“I’m fine,” I said. “I’m just a little shaky right now.”
“That’s to be expected,” he said, and then the police chief started untying Lisa from my thorough bounds. As he slipped the cuffs on her, he said, “I don’t want any trouble from you, do you understand?”
She had no more fight in her.
Evidently I’d choked it right out of her.
Officer Grant, my friend and a loyal donut customer, came rushing in with his gun drawn. When he saw that everything was under control, he quickly holstered it again.
“Take her to the station and lock her up,” the chief commanded.
“Are you two all right?” he asked us as he pulled Lisa to her feet.
“We’re both fine,” Momma said.
Officer Grant grinned. “Maybe so, but it looks like your towel is leaking. Should I call for another ambulance, Chief?”
“Do it,” Chief Martin said.
“Phillip, you know how I hate to ride in those things. Can’t you take me yourself?”
“Of course I can,” he said, and then he turned to me. “Are you coming?”
“I’ll drive Suzanne there,” Grace said as she burst in. “She can tell me what happened on the way to the hospital.”
“Is that okay with you, Momma?” I asked her gently.
“It’s fine, Suzanne. Thank you saving me.”
I got closer and whispered, “Thank you for saving me.”
Momma just patted my hand, and then she said, “Let’s go, Phillip.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said as he led her outside.
“So, what did I miss?” Grace asked with a grin.
“You drive, and I’ll catch you up,” I said. “I’m afraid that my hands would shake too much.”
“I’m your gal,” she said. “I’m guessing there will be no donuts tomorrow, am I right?”
I’d completely forgotten about the next day’s work. “I’ll call Emma on the way and ask her and her mother to step in. They’ve done it for me before.”
As we walked outside to her car, Grace said, “Suzanne, you know that it’s okay if the donut shop closes every now and then, don’t you?”
“Not on my watch,” I said with a grin. “Especially not now.”
“Why not now?” she asked.
“Because it will be the last day that Donut Hearts is ever open,” I said, knowing in my heart that it was the right decision to make.
“You’re going, then?” Grace asked me.
“If tonight taught me anything, it’s how precious life is. I don’t want to spend another minute of it away from Jake if I don’t have to.” I hugged her, and then I said, “As much as I’ll miss you, this is just something that I have to do. Do you think Momma will understand?”
“Suzanne, we both know that your mother just wants you to be happy, no matter where that leads you.”
“Then I guess I’d better call Jake and tell him the good news.”
After I called Emma and made arrangements to have her and her mother open the donut shop, I called Jake. To my delight, he picked up on the first ring. I hadn’t talked to him in several hours, but now I had something to say.
“Suzanne, I was just about to call you myself. What are you, a mind reader?”
“Me first,” I said. “Jake, I’ve given this a lot of thought. There are a ton of reasons for me to stay in April Springs and go on making donuts until I’m old and gray, but there’s only one good reason that I don’t want to anymore. I’ve been able to handle things the way they are with you traveling the state and not being able to see you all of the time, but this is too much. I want to be with you, and if that means closing my shop and moving to Alaska, then so be it. I’ll tell you what happened that made me come to that conclusion in a second, but first, I need to ask you a question. Do you still want me in Alaska with you?”
“No, as a matter of fact, I don’t.”
I dropped the phone and didn’t hear the next thing that he had to say. When I picked it back up, I could hear him say, “Suzanne, are you there?”
“You don’t want me!” I cried out in anguish. “I thought we were past all that.”
“If you’d give me a second to explain, I’d tell you,” he said. “I don’t want you in Alaska with me because I’m not there anymore.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked him through my tears.
“The funding fell through at the last second, and I was ordered back to Raleigh immediately.” He paused a moment, and then Jake added, “Were you really going to give up everything to join me?”