Crazy in Love (29 page)

“
Wait,” Jake said, holding his hand out. “Annabelle, I’m not going to let you kill her.”

“
I know. It sounds horrible, I know. But these people, they kind of deserve it. Esther was going to send me to jail, which is not nice. Eileen made you lose your job. Gordon Chase was a complete waste of humanity. Rhonda betrayed the man she loved just to get him to love her back, which, yeah, that was my advice, but she took it, you know? And Flynn…” She looked at Flynn and sighed. “I liked Flynn, but she tried to take you away from me, so this is really her own doing.”

Keeping her eyes on Jake, Annabelle cocked the gun. He held his hands up.

“Don’t, Annabelle,” he said. “I’ll go with you. Fine. Just don’t shoot.”

Annabelle leaned her head a little to one side, looking like a dog who was unsure what she had to do to get the treat.
“But you don’t love her, right? I mean, it’s always been me, right? The only reason why you and I aren’t together is because Esther told you not to ask me out, right?”

“
What are you talking about?” Jake said. “Esther and I never talked about you.”

“
But you did. She told me. She said that you liked me, but Esther told you not to ask me out because she didn’t want employees dating.”

Jake shook his head.
“Annabelle, she never told me not to ask you out.”

Annabelle
’s face contorted in confusion. “What? Well, then… why…?”

Flynn sighed.
“She was being
nice.
She probably knew Jake would never ask you out and she felt sorry for you, you freakin’ whackjob.”

“
Flynn,” Jake said, warning tight in his voice. “Why don’t you let me do the talking?”

Flynn threw her arms down at her sides.
“I’m gonna
die
. I need to bite my tongue, too?”

Annabelle
’s eyes filled with tears, and the gun shook slightly in her hand. “It’s not true, Jake. It’s not true. You love me. You just… Esther…”

“
Christ, Annabelle,” he said, trying to keep his voice even. “You don’t have to kill her. I’ve only known her for a week. I’ve known you a lot longer than that and I do care about you. But we need to talk this out, and I can’t talk if a gun is pointed at someone. Put it down.”

“
See?” Annabelle said, her hand steadying as she held the gun on Flynn. “I told you he didn’t love you.”

Jake glanced at Flynn, and she met his eyes and gave him a slight, knowing smile.

Give them what they most want, or show them what they most fear.

“
No,” he said, but Flynn had already stood up.

“
If you’re gonna shoot me, Annabelle, then quit the sniveling and shoot me,” she said. “But if you think for a minute that Jake is ever going to love you, you’re batshit crazy.”

“
Ignore her, Annabelle. Look at me,” Jake said, sidling closer. Annabelle’s focus was totally on Flynn. If he could just get between Flynn and the gun…

“
You’re so obsessed with whether he loves me or not. Who cares? What does it matter? I’m not your problem, Annabelle. Your problem is
you
. He’s never going to love you, whether I’m in the picture or not. That’s all there is to it. It’s just never going to happen.”

Jake watched as Annabelle tucked a shaking finger inside the trigger.

“Get down!”

Flynn took the cue and darted to the floor just as Jake bent down and launched himself at Annabelle
’s midsection. The gun went off and chunks of ceiling fell over them.

“
Flynn! Get out!” he yelled as he grabbed for Annabelle’s hand, grasping it by the wrist as the gun went off again. He heard a crash and a scream behind him.

“
Flynn!” He tried to look for her, but Annabelle almost got free from under him.

“
He loves me!” she screamed, her eyes wild. She cracked him in the head with the gun, and he grabbed her wrist and banged it against the floor as hard as he could. He heard the crack of bones, and Annabelle screamed. The gun slid from her grip and without letting her go, he shifted one leg out to kick it out of her reach.

He put one hand on the floor to push himself up off of her, but hands grabbed him and pulled him away before he could get to his feet. The hands released him and he realized that they belonged to two SWAT guys. He had no idea when the cops had come in, but the room was suddenly filled with uniforms. He turned around and frantically searched the room.

“Flynn!”

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and whipped around to see Flynn behind him. He pulled her to him, one hand cradling the back of her head as he held her tight, drinking in the feel of her alive in his arms.

“Thank God you’re okay.” He pulled back, holding her by her upper arms and glancing over her body. “Are you okay?”

She smiled, then slowly shook her head.
“Don’t think so.”

She bucked in his grip, and that
’s when he felt the slipperiness under his left hand. He put his right arm around her waist to catch her.

“
I need a medic!” he yelled as he guided her to the couch.

“
On the way!” a voice yelled back.

“
I’m shot,” Flynn said, her voice high and calm. “I’m pretty sure I’ve been shot.”

Jake leaned over her right arm, trying to get a good look in the dim light. All he could see was a growing dark patch on the sleeve of her sweater.

