Once the nurse had left, Wolf had swung back to Chrissy with a self-satisfied grin. “We’ll have you out of here in no time.”
And he had. Thirty minutes later, she’d been signing her release papers and changing into the scrubs the nurse had procured for her since the ER docs who’d helped her out of her wet, bloody clothes the night before had simply stuffed the items into a plastic bag, rendering them still wet and still bloody this morning.
Also, she’d finally located her phone! Wolf had placed it in the bag with her clothes. Alas, it hadn’t survived the night completely intact. The fall from the dock had broken her Otter case and allowed water to seep in.
After she’d emerged from the bathroom in her new outfit, her arm supported by the sling, Wolf had thanked the nurse and smiled that schoolboy smile until the poor woman blushed so hard Chrissy thought it was a wonder her cheeks didn’t ignite.
See? Charming!The jerk!
Andnowhe’d gone and said all the right things to Curtis and Maryanne Turner. Talking about how brave Winston had been and assuring them he’d seen softer men than Winston suffer harder wounds and still pull through.
He’d beensocharming, in fact, Maryanne pulled Chrissy aside and whispered into her ear, “You know I always hoped you and Winston would get together, but now I understand why that’ll never happen.”
“Maryanne,” Chrissy hissed, “you know as well as I do Winston and I are way better at being friends than we are anything else.That’swhy we’ll never get together. It doesn’t have anything to do with Wolf.”
Maryanne was one of those women who got better looking with age. Her large nose and high cheekbones—features that’d made her look harsh in her younger years—now made her look chic and sophisticated. Which is why she could pull off the imperious, slightly haughty look she gave Chrissy when she shrugged. “If you insist.”
Chrissy opened her mouth to do exactly that, but Maryanne moved away from her to return to Winston’s bedside.
Winston.
Chrissy hated seeing him like this.
He was so pale he nearly matched the hospital sheets. His eye sockets were bruised and sunken into his head. A respirator kept him breathing, and a heart monitor beeped. Its steady rhythm was a small comfort in the sudden silence of the room.
“I’ll come back this evening to check on him.” Chrissy moved next to Maryanne. She placed her hand on top of Winston’s, glad to find it warm with life.
Come on, Winston. You can’t have been born so stubborn for no reason. Prove these damn doctors wrong.
“No.” Maryanne shook her head. There was fear in her eyes, but also determination. “You need to rest and recover. We’ll call or text you as soon as they take him into surgery.”
Chrissy noticed Maryanne didn’t sayifthey took him into surgery.
Her best friend and business partner had inherited his doggedness from this here iron lady.And thank heaven for that.
Chrissy pointed to the plastic bag she’d placed on the floor by the door. “My phone’s waterlogged. It’s only kinda, sorta, maybe working.”
“We’ll put it in rice,” Wolf spoke up from the other side of the bed where he stood next to Curtis. “If that doesn’t fix it up, I’ll run out and buy you a new one.”
“Handsomeandhandy.” Maryanne nudged Chrissy with her elbow. “My, my.”
When Chrissy scowled at her, Maryanne bobbed her eyebrows.
Wolf shook Curtis’s hand, and Chrissy took the opportunity of his distraction to whisper harshly to Winston’s mother, “I would like to introduce you to an acquaintance of mine. His name is subtlety.”
“Pfft.” Maryanne scoffed. “Innuendo and nuance don’t work on you. You’re the type who needs a ball-peen hammer between the eyes.” Chrissy bristled, then all the fight went out of her when Maryanne added, “Which is one of the many reasons I love you, kiddo.”
Chrissy’s eyes welled. She felt so…tired.
“Oh, honey, come here.” Maryanne pulled Chrissy into her embrace and Chrissy shook with the effort not to dissolve.
This woman’s only child is lying in a bed, hooked up to machines and fighting for his life. I should be comfortingher, not the other way around.
“I’m so sorry, Maryanne.” She stepped from Winston’s mother’s embrace. “Maybe if I’d been able to—”
“You stop that right this minute, young lady.” Maryanne’s eyebrows arrowed over her nose. “I know exactly what happened last night. That rumpled-looking detective told us. Winston would be dead if you hadn’t had the wherewithal to run and get help.”
Chrissy nodded although she was still struggling with all the what-ifs. What if she’d run faster? What if she’d taken a different route? What if she’d zigged instead of zagged? Could she have avoided getting shot and gotten to Wolf even quicker? When it came to blood loss, every second counted.
