Bella was a couple years older than me and I only knew her because she’d been Colton’s girlfriend since they were in middle school. Also, everyone kind of knew her because her dad had died tragically after being hit by a drunk driver and her mom, who wasn’t that stable to begin with, had turned to pills, which she overdosed on and ended up at a mental health facility. That was how she’d ended up living with her awful aunt.
The night of the performance, I’d gotten “sick.” So Bella did get up on that stage, because screw her aunt, that’s why. If anyone deserved the spotlight it was Isabella Conner. And the show was better for it. The whole town still, to this day, talked about her performance. Not that she would know, she ended up leaving Wishing Well before that summer to live with a relative overseas. To this day Cara, Destiny and I still believed that Colton hadn’t got over her. He tried once, going on a dating reality show, but it hadn’t worked out. And, I’d decided then that if an understudy could steal the show that easily, it was probably better I focus my career goals elsewhere.
I looked up when a woman came barreling through the front. “Is it Tyler?! I heard over the radio.” She banged on the glass partition. “Is it Tyler?!”
Speaking of dramatic…
Within seconds a uniformed officer opened a side door. “Monica, Tyler’s fine. He’s still on scene, but it has been contained. We have verbal confirmation that there is only one officer down.”
Officer down?
“Oh, thank God.” The young, pretty brunette collapsed against the wall, and it was then that I noticed she was pregnant.
My entire body went numb. Was that what I wanted? To live every day not knowing if Hud was coming home? Forget traveling or living in New York, I didn’t care about that. But this? Could I be Monica?
Her hands rested on her belly, and she asked, “Who is it? Who’s been shot?”
I noticed the officer’s eyes shoot to me, for just a split second, before he refocused them on her and non-answered, “Tyler’s fine. I’ll have him call and check in with you.”
Panic began to well in my chest. Why did he do that? Look at me before he gave a non-answer? Was it because I was an outsider? Or was it because…
“What is the name of the officer who’s been shot?” I asked before he shut the door.
“Someone will be with you soon. Take a seat. It should only be about fifteen minutes.” With that he stepped back inside the glass fortress and shut the door.
I wanted to throw the chair at him and tell him he could shove fifteen minutes up his ass. I needed to know if Hud was okay. Now. The panic was now choking me. I looked around for some clue, some hint of what to do. If I thought that banging on the glass, like Monica had, would get me answers then I would bang till my hands bled. But I knew that wouldn’t do anything.
Grabbing my phone, I scrolled through my contacts until Officer Killjoy came up. My fingers shook as I pressed his name. It went straight to voicemail.
Shit. Just as I was about to demand answers from someone, anyone, a text came through. It was from Mrs. Reed.
Honey, I don’t know if you’re still at the station, but we just got news that Hud’s been shot. He’s stable, for now. He’s at Parrish Creek. That’s all we know. Jasper and I are on our way to the hospital now. It’ll take us a little bit, we were already a few hours away.
See you there. Don’t worry. It’s Hud, he’ll be fine.
I stood there, shaking. Paralyzed with fear.
“Are you okay?” Monica touched my arm.
I didn’t know what to say. “Hud…Hud’s been shot…”
Lamely, I turned my phone to show her the text.
She nodded and straightened her shoulders. “Okay, he’s at Parrish Creek. I’ll drive you.”
Grabbing my purse, I followed behind her as tears fell down my cheeks. And it hit me, it wasn’t a question of whether or not I could be Monica, I already was Monica.
Chapter 29
Hudson
“You can’t tell how good a man or a watermelon is until they get thumped.”
~ Loretta Reed
My head pounded and my mouth felt like I’d been chewing on cotton balls. I tried to open my eyes, but it felt like someone had cemented them shut. I continued my attempts to pry them open as I tried to fill in the blanks of what was going on, and there were a lot of them. Everything in my head was foggy.
Was I hung over? I didn’t remember drinking.
Was I at home? I still couldn’t open my eyes, but I didn’t think so.
What was that noise? It was beeping.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
And a voice.
“Hud.”
Someone was calling my name. But they seemed so far away. Or underwater.
Why would someone call me from underwater? That didn’t make sense.
“Hud.”
Okay, that was louder. And it was a female voice.
“Hud.” There was a loud sniff.
She was crying.
“I swear to God, if you die. I’ll kill you.”
Harmony. Harmony was threatening to kill me if I died. Why?
It all came back to me in flashes. The bust. The gun. The hostage. Getting shot.
Shit. I got shot.
“Hud, please be okay,” Harmony begged.