“I know,” Jordan agreed. “I just didn’t want to say it. I mean, Dad? Involved in Granddad’s death? He couldn’t be.”
Exactly what Justin would’ve said before he’d heard the conversation in the stairwell. Now he wasn’t so sure about anything. “We’re going to have to figure out what happened all those years ago,” he said as he stood.
Jordan’s resigned expression told Justin he didn’t particularly like the idea, and he didn’t speak again until Justin reached the door.
“I’d like to meet him.”
Justin paused. Nate. “They don’t know I overheard them. I just rehired him, so let’s let things settle down for a few days. Then we can take him out for a beer or something.”
****
Marley’s lungs burned as if they’d burst. She pushed harder. Ran faster. Longer. Farther. Because when her body screamed at the punishment, she didn’t feel the empty ache inside that refused to go away.
It’d been three days since she’d quit. Three long days with restless nights and not knowing what the hell to do with herself. Nate tried to talk her into going back, but she ignored him. She liked that he took work seriously again, but he didn’t have to deal with a rogue pulse every time he saw his boss.
Damn, there it was again. Run faster.
At the midway mark of the run she’d chosen, about five miles up, she stopped for a desperate drink of water. With her hands braced on her knees as she dragged air in, she wondered if Justin would’ve been able to keep up with her today.
The thought elicited a dismayed groan. Two weeks. Two lousy weeks, and she’d completely turned into one of those women who used to moon over her father. She hated the irony of it. The unfairness of it.
Who ever told you life was fair, Marley?
She straightened, stretched her hands over her head, pushed against a tree to extend her calf muscles, then started back down. Time to run him out again, for a few hours at least.
She’d only gone about a half mile when her cell phone rang. She thumbed the ‘send’ button to answer and got an earful of static.
“Yeah?” she panted, half-heartedly jogging in place.
“Marley? It’s Chuck.”
“Hey, what’s up?” She looked at her watch, thinking she only had about another two hours before dark.
“Where are you?”
“About ten thousand feet—I’m in the middle of a run. Why? You need help with something?”
“There’s been an accident.”
Even through the static she heard the unnatural strain in Chuck’s voice. She stopped jogging. Oh, God, Nate. She didn’t want to know. She closed her eyes against the pain that constricted her chest and leaned against a tree.
“I’m with Nate at St. Mary’s. He’s in with the doctor right now, but I don’t know how bad it is.”
Her eyes snapped open. She started walking, then running. “I’m on my way.”
“How long before you can get here?”
She increased her speed. “Hour, hour and a half.”
She disconnected and extended her stride. She’d wanted to ask what happened, but knew it’d only slow her down. The drive to the hospital took longer than she’d expected and by the time she reached the parking lot she was frantic for news. Chuck met her at the door. Nate had been rushed into emergency surgery an hour ago for internal bleeding, but he hadn’t heard anything since.
On the way to the waiting room, Marley asked what had happened. All Chuck could tell her was he’d returned to the job site for some paperwork and found Nate lying unconscious on the basement floor of the house. He assumed Nate had slipped and fallen, breaking a leg and hitting his head in the process.
As the minutes dragged on, Marley sat, then paced, and finally had to go down the hall for a cup of coffee as fatigue began to set in. Mid-reach for an insulated cup, she blinked at the sight of dried blood on her hand. She had a vague recollection of tripping on the way down and sprawling on her hands and knees. Looking at her other hand, then her knees, she saw her palms had taken the brunt of her momentum.
Dirt was ground into the bloody scrapes. For the first time that she noticed since her fall, they began to sting. She turned around to search for a bathroom and stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of Justin striding toward her. Her mouth went dry. She felt lightheaded from an instant increase of her pulse.
His expression was wreathed in concern, his hazel gaze locked on her as he came closer.