Lost With You (Cloverton #1)
Jodi Vaughn
Chapter One
Grace Witherspoon parked her oatmeal-colored Ford Taurus near an empty alley and away from the street camera on Main Street. She tugged her baseball cap down over her dark brown hair and slid her sunglasses on before climbing out of the car. It was still early in the sleepy little town of Cloverton, Tennessee, and traffic was minimal. The sun was still sneaking its way up in the sky at a crawl as store owners turned on their Open signs and unlocked their doors.
Grace waited to make the trip into town during the week while moms were busy dropping kids off at school and the work force was settling into their familiar routines. People would hardly give her a second glance. If they did, the town folk would probably assume she was just passing through to a larger city like Nashville. She could be in and out of the grocery store in a matter of minutes.
She had eaten her last can of ravioli last night. She couldn’t put off getting food any longer. Real food. She’d survived on canned goods and ramen noodles for months. Her body craved fruits and vegetables and meals prepared in a kitchen. If she never saw prepackaged dinners again, it would be fine by her.
Stuffing her hands into her faded jeans, she hurried across the street.
Tires squealed as someone hit their brakes. From the corner of her eye, she saw a white car bearing down on her like a metal monster ready to devour. In her mind, she ran for safety. But in reality her traitorous feet remained rooted to the spot, melding to the asphalt. Her throat tightened on a scream, and she blinked as if to wake from this unrelenting nightmare.
The hood of the car slammed into her thigh, knocking her to the asphalt. The force jarred her bones, as pain shot through her nervous system. She squeezed her eyes shut against the agony, afraid to move.
“Oh, my God! Are you okay?”
Grace opened her eyes. Hovering above her was a young woman with platinum blonde hair and large brown eyes.
“Don’t move. I’m calling an ambulance.” The woman jerked her cell phone from her pocket.
“No, don’t.” Grace gritted her teeth and pushed herself up on her arms. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from crying out at the tenderness in her thigh.
“I told you not to move. You might have a broken leg, a spinal injury, or a punctured organ.” The woman knelt and placed a gentle hand on Grace’s arm. Her soft brown eyes widened in fear, as she looked down at her cell phone and punched in numbers. She shook her head and murmured, “Sloan is going to kill me.”
Cold shivers ran down Grace’s back. She grabbed the woman’s phone and hit End Call before it could connect. “Don’t call anyone. I’m fine.”
“Are you kidding? I just hit you with my car.” The woman’s lip trembled.
“It’s my fault for not paying attention. I didn’t even walk in the crosswalk. Besides, you couldn’t have been going that fast.”
The woman worried her lip with her teeth. “I still think you need to go to the ER so they can check you out.”
“No.” Grace shook her head. Visiting the hospital required too much personal information. It was the last place she needed to be.
“Oh.” The woman gave her an understanding smile. “You don’t have insurance, do you?”
Grace breathed out a sigh of relief and shook her head. “No, I don’t.”
“That’s not a problem. I’ll pay for any medical bills.” She reached for the phone, but Grace held it away out of her reach.
“No. That’s not necessary. If I was really hurt, I think I’d know by now. Besides, I don’t want you to get in trouble.” She met the woman’s confused gaze. “You mentioned someone named Sloan.”
The woman grimaced. “He’s already lit into me about my car insurance going up. Last month I hit the neighbor’s car while I was backing out of the driveway. I thought it was the garbage can so I kept backing up, you know, to push it out of the way. It turns out I was pushing a really big dent in the side of her car.” She shook her head. “It really wasn’t my fault. She practically takes over my driveway with her garbage can.” She smiled. “I’m Allison, by the way.”
“I’m Grace.” Her legs trembled, as she forced them under her as Allison helped her up. A sharp pain shot through her thigh.
“Are you sure you’re okay? You look kind of pale.”
“I’m fine. I just got up too fast.” She slipped out of Allison’s hold and bent to pick up her baseball cap and sunglasses before gathering the strewn contents of her purse.
“No. I got it.” Allison gathered her meager belongings and shoved them back in her brown oversized purse. “You must be new here.”
Grace shouldered her purse. “I just moved here a few days ago. I was making a trip to the grocery store.”