“It has to be hard for him. Baby, you know he loves you. He told Jeff that he’s moving to Fredericksburg next month. ”
I looked over at Ari and smiled. “Yeah, I still can’t believe he’s going to move his whole business just to be with me. He’s doing so well. I hope this doesn’t cause him to lose any business. ”
“It won’t, Heather. Don’t worry. He loves you and wants to be with you. Don’t worry about Lynda either. After Josh is out of Austin, she’ll see that
he’s truly yours, and she’ll move on. ”
“God, I hope so. ”
Just then, Jeff walked out onto the porch and looked at Ari and me with concern etched on his face.
Ari jumped up.
“What’s wrong? Luke! Is Luke okay?”
I slowly stood up. Jeff was looking at me. Something was wrong.
“Ari, Luke is fine, baby. He’s fine. ”
“Jesus, Jeff. What’s wrong then?”
“I just got a phone call from Josh’s mother Elizabeth…”
My heart started pounding.
Just then, my cell phone went off, I must have gotten a signal right then. I pulled it out of my pocket to see I had three missed calls…from Elizabeth. She must have called when I had no signal, and they just now all came through.
I looked up at Jeff.
“Heather, Josh has been in a car accident. ”
I took a step back and fell into the chair. All the memories of my parents’ accident came flooding back to me.
“Baby girl, I’m going to drive you into Austin, okay?” Jeff said.
I nodded my head and looked at Ari, who was kneeling down next to me.
She looked up to Jeff.
“How is he, Jeff?”
Jeff cleared his throat.
“He’s in critical condition, and, um…he’s in surgery right now. ”
I jumped and ran to my car. I had to get to Josh right now.
Jeff came up behind me and grabbed me.
“Let me go, Jeff!” I screamed, kicking and pushing for him to let me go.
“Heather, calm down. Let me drive you to Austin. ”
“Let me go! Oh my god!” I fell to the ground and started crying.
Jeff held on to me as I cried hysterically.
Ari dropped to the ground next to me and put her hands on my face. “Heather, look at me, sweets. Let us take you to Austin. It’s going to be okay. ”