“Oh my. Good-looking, brave,andloves his momma.”
“I wouldn’t say that. The good-looking and brave part. I do love my momma. Mom. I don’t call her Momma. But maybe I’ll start. Anyway—” Nate barked a laugh that sounded like he was trying to give McKenna and Oliver a run for their money in the World’s Fakest Chuckle Competition. “I better get to the airport. Flight leaves soon.” Not soon enough.
“Don’t forget your bag.”
“Bag? Oh, right.” He’d asked for a patient belongings bag to put his wet pants into whenever he got out of here and could change. Last thing he wanted was for the letter from his mentor to get wet inside his carry-on.
For making such a rash decision to jump into the river, all in all, he couldn’t complain. Sure, the ER visit was a headache. Sure, another dotty woman was hitting on him. Sure, he’d missed his flight and might miss the next one.
But at least his favorite shirt and hat hadn’t gotten wet, and his phone and wallet were safe in his messenger bag. Might even come out of this with a cool scar above his eyebrow that would make him look like some sort of Indiana Jones type ready for an adventure instead of a poetry nerd who just wanted to get to his momma.
“Well, uh, thanks again,” he said, reaching to take the bag from Wendy’s hands.
“I put a copy of my phone number in there, too,” she said, not releasing her grip. “Cell number. Work number. Landline. Email. Work schedule. Home address. It’s all there. Everything you could ever need.”
“Very thorough.” He waited a beat. “Reallyneed to catch that flight.” Or get another belongings bag if she was going to continue playing tug-of-war with this one.
She finally released her hold. “Don’t be a stranger,” she called out after him. He didn’t bother turning around to see if she winked when she said it. She did. He knew she did.
But a stranger was exactly what he planned to be for the rest of the summer.
Goodbye, crazy Nebraska. Hello, quiet Tennessee.
“So he’s going to be okay?” McKenna peered through the glass window to where Oliver rested comfortably on a bed with a nasal cannula and with monitor wires attached to his chest. “It’s just that my sister almost drowned once before. It was several years ago, but I remember how she seemed fine at first, then later she wasn’t fine, then she caught pneumonia and—”
The doctor, a young woman with a frizzy brown ponytail and shadows under her eyes gently cleared her throat. “So you’ve told us. Multiple times. I promise your brother is in good hands. That’s the whole reason he got transferred to a bigger hospital. We’ll be able to keep a close eye on him.”
“Okay. Thank you. Also, he’s not my brother. He’s my sister’s—” Her voice caught. She swallowed. “Boyfriend. He’s my sister’s boyfriend.” Because once again poor Oliver hadn’t made it through the stinking proposal.
“Well,” the doctor said, probably not sure why McKenna was the one here if this was her sister’s boyfriend, but too tired to get into additional drama, and patted McKenna’s shoulder. “Hang in there. Right now his vital signs are rock solid. We’ll continue to monitor him. As long as everything stays how it is, he’ll be home soon.”
McKenna nodded. The doctor’s words were all very comforting. So why wasn’t she comforted?
Maybe because she’d turned her sister’s proposal into the worst catastrophe ever. And that was saying something considering all the previous catastrophes.
Poor Bobbi. Shereallydidn’t handle emergency situations well. For a while McKenna didn’t think Bobbi was ever going to make it back from the other side of the river. She’d still probably be stranded there yelling about death, sharks, and alligators if one of the EMTs hadn’t volunteered to carry her back over the decrepit bridge before resecuring the rope to prevent further people from crossing.
When they found out Oliver would be getting transferred to a larger hospital in Omaha soon as they returned from retrieving McKenna’s vehicle, Oliver had convinced Bobbi to go home, change, and finish packing for her trip to Italy tomorrow, which Oliver refused to let her back out of because of him.
“I’ll make sure he gets settled,” McKenna added when Bobbi didn’t seem convinced.
“You promise to call with every single update?”
“Promise.”
Which is why, once the doctor stepped away, McKenna shot off another text to Bobbi with the doctor’s encouraging words. Then she slipped the phone into her pocket and stepped into Oliver’s room.
“Hey there. Still feeling okay?” she asked once Oliver turned his head on the pillow to face her. She pulled up a chair next to his bed. “Quite the evening, huh? Think how hard we’re going to laugh about this one eventually.”
Looked likeeventuallymay be a long way off. Oliver didn’t so much as crack a smile. McKenna cleared her throat. “Need anything right now?”
He straightened his head on the pillow, staring up at the television screen mounted on the wall across from his bed. “Is Bobbi okay?”
“Of course. She was just a little rattled at first. You know Bobbi.But she’s fine now. She’s a champ. No need to worry about Bobbi. Tomorrow she’ll be right as rain. She’ll go on her little Italy trip and be back in three weeks. She’ll settle into her new job lickety-split, and you can ask her the big question, and everything will work out just like it’s supposed to.”
With McKenna hopefully landing in LA.
“I don’t know, McKenna.” Oliver continued staring at the wall, his face as blank as the television screen. “Perhaps it’s not meant to be.”
