Had he ever had a partner like Ty? He wasn’t sure he’d ever had a friend who’d watched out for him the way Ty was today. He’d always had to be the dependable one, the stalwart one, the one who never really felt anything. Ty was giving him space and cover. “You’ll make sure she knows where to go if she needs to stay in town?”
“I’ll take her out to Gene’s myself if I need to.” Ty stepped away.
“Thanks.” He wasn’t sure what else to say, wasn’t sure how to put the gratitude he felt into words. For all the harsh emotions seeing Trina had brought up, Ty was easing them all back down.
He wanted to see Lucy. He wanted to hug her and tell her what had happened, and then she and Ty could talk about how he should handle things.
He definitely wasn’t sure he liked how vulnerable that made him.
He wasn’t sure he liked it at all.
Chapter Ten
Ty eased the sedan onto the narrow road that wound down the mountain and would eventually lead them past Hell on Wheels. The sky was a gray that promised coming storms. If it was spring, they would have seen some rain that would wash away in hours. But this was the first storm of winter, and he feared it meant the woman next to him would be seeing a whole lot of Bliss over the next couple of days. He hoped the Movie Motel had some vacancies. “Did you fly into Colorado Springs?”
“Yes, and then I drove from there to here.” Trina Wilson sniffled into the tissue she’d pulled out of her purse. “You should know I took a picture of your license plate and texted it to a friend back home in case I go missing.”
“Good. That’s smart. You should tell her my name is Tyler Davis, and I work for Bliss County,” he replied. “And tell her if we die, she should sue the rental car company for not putting snow tires on this hunk of crap.”
She bit her bottom lip and sighed. “I didn’t know I was going to be driving on mountain roads. Which considering I’m in Colorado seems like I should have. They asked me if I would be doing any off roading. I said no, I was just visiting a friend. I think they thought I wasn’t going far. That was a lie, too. Thanks for driving. I was pretty terrified I was going to slide off the road all the way up. What happens if two cars are on the road going opposite directions?”
“It’s wider than it looks,” he promised. “And mostly you won’t see another car. There are only a couple of people who live on this mountain. I happen to know one of them, and he usually rides his bike down.”
Sawyer’s place was higher up than Mike’s and a lot nicer. So much nicer. His grandfather had left the cabin he’d built with his own two hands to Sawyer and his brothers, though Sawyer was the only one who still lived there.
“That’s good to know.” She dabbed her eyes with the tissue and then slipped it back into her bag. “Is it supposed to keep snowing? I’m afraid I don’t know how to drive on snow.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ty replied. “We’re expecting it to snow all weekend. Are you supposed to fly back home soon?”
“Not until Monday, but I was going to drive back to Colorado Springs tonight. I guess I won’t be doing that.” She went silent as he made the first of the twisting turns that would take them to the valley.
“I’m sorry about your sister. I was there the night she died. You should know the doc and I both tried to save her.” He felt compelled to let her know he’d been there.
“You were the EMT? I’m not sure why the doctor would have tried to help her. She’d tried to kill him.”
“Because that’s who Caleb Burke is.” Ty didn’t like to think about that night, but when he did Caleb was always there. Always working to save anyone he could. “It’s who I want to be. We took an oath, and we do our jobs no matter who is in need. I just wanted you to know I’m sorry for your loss.”
She pulled out another tissue. “Thank you.” She sniffled again and stared straight ahead as snow hit the windshield. “Not many people have been sympathetic. That’s been one of the hardest parts. They all act like she meant nothing because of what she did, but she was still my sister.”
“You’ll still feel her loss every day of your life.” He needed to become the go between in this situation. Michael couldn’t do it. He wasn’t ready, but he might be one day, and if Ty could keep open the possibility of a decent relationship, he would. “And I think Mike does, too.”