Reflecting On Wishes (The Wishes Series) (9 page)

“Hey, that’s Angel Vega. I
need to call her dad. Dammit…” Officer Jacobs cursed, pulling his cell phone from his pocket and dialing his longtime friend to break the news.

The shock registered on the medics faces. It was hard to get a good look at her in the dusk with her face covered in blood but one look at the back of her helmet that sported a
Vega’s Custom Bikes
logo with wings on either side confirmed it. It was the town’s pride and joy was in a broken heap along the side of the highway.

***

“I don’t know why she isn’t here yet
,
Papá,” Rage had a worried look on his face. He had been at his dad’s house for nearly an hour now and he had expected Angel to arrive right after him.

“Try calling her again
. Maybe she decided to swing by and see Dakota on her way over here.” Vito scratched his head, walking into the living room and opening the front door to look outside.

“No answer. I keep getting her voice mail. I tried her apartment too but there’s no answer there either. I think I should go look for her,” Rage was getting antsy. This wasn’t like his baby sister to not show up
or at least send a text if she was running late or stopping somewhere else. 

“I’ll stay here in case she shows
up. You go ahead and drive to the bank and then the shop. Swing by her apartment if she’s not at either place.” Vito crossed his arms over his chest with a worried look on his face.

“On my way,” Rage replied as he walked out the front door. The ringing of the house phone stopped him in his tracks. Turning, he went back inside, listening when his dad put the phone on speaker and said
. “Hello.”

“Vito, this is Jacobs. I hate to be the one to call you but I’m off Highway 129 just
past the exit for TT Highway at the scene of an accident. It’s Angel…”

“Oh God, Jacobs—is she okay?” Tears instantly welled up in Vito’s eyes as he waited for an answer. Rage came up and stood beside him, his face going pale.

“She’s alive, Vito. But she’s banged up pretty bad and unconscious. They are loading her in the ambulance now to take her to the hospital.” Jacobs’s voice was thick with emotion. This was the part of his job he hated. Living in a small town where everyone knew each other made it especially hard to break bad news to someone.

“We’re on our way. Thanks for calling me.” Vito hung up and tossed the phone on the couch, grabbing his keys off the coffee table and followed his son out the door. Once they were in the truck, Vito slammed his fist against the steering wheel in frustration before starting it up and pulling out of the driveway, rushing towards the hospital.

“She’ll be okay, Angel is tough Dad.” His voice was shaking but he was trying to put on a brave face for their father even though inside, he felt as if his insides were tearing apart.

The drive didn’t take long but seeing the remains of the accident on the side of the highway wa
s nearly Vito’s undoing. “Aye dios mio! Her bike is obliterated, Rage.”

Rage reached over and gripped his dad’s shoulder, trying to give him comfort even though words failed him. It was dark outside when they pulled into the emergency parking and headed inside. They were informed by the woman at the check-in that the doctor would come
out to talk to them when he knew something. A news crew entered the waiting room not long after Rage and Vito were seated. Immediately, Rage shielded his father from them and politely edged them out the door, giving a statement that they didn’t know the extent of her injuries yet and to please respect her and the family while they waited for news. Once he had them satisfied he came back inside and called his wife Nahni so she would hear it from him and not on the news. He hated worrying her since she was pregnant, but Angel was her best friend, not just her sister-in-law. After he hung up, he dialed Dakota’s number. A sick feeling in his stomach had acid burning up into his throat when he told him what happened.

***

Dakota had just gotten home from work. As he changed out of his scrubs and into shorts and a t-shirt, his phone rang. It was a good thing he was sitting down when Rage told him about Angel’s accident because his knees went weak and he felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest. He had heard the sirens earlier but never dreamed it would be for Angel. He had to be there with her. He knew most of the doctors since he worked closely with the hospital due to the patients he administered physical therapy to. Maybe he could help Angel’s family get information quicker. Most importantly he needed to see her, to be there when she woke up and hold her in his arms.

