It All Happened During the 2 hour Walk
When Brett had suggested they go for a walk, she hadn't expected to be gone for two hours. Thankfully they had taken water with them and only a fool left the house without their hat. It had become a habit with the two of them. Some time when it could be just the two of them.
It had started well. Holding hands enjoying the peace and quiet or as quiet as it could be with sheep, cows, horses and Tess's alpacas. Brett was the quiet sort anyway. That had never been her type until he had constantly come to her defence and supported her no matter what.
"After mucking you around so many times, why do you keep coming back?" She was glad he did, but if it were the other way around she was certain she would have given up long ago. And every time she did something that she thought would chase him away, he surprised her by coming back.
"Cause I love you." He said the words so easily and yet with such conviction that she felt them wrap around her like a hug. "I'm not expecting you to say it back. Just know that I'm not going anywhere." That was more reassuring than he could ever know.
"It's not cause I don't want to say it." She just wasn't ready yet. She felt the feelings, but she was too scared to say it out loud.
Brett beamed at her. "We have time." Their moment of peaceful bliss was interrupted by the sound of tyres skidding on gravel. This was followed by the sound of crunching metal. Brett broke into a run to see if anyone was hurt with Becky following at a slower pace so that she could call it into Drover's to get help.
When she got closer, her first impression was that the sedan had skidded and crashed into a tree. She couldn't see the driver clearly but the front of the car was crushed. "Claire, we're going to need a tow truck, ambulance and we might need to cut the driver out of the car."
There were muffled voices down the other end of the line, before Claire came back through. "Hang tight. Help is on the way."
"Thanks Claire." She couldn't help but wonder what made the driver lose control of the car. There wasn't any stray sheep or cows roaming anywhere. Even if it had run off in fright, you could see clearly for miles in any direction.
"Help's on the way. How badly are the hurt?" From the angle Brett was leaning, it looked as though he might be applying pressure to a wound.
"Can't be sure." Brett looked at her over his shoulder. "It's a pretty bad head wound but I'm not a doctor so I don't know if he has internal injuries. His legs looked trapped as well."
Becky moved around him. "I can smell the alcohol from here. Guess we know why he lost control of the car." She still couldn't see the driver's face. "Is it anyone we know?" She wondered if there was a family member they should be contacting.
"Hard to tell. There too much blood." He had to yell over the sound of an incoming helicopter with the medics on board. Seconds later a team of fire fighters arrived with the equipment to cut the driver out of the car, with the tow truck bringing up the rear.
It was intense watching the medics stabilizing the driver before he could even be cut out of the car. Finally he was air-lifted to the hospital. It would be touch and go for the driver but Brett's quick thinking had helped.
Since Brett's shirt was covered in blood, the best idea was to head back so he could change his shirt and wash the blood off his hands. The water they had with them got rid of the worst of it. So much for a peaceful walk. They were almost back when Alex pulled up beside them in his ute. "What happened Brick? You've been gone for two hours. We've gotta bring the cattle in from the North pasture and you look like Becky's beaten the crap out of you."
"Nah. Drunk driver crashed into a tree. Give me five minutes to get cleaned up and I'll be right there." Brett stole a quick kiss good-bye and headed for the bunk house.
Alex nodded to Becky. "Sounds like an eventful walk."
"Yeah well, the quiet life is under-estimated. Just when you think nothing exciting happens around here, something does and you end up wishing for the quiet life again." She waved good bye and headed back to work. Well, there was always tomorrow.