He was joking, of course. But if he’d come up with anything else, Maddie would have laughed and said, “Guess again.” They might have had a few minutes of silly banter, the kind between two people who had good chemistry.
Instead, she sat, unmoving, not knowing what to say.
Then a dark-haired, mustached man came into the room. He wore a white uniform; an ID card dangled from a lanyard that he wore around his neck. Behind him was a young blond woman wearing white pants, a pink smock, and a similar ID.
“Rex Winsted? I’m Greg and this is Rosie with the ponytail. Hate to interrupt, but we’re from PT, and it’s time for us to see you strut your stuff!” He glanced at Maddie. “Your friend will be back in about an hour, give or take.” Then the duo marched over to the bed and Greg started pushing levers and raising the bed rail on the side where Maddie sat, while Rosie tended to the IV poles that apparently would accompany Rex to wherever PT was. Then Rosie picked up the very big neck brace and assembled it around his neck.
Maddie tried not to look horrified.
“We’ll make sure to bring him back safe and sound,” Greg added. “If you plan to stick around, you might want to take advantage of our wonderful café. It’s not exactly Michelin-starred, but we think that’s only because the judges haven’t been here yet.”
With that, Rosie propped open the door and Gregwheeled the bed away while Rosie then escorted the IV poles beside it.
Maddie caught a glimpse of Rex’s hand as he held it up and waved good-bye.
Sitting in one of the small booths, picking at a Cobb salad, Maddie realized that Greg from PT was right: the café deserved a Michelin ranking. Maddie figured the food would taste even better if she had an appetite. Then the baby squirmed, so she knew she needed to keep feeding the poor little thing. But as she took another bite, she sensed someone standing by her table.
“Fancy seeing you here,” a familiar voice said.
Maddie looked up and saw Francine. She laughed. “As I recall, it’s not the first time both of us were here at the same time.”
Francine sat across from Maddie and set her coffee cup on the table. “A nurse at Windemere said you might be here while our long-lost friend is in physical therapy.”
“You came to see Rex, too?”
Francine nodded, her big, dark eyes shining. “I can’t believe he’s back. My kids are going to be so excited.” She frowned. “Well, Bella will be. Reggie’s still too young to understand much of anything beyondBlue’s Clues.”
“I take it that’s a kids’ TV show?” Maddie knew she had a lot to learn—so much had changed since Rafe was born.
“Yup. He loves it.” She took a swig of coffee. “Have you seen Rex yet?”
Maddie had a bite of the French bread that came with the salad and nodded.
“How’s he doing? Does he look different? Can he communicate okay, or do you have to do the talking?”
Looking perky and adorable as usual, with her twenty-something-year-old’s optimism and the energy to make thingshappen, Francine once told Maddie she considered Rex her adoptive father. And right then, it took every bit of restraint that Maddie had not to blurt out the news she was about to tell him—if she ever got to see him long enough and uninterrupted.
“He looks great. A little thinner, maybe, but great.”
Francine’s eyebrows went up. “You’re not prejudiced, right?”
“Maybe a little. But he does look great. Someone even shaved his head. Maybe it was Annie.”
“Or Beth.”
Thankfully, Maddie hadn’t taken another bite or she might have choked on it.
“Beth?” As in the nurse Maddie had talked to?
“She’s a caregiver who was with him at Annie’s. She’s nice. An older woman. She traveled with him from California. The doctor wouldn’t approve of him making the trip without medical supervision. Anyway, Kevin and Taylor came to the hospital last night to be sure Rex was settled, then they brought Beth to the Inn, where she stayed last night. They picked her up before I left to come here; they were taking her to breakfast before putting her on the boat so she could get back to Logan and fly home.”
So Beth, not Annie, was the woman in the ambulance last night. In spite of Maddie’s resolution to ditch jealousy, her heart squeakedYippee, as if she, not Francine, was a perky twenty-something-year-old girl.
Then Maddie had a thought.
“Speaking of Rex,” she said, pausing to gather her composure, “when he’s done with PT, can you give us a little time alone before you come into his room? I need to talk with him for fifteen or twenty minutes.”
It was, after all, past due. For starters, Maddie didn’t think she could hold back another second, and though she was eagerto tell Francine about the baby, she also was determined that Rex would be the next person to know.