Snatching up his car keys he headed out into the humid night air and prayed all the way to the hospital. That’s when he realized he was head over heels in love with her. It hit him like a ton of bricks how much she meant to him. From this point on he wouldn’t waste a moment not showing her and telling her just how much he cared.

Over the years, Dakota had worked with many accident cases that required physical therapy. He had worked with people that had issues from tendinitis to post-surgical rehabilitation on military professionals that had been injured in the line of duty. In fact, that was the reason his parents started
Reconstructing Warriors Rehab Center
. His dad, Noah, was a retired Navy SEAL that lost his leg when an IED hit the truck he was in while on patrol in Afghanistan. After going through the process of therapy, both physical and mental, it was something their family had focused on. They wanted to have a place for other wounded warriors to heal and strengthen themselves. In his mind he went through scenarios of what her possible injuries would be. Motorcycle wrecks were the worst. There was nothing to protect the rider other than safety gear which didn’t make a hell of a lot of difference if you were hit by oncoming traffic.

Off the side of northbound traffic there were flashing lights where a crew was cleaning up the wreckage
that was still present. It was too dark for him to see much, but knowing that was where it had happened set his stomach turning. She had to be okay. He would make sure of it.

Chapter 7

Angel - Seven weeks later…

It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this. She was only twenty-four. The doctors told her there was a chance she may never walk again, or if she did, it wouldn’t be without the assistance of a cane or walker. How was she going to race if she couldn’t even walk? What the hell would she do with her life if she couldn’t race or work on motorcycles? Angel turned her head towards the window, waiting for her dad to pull the truck around to pick her up. The wheelchair she was sitting in felt like a ball and chain. She was weighted down with fear, anger and grief. It was scary to think of everything she couldn’t do anymore because of this chair and her stupid legs that refused to work right. Rage and Nahni had packed up her second floor apartment and moved her things into her papá’s house. How embarrassing was it to have to move back home because you couldn’t take care of yourself? It was humiliating to the point she cried herself to sleep nearly every night since she woke up from the accident.

She was thankful to be alive but devastated she wouldn’t even be able to go to the bathroom by herself at her dad’s house.
Her family was doing some remodeling to help accommodate her wheelchair but they weren’t done yet. Papá tried to play it off like it was no big deal to carry her around where she needed to go until things were fixed so she could have free reign of the house, but she could see the sadness in his eyes. They mirrored her own. The counselors at the hospital told her there were programs she could enter into that would help further her mobility and teach her how to live with her new-found situation. Angel hadn’t told her family yet but she had applied for one in Savannah, a few hours away from Sugar Creek. It had a waiting list of a few months but she was told it could be available sooner. Angel knew her family wasn’t going to be happy about it but she couldn’t stand seeing the pity and sadness in their eyes when they looked at her now.

In Savannah she would have her own little loft apartment that
would be handicap assessable and she would be able to attend classes to find a new career so she wouldn’t be depending on her dad to take care of her. Independence was a must. It was important to her to be on her own, taking care of herself.

The sliding glass doors opened drawing in the warm air and the scent of lilacs. It was a welcome smell that made Angel smile as her father walked through the doors to get her.

“Ready to get outta this joint, mija?” he said with a smile.

“Hell yes. Seven weeks is way
too long to be cooped up in this place. I’m so ready to go home.”

He
laughed and kissed her forehead before he wheeled her out to the truck. Once they were out in the sunshine he opened the door and picked her up, cradling her against his broad chest before placing her on the seat. He was so gentle with her Angel felt tears well up in her eyes. He pulled the seatbelt out and started to buckle her in when she shooed him away. “Come on, Papá. I’m not a complete invalid. I can buckle my own seatbelt.”

He let go and lifted his hands in surrender
. “I know you aren’t an invalid. You are my baby girl though. I’m just trying to take care of you.”

