Chapter Thirty-Three
Pepper held it together until they got home and Tuesday wisely announced she was going into the backyard to try calling Dad one more time.
“Chicago. Really?” Rhett said as the kitchen door slammed.
“What’s wrong with that,Mr. Scallywag?”
That innuendo struck home. He raked a hand through his hair. “Listen. Pepper, I didn’t—”
“Oh my god. Holy shit. Pepper? Pepper!” Tuesday stumbled in with J.K. Growling and Kitty in hot pursuit.
“Now what,” Rhett muttered under his breath.
“It’s Dad! He’s in the hospital,” Tuesday panted, pacing in front of the stove.
“What?” Pepper was halfway across the kitchen before she realized her legs were moving. She grabbed her sister by the shoulders. “Details. Everything. Now.”
“I just checked my voicemail bank. There was a message from two days ago. A nurse saying that they were trying to reach next of kin.”
“Next of—oh my God.” Pepper fisted her sister’s shirt. “Two whole days?”
“I didn’t know. I hate checking messages. If anyone wants to get in touch with me they can text.”
“Tuesday!” Her adrenaline, pumping from the fight with Rhett, threatened to replace the blood in her veins.
“Look, I’m sorry, okay?”
It wasn’t her sister’s fault. The impulse to strangle her lackadaisical neck was coming from a place of pure panic. “Why didn’t the nurse call me?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know anything except oh, she said that it’s his back.”
Of course. The great ticking time bomb. “Is it the community hospital near Moose Bottom? Did you get that much at least?”
“No. Portland,” her sister murmured.
“That’s nowhere near the house.” Dizziness set in. “What if he was air-flighted? We have to think. You call the hospital. Try to figure out what the hell happened. I’m using part of my medallion money to book a flight. I should be able to get on a red-eye.”
“A what? You’re booking now? Wait a second. Let’s get a handle on the situation first.”
If she waited another second she’d scream and start walking north.
“Tuesday is right. Get more facts before doing anything,” Rhett said gently.
She shook him off. “I don’t need to have every scrap of information to know my father is a thousand miles away with no one to look after him. I knew this would happen!” She didn’t mean to shout, it just happened. “I knew it.”
“What did you know?” Tuesday glanced up, scrolling through her phone contacts.
“That I’d have to take care of him. That it would come down to me.”
“And everyone says thatI’mthe drama queen,” Tuesday muttered under her breath. “Cool your jets. Everything will be okay in the end, if it’s not okay, it’s not the end.” Tuesday’s blithe assurance didn’t improve the situation one iota.
“I have so much to do. I have to pack. I have to call Norma and quit. Forget Chicago.”
Tuesday lowered the phone and stared. “What?”
“Dad has his whole life in Maine. A farm doesn’t pick up and move. And if he isn’t able to run it anymore, it will take time to dismantle, and I’ll have to find a law practice close by, and he can live with me and—”
“Stop,” Tuesday said. “This is crazy. You don’t even know what happened.”
