Then… I fall into blackness.
Large arms carry me as I snuggle into them. “Mmmm,” I mumble, loving the feel of Trevor’s hands around me.
A cold breeze whips against my face and I open my eyes. Sun breaks through the clouds as I squint up at the man who is certainly not Trevor, and it all comes rushing back to me as my heart breaks once more.
The same thing has happened every morning for the past few weeks. Before I’m fully awake, I’m gifted moments with Trevor. Glimpses into what could have been. Whatshouldhave been. But when consciousness takes hold, I shatter all over again, crushed by my new reality.
“You fainted,” Patrick Kelsey says, carrying me.
“Fainted?”
He nods to the gravesite. “Back there. As soon as you stood up. I’m assuming that hasn’t happened before?”
I shake my head. “No. Never.”
We reach his truck, several people trailing behind us. “I’m taking you to the hospital.”
“What? No.” I try to struggle free, but he’s too strong.
Patrick and I have become somewhat closer over the years. But he’s really one of Maddie’s best friends. Or at least her bestguyfriend. They’ve been that way ever since he rescued her daughter from a fire over a decade ago. He’s a firefighter and paramedic, and in the years since we’ve known him, he’s worked his way up to Captain—the officer in charge of one of the two firehouses in Calloway Creek.
Someone opens the door to the backseat, and he places me inside like I’m a China doll. “Ava, I’m taking you in. I’m the professional here.”
“I fainted at my husband’s funeral. I’m sure that’s not unheard of.”
“While it’s possible you may have experienced vasovagal syncope due to stress, I’m not going to take the chance it’s something more. You could be dehydrated.”
“Then I’ll drink some water,” I argue.
His responding glare tells me I have no choice here. My eyes close and I try to tune him out. The medical jargon he’s spouting off reminds me of Trevor. How he used to fuss over every little ache and pain I had, trying to explain it to me with all hismedical expertise. Thinking of Trevor takes all the fight out of me.
I throw my hands up in frustration, not wanting to hear more. “Fine. I’ll go. Whatever.”
Regan and Maddie ride to the hospital with us. Regan holds my hand the entire way.
“You don’t have to babysit me,” I say when we arrive minutes later and all three accompany me through the emergency room doors.
“We’re not leaving,” Maddie insists.
My steadfast and stubborn besties dutifully flank my sides while Patrick talks to the nurse at the counter.
Calloway Creek is a small town, so it doesn’t take long for me to be called back. Maddie and Regan stand to go with me, but not Patrick.
“This is where I get off,” he says. “I’m sure everything will be okay, but one of you text me later?”
“Of course,” Maddie says as she receives a quick kiss from him before we’re ushered back.
Maddie and Patrick are super close. But her husband Tag has nothing to worry about. Patrick is just as attached to his husband as Maddie is to hers.
“Right in here,” Mindy says, directing me to sit on a bed behind a curtain.
Mindy Clarke is an ER nurse who was a few years behind me in school. It’s not a stretch to say pretty much everyone knows everyone in Calloway Creek. If not personally, then through friends, acquaintances, or coworkers. It seems every person in this town is someone’s father, aunt, cousin, or friend.
Mindy has that same look of pity in her eyes that everyone has when they see me. She tries to hand me a gown. “Put this on please.”
“Do I have to? I just fainted. It’s no big deal.”
“Standard protocol.” She places it on my lap then pulls the curtain on her way out. But not before she gives me one more mournful glance that reminds me just how miserable a situation I’m in.
