The Mistake (Bad Bridesmaids #1) - Noelle Adams Page 0,35

the line of cars passing them was going very fast. And a tractor trailer was beside them as the road took a deep curve down a hill. The truck couldn’t stay in its lane and veered over into the right lane. Right on top of Robert.

He slowed down and moved onto the shoulder in an attempt to avoid it, the rumble strips beside the road making the SUV shake. He also blew his horn to let the trucker know he was there.

But the truck had picked up too much speed and couldn’t pull out of the curve and back into its own lane. The shoulder wasn’t wide enough to give them somewhere to go, so the last thing Amanda processed clearly was that they were going to end up in the ditch.

“AMANDA.”

Amanda heard the voice. Was vaguely aware of it. But she was confused and disoriented and didn’t know where the sound was coming from.

“Amanda! Talk to me. Are you okay?” The voice was clearer now. Very close. Familiar. And it sounded so, so scared.

She tried to answer. She didn’t like for the voice to be so worried. She tried to say “I’m okay,” but it came out as a croak.

“Shit, sunshine. Are you hurt?” There were hands touching her now. They matched the urgency of the voice as they moved over her face and down to her shoulders and arms. “Talk to me. Please. Are you hurt?”

The voice and the hands were almost panicked now. It was enough to push the daze in her mind into focus.

“What happened?” she managed to ask.

“Oh, thank God,” the voice mumbled. “I was seriously about to lose my mind over here. Don’t do that to me again.”

“I’ll try not to. What happened?” She liked the sound of the voice now. Desperately relieved. But she was aware enough to realize she hadn’t gotten an answer.

“Damn truck ran us off the road, and the airbags came out.”

“Oh.” She blinked several times, her vision clearing. She hadn’t been unconscious or anything. Just dazed and shaken up and confused. “That’s annoying.”

His laugh sounded kind of choked. “Yes. It really is.”

Robert. That was who it was. Robert was in the car beside her. She managed to turn her head to look at him. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Feels like I sprained a wrist from the steering wheel, but that’s it. Are you injured at all?”

It felt like her whole body hurt, but she could think more clearly now. It was just from being jarred. No one part felt more painful than the rest. “I don’t think so.”

She could see his face clearly now. She gasped when she saw the left side of his face was bloodied. “Your face! Robert. Oh no! You are hurt!” She reached out to touch his jaw.

“It’s just scratched up from the airbag,” he told her. “Nothing to worry about. I promise I’m not really hurt. Are you sure you’re all right?”

Amanda didn’t really know. It felt like the whole world had been rattled to the core and nothing was quite stable anymore. She wanted to cry. And throw up. And hit something. And then cry some more.

But she said the only thing left to be said in such situations. “I’m fine.”

IT WAS VERY LATE IN the evening when Robert got out of the shower in the bathroom of his hotel room in Hilton Head.

The day felt like it had lasted a thousand years.

He’d stayed in the hot shower for a long time, so the mirror was fogged up when he finally turned off the water. He opened the bathroom door to let cool air in as he finished drying himself off, and then he rubbed his hair with the towel to get as much of the moisture out as he could.

By the time he’d pulled on a pair of light cotton pajama pants, the mirror was cleared enough to see his reflection.

He barely recognized himself. And it wasn’t because of the shallow scratches on the left side of his face.

It had taken hours reporting the accident and getting checked out at the emergency room of the closest hospital. He wouldn’t have bothered at all for himself since he’d been sure his only injury besides minor bruises and scratches was a sprained wrist. But Amanda was really shook-up, and he wasn’t positive she didn’t have a concussion. Since he wasn’t going to take any risks with her, they’d gone after all and waited hour after frustrating hour until they were discharged with a clean bill