Quickly, I hope.
Trying to calm my racing thoughts, I have Mac follow my breathing. I get the sense she doesn’t usually respond well to direction, so the fact she’s cooperating means she’s scared.
I am too.
Far too many minutes later, Jackie and Freddy, wearing their EMT gear, open the door. “Hey, Kinley. Helluva time getting the gurney down here, but it’s not going through this door.”
“I figured as much.” Turning to Mac, I ask, “Can you walk?”
Mac slowly bobs her head up and down. “I can swim.”
Shit.
“Mac?”
“Hm?” She turns to face me and…damn. Her right pupil is blown again.
I exchange a look with Jackie, who’s seeing what I’m seeing, and we know that time is not on our side. We work together to help her stand. Her left knee gives out, and she lists to the side, but Jackie and Freddy get up under her shoulders. I hold the door open for them, and they guide her to the gurney.
Racing ahead, I push people out of the way and pause to help them up the stairs to get outside. Freddy runs the cutter up Mac’s shirt in the chilly night air and attaches a bunch of leads to her chest as we move her toward Summit Springs’ one ambulance, where Mason is waiting for us. Just as Jackie and Freddy get the back doors open, the helicopter from Rifle roars overhead, flipping everyone’s hair this way and that.
Jackie and Freddy look at each other and shut the doors on the back of the emergency vehicle, silently coming to an agreement.
“What are you doing?” Mason asks, distress cracking his voice.
“It’ll be faster for us to run her over there,” Jackie explains, yanking her beanie down over her curly black hair.
I take a quick look at the walking trail, noting that Jed has it cleared of snow and debris. I remind myself to buy him a coffee tomorrow morning.
I give Jackie and Freddie a thumbs-up. They take off, racing down the flat gravel path to the helicopter landing in the distance. Before they disappear around the bend, Mac’s eyes meet mine, and she holds up a few fingers as if waving goodbye.
Mason sidles up next to me, looking distraught.
“Hey,” I say, trying to distract him. “I know where they’re going. If you want, I can drive you over.”
His Adam’s apple bobs, tears brightening his eyes under the security lights. “Okay.”
“Here.” I direct him back inside. “Let’s get your jacket and some gloves.”
“Do you think she’ll be okay?” Mason asks, his voice quavering as he follows me. “Will she be able to sing?”
I chew my bottom lip, hating my answer. Still, I go with the truth. Turning, I grab his hand.
“I don’t know.”
Chapter3
Mac
I wake to incessant beeping,and it feels like I’ve got a spike on the left side of my skull. The last thing I remember is flirting with a beautiful, smart woman. She was flirting back, and I loved the thought of our chemistry. Despite—or maybe because of—her appealing awkwardness, my first thought was that I’d love to ask her to meet me for some tea or coffee. The second was that I hoped my migraine meds kicked in soon. I don’t remember much after that.
I look around and realize I’m in a hospital bed with Mason standing off to the side, looking bereft.
“Mac?” he asks, wiping a tear from his face.
“Yeah. What the fuck happened? Why do you look like someone died?”
“You had a series of mini-strokes,” he says, practically choking on the words. “They’re probably why you fell during your ski run.”
