Call Me Michigan (13 page)

Before Seth even managed to comment, Mason’s cell went off.

“Stiles?”

“Your daughter never made it to school this morning,” a woman stated drily, skipping introductions and greetings.

“What?” Mason wanted to know, brow furrowed. “She should be there. I –”

“Nope, never made it. Mr. Stiles, other kids would love and appreciate the spot in our pre-school, so either your daughter shows up tomorrow, or we’ll fill her place. Have a good day.” The line clicked, and Mason stared at his phone, cursing under his breath until dialing a number, waiting impatiently.

“Collins residence?” Taylor sounded cheery, and Mason gritted his teeth.

“Did your house catch fire?”

“Morning to you, too. And no.”

“Did your truck break down?”

“No.” Annoyance crept into her voice.

“You’re sick, right? Close to dying?”

“No on both accounts,” she replied a lot more sober.

“Why the hell isn’t my daughter in school then?”

“She had a tummy ache,” Taylor explained.

“Of course, she did! She didn’t want to leave your house!” He was all but screaming, but too many pent-up emotions just crashed down on him like a wave, making him actually tremble from anger.

“I figured, but since I’m just gonna check fences today, I thought we’d be fine. You’ll get her back tonight. I promise.” Her calm demeanor only pissed him off more, especially because his initial worry about his daughter evaporated into thin air, leaving even more room for the fury to fill.

“She can lose her spot over missing a day without them being informed. Plus, you’re currently teaching her that lyin’ gets rewarded!” He heard doors slam and then birds singing. Taylor must have left the house.

“I’m currently teaching her what it feels like to have a mother,” she snapped.

“You aren’t her mother, Taylor Collins! In fact, you aren’t a mother at all or you’d have considered the consequences. Take her over to Stella right now.”

Her voice was colder than ice once she answered. “I will. Tonight. Bye, Mason.” She hung up without giving him a chance to say more, and he released a string of curse words a sailor would be proud to know.

“You know, that second chance thing you asked me about? Yeah, not gonna happen after that,” Seth pointed out. “What happened?”

“She kept Becca at home because the little girl pretended to have a tummy ache. Taylor stated she was teaching her how it felt to have a mother,” Mason gritted out.

“Hate to break it to you, man. Jacklyn used to do it with Lina all the time. They’d wait until everyone was out of the house and then they’d cuddle up on the sofa and watch Disney movies or braid each other’s hair. To this day, Lina swears those were the best days of her life. To be honest, I still think Jacklyn keeps Lina home sometimes. She’s ten by now.” Seth grinned happily, his eyes having that far-off look a guy only wore when being absolutely in love.

“She’s not her mother.”

“As you made very clear. I hate to tell you, but shouldn’t you be dancin’ with joy right now? Becca doesn’t have a mother who cares about her, and the woman you love wants to spend time with your daughter, ready to fill the spot that so far is a gaping hole. The only thing wrong about this whole thing is how you treated her. I wouldn’t talk to you ever again if I were in her shoes.” Seth shrugged and then got up.

“Maybe you should stop hanging out with women,” Mason grumbled.

“Maybe you should start. And while you’re at it, think about a proper apology for that stunt,” Seth suggested.

“I’m still trying to come up with somethin’ to apologize for the last stunt I pulled,” Mason admitted, worrying his lip with his teeth.

“Clearly, you’ve been an idiot,” his colleague commented, and Mason got up from the chair he had sat on.

“I told her she’s mine, and that I think we need to get to know each other again. She has been gone for so long, and I don’t … I thought we had time, but then, last night she told me she used to be in love with me. I think –”

“You did everythin’ right and still keep going wrong,” Seth finished for him, just arching a brow in a much-saying gesture.

Maybe Seth was right. Mason grabbed his phone again.

“No need to call her back. You’ll end up straight at voicemail,” the other man predicted, and Mason hated that he was actually right. A robotic voice instructed the caller to leave a message after the beep.

“What do I do?”

“Prove to her that she still loves you as much as you love her,” Seth hinted as if that actually was the easiest thing on the planet.

***

Taylor dropped Becca off just as she had promised. Tim was at home, playing computer games, and while she usually preferred to limit his computer hours, she figured that for once, he deserved the time, and she needed a quick break from life anyway.

