sound jolted him backward into
his seat.
Find out what happens next here:
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