“Flynn…” He glanced over his shoulder and shouted, “A medic! Now!”

He rolled up the sleeve of her sweater and used it to put pressure on her arm, blocking out her gasp of pain as he did what needed to be done. The blood seeped out from under his hand, dripping into a small pool on the couch. It was a lot of blood, and it was coming fast; Annabelle had hit an artery.

“You don’t look good, Tucker,” she said.

“
I’m fine.” He raised his eyes to hers and forced a smile. “You’re gonna be fine, too. I’ve seen worse paper cuts.”

“
Oh, I’ll bet.” Her voice was frail. “Hey, Tucker. You wanna hear something funny?”

“
Always.” He kept the pressure on her arm, and tried to look casual. “What is it?”

“
I love you.”

He looked up, not sure how to respond, not even sure if he heard her right.

She chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’m not gonna shoot anyone over it or anything.”

“
Flynn…”

A light smile fluttered on her face.
“I know it’s only been a week, but there are people getting crispy in a car outside and I was held at gunpoint and it occurs to me that life is just too freakin’ short, you know? I love you, and I just want you to know that.”

Tucker bit the inside of his cheek and concentrated on maintaining the pressure on her wound.
“Anything you
need to tell me, there will be plenty of time to tell me later.”

She raised her good arm and put her hand on his wrist.

“I want you to know now. Just in case—”

“
Knock it off, Flynn.” He looked her in the eyes. “You’re gonna be fine.”

“
Oh. Of course.”

He reached up with his free hand and touched her cheek.
“When you wake up on the other side of this, after I give you a healthy ration for scaring the shit out of me, I’ll tell you that I love you, too.”

“
You don’t have to say that,” she said. “It’s okay.”

“
Flynn...” His voice shook on her name and he took a moment to steady it. “Flynn, if I was the kind of guy who’d say that when he didn’t mean it, I would have said it to Annabelle.”

She thought on that for a second, then offered
a
weak smile. “Good point.”

Even in the dim light, he could see how pale her face was, and it scared him. He smoothed some hair away from her face, and stared into her eyes, anchoring himself in them.
“I’m not just saying it, Flynn. I love you.”

“
Well, yeah,” she said, smiling. “I mean, who wouldn’t?”

Then her eyes closed and Jake turned his head toward the door and screamed,
“Where is my fucking
medic
?”

Seventeen

Flynn
glanced behind her at her body, lying still in the hospital bed. Then her eyes went to Tucker, sleeping by her bedside, one hand resting on her lower arm to alert him if she moved. It was dark out, way past visiting hours, but he was there. She smiled. All that stuff they say about unconscious people knowing their loved ones are with them? It was true.

Huh. Dig that.

Flynn sensed someone at the foot of her bed, and turned her attention away from Tucker to see Esther standing next to her bed.

Wow. That woman was really short.

But something was different about her. She looked younger. Happier. And unlike all their other visits, the light that accompanied her was white.

Flynn smiled.
“You’re here.”

“
Of course I’m here.” She motioned toward the sleeping Flynn. “Did you think I’d miss this?”

“
Guess not.” She watched Esther’s smiling face for a moment, overwhelmed by affection and sadness.

This day had been just full of surprises.

“So,” she said, feeling an odd lump in her throat despite the fact that she was disembodied at the moment, “I assume by the fact that you’re here and not in the cottage that you’re free now?”

Esther nodded.
“I am.”

“
Because I solved your murder, right? I freed you, didn’t I? How much are you digging me right now?”

“
Less and less as time goes on,” Esther said, but then smiled and nodded toward Tucker. “You should wake up. Put the poor man out of his misery.”

“
I’ve tried,” Flynn said. “I can’t. I think it’s the drugs.”

“
Okay. Well. Since we’ve got a minute…” Esther paused, daintily smoothing out the sleeves of her ghostly dress. “I’d like to say that despite how rude you were to me, I have risen above it, and I left something for you.”

Flynn bopped up on the bed.
“Oh! Is it a ghost pony? I’ve always wanted one of those.”

“
No,” Esther said, pursing her lips.

“
Well? Where is it? I want my gift.”

“
You’ll get it soon, and when you do, you’ll know it’s from me.”

Before she could remember that they were both disembodied, Flynn reached out for Esther
’s hand, and was surprised to feel it solidly there. It was warm, and the white glow spread to encompass Flynn’s fingers as Esther squeezed back.

“
Wow,” she said, sniffling. “Those are some powerful drugs. I’m kinda sad to see you go.”

“
If you work on that mouth of yours,” Esther said, her
eyes misting a bit themselves, “you might just turn out okay.”

Flynn laughed, gave Esther
’s hands one last squeeze, and released them. “Tell Harold Wilbur I said hi.”

Esther nodded, then turned and walked away.