As it was, she started missing Becca the moment the door fell closed behind her little body. It was true that she wasn’t Becca’s mother, but for a few precious hours, she almost had been able to pretend otherwise.

She turned on the country station she and Mason had always loved. She knew the song playing by heart because even though she had stayed away from any country up in Michigan, Keith Urban’s Tonight I Wanna Cry had slipped through her armor and entertained her on more than one lonely night. As usual, it was exactly how she felt. She wanted to break down but told herself that it wasn’t going to happen anymore. She was taking care of her own life. She and Ashley had started mending their friendship, and she noticed more than a few cracks in her former best friend’s carefully crafted exterior. Together, they had cried and finally started healing again.

She came to her driveway and checked the clock on the dash. She could leave Timmy alone for a few more minutes, and she wanted to feel a breeze in her face, so she kept driving instead of turning.

She steered the truck toward the lake they used to go to on Halloween or bonfire nights. On her left was a field and a tractor plowing the last strip of earth, heading straight for the side road she was now on. Her station suddenly started to act up, interrupting the songs, and Taylor fiddled with it while keeping one eye on the tractor. They both had almost reached the intersection, and while he came from a side road, she suddenly wasn’t sure he had seen her. In fact, he was supposed to stop, but she saw that he was texting on his cell, the heavy farming machine not slowing down one bit.

Taylor shifted gears to cut back on her own speed, cautiously inching toward the crossroad before intending to fully stop. The next thing she knew, her truck was pushed forward and then hit from the side before everything went black around her.

***

“Mason, get your ass in gear! There’s need for the helicopter. A car crash occurred somewhere close to your hometown. A tractor and two trucks. One driver is stuck inside the vehicle and unresponsive as well as badly injured, and so far, they can’t get the person out. The fire engine brought equipment, so I think they’ll have that solved in a second.”

Mason was already running toward his helicopter, adrenaline surging through his body. He loved knowing that, as a helicopter pilot for the emergency crew, he saved lives just by arriving at an accident site quicker than any emergency vehicle. He hopped into his seat, putting his helmet on while starting the engine with the other hand and hitting the switches he could hit blind.

One doctor and two EMTs, Seth included, joined him, and in no time, they were up in the air.

“What street?” he asked over the speaker, leading the helicopter in the general direction of home.

“It’s a side road between fields. One is a corn field, and one is empty,” came the instant reply.

Mason cursed under his breath. More than enough streets fit that description and most lay in opposing directions.

“Ask for more info,” the doctor suggested, but Mason just shook his head.

“Did the firefighter say empty or something different?” he inquired. He knew that people from around the farms would make that distinction because it was natural for them. He had one in mind that he at least could rule out if that weren't the case. He remembered passing a field with a tractor yesterday, and by the field’s acreage, he guessed they’d still be busy.

“Actually, the dude said plowed,” Seth recalled over the speaker, and Mason just hoped there wouldn’t be more fields freshly plowed across from a cornfield. He knew where to go now, and it didn’t take long until Mason spotted the bright red fire engine, a tractor, and …

“That’s Tay’s truck! Oh, my God, that’s her!” Describing that piece of junk as a truck was like calling a whale a flounder. As if his worries weren’t enough, Mason’s mind had the courtesy to replay all the things he had said to Taylor; all the ways he had hurt her.

“Fuck, Mase, focus until we are down!” Seth called over the speaker, and Mason took a few calming breaths, and then cleared his throat.

“Right side of the crash. I’m going down on the field, and I will not stay behind this time.” Usually, he stayed near the helicopter to make sure they were ready at any given time, but with Taylor being in the accident, he wouldn’t stay by the heli until he’d seen her. Shutting down all emotions, he landed the helicopter, touching down as gently as ever and turning off the engine before everyone jumped out. Mason followed, his whole body numb with worry.

“Taylor? Please, Taylor, answer.” His call echoed across the accident site, and he didn’t care what people thought of him. He didn’t see her blond head anywhere, and it made his lungs seize.

A firefighter stepped to his side. “Sir, you need to calm down. The driver’s still in the truck and is unconscious. Is there someone we can contact to meet us at the hospital once the injured is out?”

