Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 78760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
I could see how the other man had fallen.
It would’ve been easy.
Though I had two different hands on my elbows keeping me from going down.
I’d just started back up the ditch toward the road when a thought occurred to me.
“Her medicines!” I yelled. “I can’t leave without them!”
When I went to turn around, two strong arms that most certainly did not belong to Tommy surrounded me, and pulled me back into the body that belonged to those arms.
“Keep walking,” he ordered. “I’ll go back and get them.”
I did after telling him where to look, stopping only when I was sure I was on the solid ground of the road.
Once he was confident that I had my footing, he turned and headed back to my truck, leaving me with Tommy and a very excited Tallulah.
My legs were burning, and I felt sorry for forgetting the meds. The man had to have been tired. This was his third trip.
We both watched in silence as the flashlight bobbed back to my SUV, and that’s when I realized I’d left my lights on.
At this point, though, I was beyond caring.
“The power's out,” I said, watching as the man made his way back to my car.
“Yep,” Tommy confirmed, reaching into the makeshift baby carrier and extracting Tallulah from the confinement.
Once she was free, I held my hands out, and he handed her to me without a word.
I pressed a kiss to her forehead and closed my eyes as I breathed out a deep sigh of relief.
It took the man five long minutes to get back to us, but when he did he had Tallulah’s bag of medicines clutched to his chest along with all of my other bags.
The moment the man was back safely on the pavement next to us, all rational thought ceased to exist in my brain, and I burst into tears.
“I just got a full tank of gas!” I wailed.
The man that was next to Tommy started to chuckle under his breath while he dropped down to his knees in exhaustion.
“You are a fuckin’ nut,” the man gasped, looking up at the sky before he started laughing full out.
I couldn’t help it.
I laughed, too.
Tommy threw his arm around me, and then started walking me toward his bike.
“We’re a minute and a half from the place where I’m staying,” he informed me. “We’ll head there.”
I blinked.
“On a bike?” I asked. “But Tallulah needs a car seat…and you most definitely don’t have one on that thing.”
Tommy gave me a look.
“People are using boats to get from point A to point B right now. We’re on the only road that leads to unflooded land. You can’t go to your house, because I can’t take you there,” he said. “And your car is likely going to be toast once they get to it. There’s a high probability that it’ll go at any minute.”
I bit my lip.
“The longer we sit here, the more wet she gets. And though she seems to be fine with it right now, she’s not going to stay that way.”
“Fuckin’ right about that,” the man on his knees said as he pushed up to his feet with almost laughable ease.
I’d have had to put my hand down to stand up from that position in the state I was in. He just did it like it was nothing.
My legs were burning, my entire body hurt, and I was still panting.
Freakin’ men…making sense and shit.
“Fine,” I finally said. “How we gonna do this?”
“I got it from here, Truth,” Tommy said. “Why don’t you get home before you can’t get there?”
Truth handed off the bags, which Tommy stored in his saddle bags, and flicked two fingers at me.
Truth (what the hell kind of name was that anyway?) gave Tommy a salute, then left without another word.
I watched him walk to his bike where he and Tommy had stopped them in the middle of the road to come to my aid, and ride away through water that was about an inch over the roadway.
“Ready?” Tommy asked.
Tallulah slapped my wet chest, then reached for Tommy.
I relinquished her to him, and he held his elbow out for me to take.
I slipped through the mud and the muck to his bike, and then watched in stunned silence as he mounted the bike, offered his hand, and waited patiently for me to get my wet jean-clad leg over the seat of his bike.
Once I was situated, he handed Tallulah back to me, and ordered, “Sandwich her between us. I’ll drive slow.”
And he did, indeed, drive slow.
Tallulah had a damn good time, while I had a minor freak out all the way to the house he was renting.
Exactly a minute and a half later, even with going slow, we arrived at our destination.
“Big ol’ house,” I murmured as we pulled up to the front door.