“But –”
“Wait over there.”
She dove into the trauma room and shut the door in my face. Though I peered through the window, I saw little of Hayley as the swarm of doctors, nurses, and EMTs around the gurney worked to save her life.
Dispirited, scared, I paced to the waiting area. The big room was mostly empty, but those few people there stared at me as though I’d hurt Hayley myself and planned to hurt them as well.
I need to call someone. I need to do something.Unable to think, I paced the waiting room, trying to collect myself. All that came to my mind was the terrible image of Hayley running from me in terror, then collapsing, shot, in my arms.
Why did she run from me? She tore her hand from mine as if burned, then bolted like a hare. What on earth made her do that?
If she hadn’t, maybe she wouldn’t have been hurt.
Maybe I’d be dead. Too busy quarreling with Hayley, letting my anger cloud my mind, bamboozled into thinking Damon and Fiona were far away in another country all contributed to my possible demise.
I may well have stood with Hayley by my side, gazing at the ocean, while Damon gunned me down.
I clenched my fists, my anger roiling.They will die. No returning for a fair trial. I will be both judge and executioner. I will hunt them down like rats and cut their throats.
“We’ve notified the police.”
I turned. The pretty nurse who shut the door in my face looked up at me, her scrubs stained with Hayley’s blood. “Will you tell me what happened?”
I nodded and swallowed hard. “A drive by shooting. At the coast. In the parking lot at the overlook.”
“You don’t know who shot her?”
Opening my mouth to say his name, I quickly shut it again. This was between Damon and me. “No. It happened so fast.”
“We’ve taken her to surgery,” the nurse said, watching me closely. Possibly, she guessed I kept information back. “She’s lost too much blood.”
“Will she be all right?”
She must be okay. She has to be. This is my fault. Mine. And his.
“It’s too soon to tell,” she answered. “She was given a transfusion. If she makes it through the surgery, she has a chance.”
“All right. I’ll wait here.”
With a quick nod, the nurse spun on her heel and strode away. I returned to my pacing, my head clearer. I’ll deal with the police. Give them the same story, I don’t know why someone shot at us, it happened too fast, no, I didn’t see the driver or the passenger, yeah, there were two of them. The passenger shot through the window, no, I don’t know if they wanted me dead, or Hayley. Hayley works for me, yeah, we were on a date, so what, that’s not relevant. No, I don’t have any enemies. No, I don’t think Hayley does, either.
I pulled my cell from my pocket and called Willow.
***
“Her sister should be notified.”
I sighed, stretching my legs, my butt sore from sitting in the hard plastic waiting room chair all night. Willow sat beside me wearing a rumpled shirt and jeans, but didn’t appear at all uncomfortable from sitting so long. After drinking cup after cup of coffee, I felt jittery inside while craving sleep.
I wouldn’t sleep, or leave the hospital, until I knew that Hayley was going to pull through.
“I know,” I replied, absently wondering what Medusa’s reaction might be. “Later though. It can wait.”
The police had come and gone hours ago, the waiting room was empty, save for Willow and me. At this hour of nearly four in the morning, the hospital’s pulse was at near death. Hayley had survived the surgery, but her condition was so serious that the doctors still feared she’d die.
Willow patted my hand. “She’ll be okay. She’s tough.”
“Is she? She’s so small, delicate.” I shook my head. “She’s not like us.”