Mason’s head was swimming. He stared at the guy, but every word was hard to comprehend. He didn’t want to call Tammy with news like that, especially since Taylor would hate to have worried her sister. That was if Tay was still alive. God, he couldn’t even think that.

“Miss, you need to …”

“I need to do fuck! Let me go.”

Mason’s knees almost gave in as he heard Taylor’s voice just behind the fire engine inside the open ambulance doors. He reached for the truck, the relief so great he wasn’t sure his racing heart would ever calm down again.

“Mase, it’s not her,” Seth screamed the moment he got close enough to the second truck. He threw a glance at Mason, checking, and Mason gave him a thumbs-up.

He turned and looked for the doctor, spotting him checking on the driver still stuck.

“You gotta live with an EMT for now,” the firefighter announced, reading his questioning gaze. Mason nodded and then moved over to where Taylor was.

A bloody handprint covered her blonde French braid, clearly a spot where she had checked for a head injury. Her red hands waved frantically through the air as she tried to avoid the exasperated EMT.

“Let me go, John, and don’t act as if you’ve never seen me before! Timothy’s alone at home!” She turned to the side, enough for Mason to see what John actually was reaching for: Taylor’s brow was cut and bleeding heavily. The whole right side of her face was swollen.

“I need to see …” John’s eyes fell on Mason, relief flooding his features. “There’s a second EMT taking you over now.”

“I’ll take it from here,” Mason agreed in a hoarse voice, and Taylor stiffened, hugging herself.

“Take what you need,” John replied as he pointed toward his bag before walking away a little too hastily to let Mason fend for himself. The moment he stepped around Taylor, his body went into EMT mode, needing to take care of her. He sat down on the steps leading up to the ambulance, the open doors looking rather inviting. Left of him was the health kit and he tucked Taylor closer until she stood between his knees. He avoided her eyes, knowing he wouldn’t be able to function if he saw her expression. Blood was running down her cheek like rain, and his stomach dropped. Technically, he knew that head wounds tended to bleed more than most, but seeing hers, he worried she was losing too much blood.

“Dizzy?” His tone was clipped. Anything else and he’d pull her into his arms before assuring himself that she was fine.

Her lips pressed together as she shook her head.

“Pain?” She gritted her teeth. He felt it against his fingertips as he prodded her cheek gently to see if anything was broken. She had another cut right below her eye on her cheekbone. That one wasn’t bleeding any longer, making him release a breath. The pain question had been redundant, he knew that, but he needed to know if she was in agony.

“No pain,” she lied, most likely knowing that she couldn’t convince him.

“You need stitches. Let me bandage you up and then we’ll take you to the hospital. I-”

“Thank you, but no. I’m fine. I just need to go home.” She glanced back at her broken truck; rapidly blinking as well as her swollen eye let her. “Tim’s home, and while I’m not his mother, I’m his legal guardian. Therefore, I need to take care of him.” She was hurt, angry, and Mason couldn’t blame her.

The problem was he shook so hard that he didn’t trust himself to do more than bandage her up. He wrapped the white dressing around her head, applying just enough pressure to hopefully stop the bleeding, and then he pushed her gently away from him. No way could he ensure she didn’t have broken bones or internal bleeding, so while he wanted to close her in his arms, he wouldn’t for fear of hurting her further. Instead, he fisted his fingers until his knuckles turned white, trying to keep his hands occupied and gritting his teeth so hard he worried they’d crack under the pressure.

“Sit,” he finally ordered, but to his dismay, she just stood there, head lowered as silent tears rolled down her mutilated cheeks.

***

Mason was so mad at her; he couldn’t even meet her eyes. Taylor clenched her hands, trying to regain control of her whirlwind emotions, but it was impossible. Instead of focusing on him, she took stock of her body. Her feet hurt but worked fine. Her legs carried her, though they were shaky. Arms and upper body? She moved the left side slightly, then the right, flexing her fingers, too. Worked well as well. Needless to say, everything hurt, reminding her with even the tiniest movement that she’d just been in a crash, but it seemed as if nothing was worse than bruises and swelling. Head? She softly shook it, instantly wincing as the world started to spin. She reached for something to hold onto and found warm skin. Her fingers wrapped around Mason’s biceps, and it was only then that she noticed his short-sleeved uniform.