Angel saw the sadness in his eyes again and felt instant remorse for snapping at him. “I’m sorry, but I need to do things myself as much as I can. I know you’re only trying to help.”

He kept quiet, shut her door and folded up the wheelchair, placing it in the back of the truck along with her bag of belongings. Angel watched him walk around the front of the truck, noting the worn look on his face and the way his shoulders drooped as if he were completely exhausted. Her wreck had aged him; hurt him nearly as much as it did her. For the last six years they had traveled all over together, from one race to the next. In off season they worked at the shop together. He was feeling the loss just as she was.

He started the truck and turned the air conditioning on full blast. Georgia summers were hot and sticky, even more so in August. But today, Angel wanted to feel the hot breeze on her face and smell the lilacs that grew wild along the side of the road and sweet Georgia peaches in the orchards along the way.

“Papá, can we roll the windows down? I need to get that hospital smell out of my pores.”

“Sure thing,” he replied as he flicked off the air and rolled down his window, smiling over at Angel as she rolled hers down
, sticking her arm out the window with her fingers spread wide.

Angel rested her head
on the back of her seat, looking out the window on the drive home. The grass was bright green following the rain they had the last three days. Sunflowers that were as tall as her swayed in the wind with their bright yellow flowers that were twice as big as her hand. The sun felt so good on her face that she closed her eyes for a moment and soaked it up. When the truck pulled to a stop she opened her eyes to see where they were.

The
Sugar Ridge Plantation
brought back fond memories of her childhood and not so fond memories of her recent life. As early as she could remember her father took them there to pick peaches by the bushel a couple of times each summer. The Canes were a nice family. They owned the plantation for generations. They even had a vegetable stand where her family had bought produce and Mrs. Cane’s peach preserves. Angel would always venture the few miles out of town to buy the fresh fruit and vegetables when she was home. Now she couldn’t think of this place without thinking of Dakota.

She watched as they passed by the vegetable stand, waving at Mrs. Cane as she weighed out tomatoes on the scale for a customer. They passed Dakota’s parents’ house, a beautiful two-story log cabin that was
almost completely shielded by majestic oak trees that lined the front like bodyguards protecting a treasure. Next was Dakota’s house. It was also a log home but it was laid out in a ranch style with one floor and a beautiful wrap-a-round porch complete with log rocking chairs and a porch swing.

She felt a pang of guilt for how she treated him when he came to see her in the hospital. Refusing to see him had hurt her too but it was for the best. At the time, she didn’t want him to see how terrible she looked. Her brother told her that Dakota had followed them to the hospital and stayed overnight without sleeping just as they did. He told her how wrong she was for barring Dakota from seeing her when it was obvious how much he cared. She spent three days in intensive care. Those three days he had barely taken the time to sleep
, but for a few hours here and there, and going home to take shower before returning to sit with them. Rage said Dakota helped him make sure papá got rest and made sure they were all eating and taking care of themselves. It crushed him when she was moved to a room and refused to let him visit. Once she was stable and coherent she had been adamant that no one was allowed in except for her family. After weeks of being rejected, Dakota had stopped asking to see her. She didn’t blame him for it either.

When she was checking out of the hospital, she asked the administrator about the bill, knowing she needed to make arrangements that would probably take her years to pay off. The shock from hearing her bill had been taken care of by an anonymous donor had brought her to tears. It had to be Dakota or his family. Everyone in the
state of Georgia knew the Canes had won the lottery years ago and were multi-millionaires that helped fund the hospital along with many other charities. She would have to talk to him eventually to thank him and try to figure out a way to pay him back. Angel didn’t want to give him the wrong idea. She was grateful. But she couldn’t continue trying to build a relationship with him like they were considering exploring before her accident. Things were different now. No way would she be a charity case or a burden on anyone. Besides, he was a nice guy, he deserved better than a pissed off, scarred up invalid who no longer had a career or could walk on her own two feet.