Tinsel (Lark Cove #4)(93)

“Why don’t you pull over?” I asked. There wasn’t a lot of room, but we could quickly switch places.

He blew out another sharp breath, wincing so hard his hand jerked on the steering wheel. Something was wrong. Incredibly wrong.

“Xavier.” My heart was racing. “Pull over. Let me drive. You need to go to the hospital.”

“I’m okay.” His face paled and a sheen of sweat beaded beneath the brim of his hat at his temple. He ran his hand up his side, once again rubbing his chest as he struggled to breathe. “I’m okay. It’s just heartburn.”

“I don’t know. It seems ser—” A flash caught my eye and I flinched. “Look out!”

But my warning came seconds too late.





“Does this mean you can come home for dinner tomorrow?” Mom asked hopefully into the phone.

“No. I’ll spend it here with Sofia’s family. They’ve already made Thanksgiving plans, and I don’t want to cancel on them.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Have a good evening, Mom.”

“You too, Dakota. We’ll see you soon?”

“Yeah. Be home soon. Bye.” I hung up the phone, setting it on the bar.

It was warm from being pressed to my ear for the last hour. But that phone call to Mom was a week overdue. Our conversation was one of the hardest I’d ever had, but it was one I should have had months ago.

I just wished I’d had that conversation when Dad was alive.

I looked at the time on the screen and frowned. I hadn’t heard from Sofia yet. After she and Xavier had left for Kalispell, I’d come to the bar and taken over for Jackson.

Willa and the kids had been in with him today, hanging out while he worked. Roman had been running around the room in his police officer costume—a new one since he’d outgrown the original. And baby Zoe was trying to escape her mother’s grip so she could explore, and probably put something she wasn’t supposed to in her drooling mouth.

As expected on the day before Thanksgiving, it was dead quiet. They’d only had one person in for lunch.

So after the Page crew left to go home and start enjoying the holiday, I’d taken advantage of the time alone and called Mom.

It had been nearly three hours since Sofia had left, and I’d expected to at least get a text when they were on their way back home.

It was dark outside, and though I trusted my uncle to drive them home carefully, I didn’t like Sofia out on a snowy night.

I shouldn’t have let her go and wouldn’t have if not for the pleading in her eyes. She needed time and space away from me.

That hurt. But the way I’d handled things, from the beginning, had been wrong. For that, I’d always be sorry.

I picked up the phone and sent her a quick text.



You guys on your way back?



I wandered around the quiet room, pushing stools back in place, waiting for a return text to chime. When five minutes had passed, I checked to make sure my phone wasn’t on silent. Then I took it into the kitchen, making sure everything was put away. I doubted we’d get any dinner customers, and with everything stowed, I was closing early.

Sofia and I had a lot to discuss.

If she’d ever get back.

“Where are they?” Instead of a text, I picked up my phone and made a call. It went straight to her voicemail. Then I called Xavier’s phone. Same thing.

Something wasn’t right. The knot in my gut confirmed it. I strode out of the kitchen and into the bar. I didn’t care what time it was, I was closing. First thing, I’d head over to Logan and Thea’s place and double-check she wasn’t there. Maybe her phone had just died.

I grabbed my keys from the counter, rounding the bar for the front door just as it burst open and Hazel rushed inside.

“Get your stuff.” Her face was pale, worry lines creasing her leathered skin. But her eyes, they were feral. “Let’s go.”

“Go where?”

“Xavier’s in the hospital.”

My air rushed out of my lungs, but I managed a single word. “Sofia?”

“She’s fine. I’ll explain in the car.”

“Go.”

Hazel spun and was out the door as fast as she’d come in.

I followed right into the cold, the air biting through the flannel of my shirt. But I wasn’t wasting time getting a coat. I locked the door, went straight to my truck and got inside. Hazel beeped the locks on her Subaru Outback, leaving it in the parking lot, and hopped in with me.

I roared down the road, my hands tight on the wheel as I drove as fast as possible without putting Hazel and me at risk. “Talk.”

“They were driving up and almost hit a deer. Xavier swerved to miss it.”

My teeth ground together. He knew better than to swerve. He should have hit it. His life, Sofia’s life, was more precious than a deer’s.

“He lost control, spun around a bit but they didn’t end up in the ditch.”

“If they didn’t crash, then how’d he end up in the hospital?”

“He was having a bunch of pains. After the deer, Sofia put him in the passenger seat and drove to the hospital. She just called.”

“Goddamn it.” I never should have let her go. “But she’s okay?”