Crazy old goat,
Flynn thought as she wiggled her fingers in the direction of the wall Esther had just walked through.
I’ll miss you.

I
heard that,
Esther’s disembodied voice called faintly.

Flynn
’s vision went black, and her body felt suddenly heavy. She took in a deep breath and opened her eyes.

She was in the hospital room. Awake. Alive.

Tucker stirred in the seat next to her, as if sensing her consciousness. He lifted his head and smiled when his eyes met hers.

“
Hey,” he said, his voice soft.

“
Hey yourself,” Flynn croaked, then coughed against the scratchiness in her throat. Tucker grabbed a pitcher from the bedside tray, poured her a cup of water, and sat on the bed, holding it out for her to drink. When she was done, he put it on the tray and looked down at her.

“
How are you doing?” he asked.

“
I don’t know. How am I doing?”

“
You’re gonna be fine.” He gave a weak smile. “The, uh, the bullet hit an artery, and you lost some blood. A lot of blood, actually. They medevac’d you out here to Albany and put you in surgery and they, uh, they fixed you. Your arm’s gonna be sore. It’ll be a while before you can play golf again.”

“
I hate golf.”

“
Then it’s a win.”

Flynn took a deep breath.
“How are you? Are you okay?”

Tucker raised his eyes to hers and she could see the answer to that question.

“Tucker…”

“
Well,” he said, lowering his eyes again, “I tell ya, I don’t know what I’m gonna do to top this. First I get you shot at, and then I get you actually shot. I’m really struggling to figure out what our next date should be. How do you feel about naked skydiving without a parachute?”

“
I like the naked part.” She reached out and put her hand on his. “You know this isn’t your fault, right?”

He huffed.
“Then whose fault is it?”

“
Annabelle’s,” Flynn said. “Speaking of which, they took her down, right?”

“
Yep. She’s rotting in a cell as we speak.”

Flynn smiled, but Tucker
’s face didn’t reveal the slightest trace of amusement.

“
Hey,” she said. “Stop it with the miserable, okay?”

“
All you asked was for breakfast. If I had gone—”

“
Hey,” she said forcefully. He raised his eyes to hers, and once she knew she had his attention, she smiled. “Never happened.”

“
What?” he said, his voice an incredulous whisper.

She spoke slowly, so he
’d know she meant what she was saying. “It. Never. Happened.”

“
Flynn, that doesn’t work here. You could have—”

“
Look,” she said, “we can sit here and torture ourselves about it. I can feel bad that I very easily could have gotten you killed, and you can feel bad that I got a glorified paper cut, we can talk it to death and hope we come out okay on the other end…”

Tucker allowed a small smile at this, and Flynn wound her fingers in his.

“… or we can agree that it never happened, you can kiss me, and we can move on.”

Tucker stared at her for a long moment, his eyes glimmering in the dim moonlight.
“Flynn—”

“
I think you know my vote.”

Finally, Tucker smiled, leaned forward, and kissed her lightly on the lips, but pulled back way too soon.

“Good. We’re agreed,” she said.

“
Yeah.” He rubbed his hand over his eyes, obviously tired. “Um, Freya and your dad were here, but
I
sent them back to the hotel to get some rest.”

“
My dad was here?”

Tucker nodded.
“Yeah. He flew in the second we got a hold of him.”

“
Wow,” Flynn said. “Good.”

“
Yeah,” Tucker said, smiling, “I told the nurses I was your brother so they’d let me stay.”

Flynn laughed.
“Well, how’s that gonna look when they walk in on us making out?”

Tucker chuckled. Flynn reached up with her good arm and grabbed a fistful of his shirt, pulling him down toward her for a long, comforting kiss. A moment later he pulled back and smiled down at her, and finally the darkness was out of his eyes and the perma-smile settled on his lips and he started to look like her Tucker.

My Tucker,
she thought, and she shivered under the force of the emotion that rushed through her.

“
Are you cold?” He hopped up off the bed and grabbed a bag from under the bed.

“
I’m fine. Come back.”

He lifted the bag up, set it at the foot of her bed, and riffled through it.
“No, when your dad and Freya were here with you, I got a little restless, so I drove back to the Arms and got some of your stuff. You know, the comfort of the familiar aiding with the healing process and all that stuff… ah, here we go.”

He pulled out the purple afghan.
Esther’s
purple afghan. Flynn had seen it so many times, and it had never once occurred to her that it would be real.

But of course it was.

She laughed and took it from him, amazed at how soft it was under her fingers. “Oh, my God. Where’d you get that?”

He glanced
at it, confused, then looked back at her. “It was in the bottom drawer of the armoire. It’s yours, right?”

Flynn stared at it for a long moment, then reached out and took Tucker
’s hand in hers.

“
Yeah,” she said, swiping at a happy tear. “It’s mine.”

The End