People had died on his watch. Turner didn’t take that lightly. While he and Annie had been trapped in the first level of city hall, with three floors of debris on top of them, others had been dying. Both security guards had escaped two hours after Turner, free of injury. They’d been trapped in the basement that hadn’t been touched. The first floor had held everything just fine.
Had it not, he and Annie would have been crushed.
Just how lucky he and the woman in the bed had gotten wasn’t lost on him.
That didn’t stop him from feeling like the entire world had changed, like the world had turned into a warzone unlike any he’d ever seen before. He’d driven around the city for hours after leaving Elliot’s room. He’d finally made his way back to Annie.
War zone was a tame descriptor for what his city looked like now.
And all had looked to him for answers. Answers Turner didn’t have.
Halfway through the hours, he’d been joined by an exhausted Marcus Deane. The Texas governor had a busted lip and a black eye—but that had come after the storm, when he’d had to slam on the brakes to avoid loose cattle in the road and smashed into his steering wheel. The two of them had driven up and down each street of the city after that, just taking stock.
Neither had said much as the number of blocks they’d driven had climbed. There wasn’t much to say.
A quarter of the city easily was gone, destroyed. Another quarter had sustained significant damage. Minimal-to-moderate damage areas surrounded those.
There wasn’t a home or building untouched that he’d seen.
His city would never be the same.
He fully expected the governor to declare a state of emergency within hours. As soon as first light hit, no doubt Marcus would.
He’d stopped by Finley Creek Gen to grab a cup of coffee and finally check on Annie. He’d been trying to get five minutes at her side, but it had taken him hours to do it.
She’d been on his mind since the moment she’d been wheeled away.
Turner just stood there in the middle of the hospital room, staring at her like an idiot.
She blinked, obviously still weak and exhausted, then slipped into sleep as he watched. He looked at Izzie, a casual acquaintance he’d met through his cousin Houghton’s wife. “How is she doing?”
The monitors were all that showed Annie was still alive.
Turner wanted to touch her. To feel her skin beneath his fingers, to watch her breathe.
“Why exactly are you here, Turner?” Dr. Allen Jacobson asked quietly. He’d been Annie’s surgeon tonight.
He and the other man had been friends since college, casually. They’d hung out together, played on the baseball team at FCU, then drifted apart as life and different paths took hold. He’d always liked Allen, for the most part. Trusted him to tell him the straight truth.
“Truth? I’m hiding. I needed a break from what was…out there. And I just need to know she’s going to be ok.” He wasn’t ready to sever that tie just yet. Not just yet.
Allen wasn’t a fool. And he was studying Turner like he knew exactly what was going on in Turner’s head. “You shouldn’t be in here without permission. Legally. I’d think you’d know that.”
“Then she can give me permission.” Turner looked at his primary ally in the room. “Nurse Izzie likes me. We went for coffee once. What do you say, Iz? Can I hide in here with you for a while? Keep you company? I’ll buy you dinner again at the Barratt…”
He’d shared a sweet kiss with the little dark-eyed elf before they’d realized they were better friends than lovers. That was right after Houghton and Mel had gotten married, and Mel had invited Izzie and a few other women to Houghton’s one night. It had been a matchmaking venture. They’d both known it. Been open to it. They’d joked about Mel because of it. It had been like kissing a kid sister, if he’d had one.
Izzie was just that cute and feisty.
“It was the best date I’ve had in a long while.” He sent Izzie a hopeful look. She’d snip and snap like the best of them, but she was a big softie underneath. He’d figured out Izadora MacNamara fast. “Pretty please, Iz? I’ll be good. I promise. Let me sit with her for a while. I...we have some unfinished business.”
“Somehow, I don’t think you do.” She stared at him a minute, but he knew he had her. It was that softie thing, after all. She sighed. “For a little while.”
Turner stayed much longer than that, long after Izzie curled up in her own bed and fell asleep, sooner than he suspected she’d intended. Izzie flipped around like a fish out of water, more than anyone he’d ever seen. It was in stark contrast to her two roommates, who lay quiet and almost unmoving.
Another man was in the room part of the time. A doctor, but from a neighboring county. He hovered over the woman in the third bed—a woman Turner had also met before. One who never stopped talking. Well, she’d stopped talking now.
He and Turner played cards and talked about what was most likely to happen for the area next. Caine, the doctor, knew his stuff. He’d spent time overseas. He’d seen massive disasters before. And had insight he’d freely shared with Turner.
Turner would admit it. It helped him center some of what he had to focus on now.
His time in Annie’s room was going to be the only oasis of peace Turner would get.
The three women were the closest of friends; Caine promised to keep an eye on Annie for him. It was probably as good as it was going to get. Turner liked that he wouldn’t be leaving her there alone, that there were people who cared about her right there with her. Leaving her was still harder than he ever would have imagined.
He gave her one last look, then stepped out of the room to do what he had to do.