Strawberry Wine (Strawberry Inn Book #2)

Chapter 16

CODY

I knew something wasn’t right when I saw Blair’s name on my phone. It was a holiday and I had no doubt she was drinking and enjoying herself at Angela’s cookout today. My first thought was that she unintentionally called me, perhaps a drunk dial. A drunk dial meant one of two things. She was either going to lash out at me and tell me all the way I ruined her life or she was going to be calling because she just wanted to talk, code for a hook-up. While I didn’t want her to call and yell at me, I also didn’t want her to ask me to come over because I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to tell her no.

She only had to say those few words for me to realize it was worse than I had expected. “Cody, something happened to Hayes.”

I was on my feet in a matter of seconds, searching around for a shirt to put on, clean or not, I didn’t care. “Tell me more, Blair, what happened?”

She was sniffling on the other line, making it hard for words to come out, but she finally was able to sob out more information, “Car accident, somewhere outside of town.”

“Shit!” Tonight was a holiday and drunk drivers were bound to be out in force. Strawberry and the surrounding small towns didn’t have many ride-share drivers and cabs were non-existent. Drunk drivers weren’t out of the ordinary, especially for a night like tonight. “Is he okay? Where is he? Where are you?”

“I’m at home,” she said once again through her years. “Angela is coming to get me so we can go to the hospital.”

“Blair, honey, I know this is hard, but do you know if he is okay?”

“Harrison said he was conscious, but I don’t know anything else.” She paused for a moment and then in a very timid voice admitted, “I’m so scared, Cody.”

“Me too, Bear, but I’m leaving now and I’ll meet you down there, okay?”

“Thank you, Cody.”

The heartbreak reads through the phone and I just wish I could do something to make it go away. I’ve never moved my way through the house as fast as I am now. The second I’m off the phone with Blair, I’m in my car heading directly to the hospital in the next town over. I want to put the pedal to the metal and get there as soon as I can, but getting myself into an accident is only going to make the night worse. The forty-five-minute drive feels like a lifetime, but I finally pull into the hospital parking lot and book it into the ER entrance.

There is a line of people waiting to check in with the desk upfront and I’m tempted to cut in front of them all to get information on my son, but then I hear my name coming from the small waiting room and see Angela and Blair. In quick strides, I head in their direction and Blair meets me in the middle of the room, crashing into my chest. I wrap my arms around her as she sobs into my chest. People around us stare, but they can all fuck off, if they only knew. 

“Do they know anything yet, Angela?” I know there is no use asking Blair, she’s way too wound up. 

Angela shakes her head, tears of her own forming in her eyes, “We just got here a few minutes ago and they told us to wait. I tried to get her to sit, but she was too anxious.”

“I know the feeling.” I rub Blair’s back and try to calm her down, but it is to no avail. At this point, she needs to cry and I’m more than willing to be her support. “Harrison was there?”

“Yeah, his crew was the first on the scene. He called me, but he didn’t have that much information either since he was still working at the crash site. All he had time to tell me is that Hayes was driving one of the cars involved and they were bringing him here.”