Perry liked this doctor. He seemed balanced in his approach. And Perry found comfort in balance. It gave him a sense of control, despite the looming evidence to the contrary: none of them had any control at all. Not over what happened today on the lake, and not over what might come as a result. He glanced up at the wall clock. Jake was still in the OR. It had been almost two hours.
“So, what happens next?” Amelia asked, finally setting the papers aside.
“Emma’s pain level remains high, and her dizziness and other symptoms quite pronounced. And though rare, there is a chance some internal bleeding could develop in the next few hours. As a precaution, I think it makes sense to admit Emma for the time being and continue to monitor her.”
Amelia’s face crumpled, but she did not cry. Perry shook the doctor’s hand. “Thank you.” The relief he felt was palpable. The doctor went on to say that they’d move Emma upstairs into a private room once they admitted her. A nurse would be in shortly with that paperwork.
After kissing Emma’s forehead with the lightest brush of his lips, Perry went out to the waiting room to update his parents. Jane was blanched with worry, her tennis tan faded under the harsh waiting room lights. “What did they say?” she asked, leaping to her feet the second she saw him.
“They’re going to keep Emma overnight, just as a precaution. We’re lucky. It seems she just has a concussion.”
“How is she feeling?” Edward wanted to know. “Is she in much pain?”
Perry realized that they had not yet seen their granddaughter, and he wished there were some way to steel them for it. “She has some contusions, and she’s nursing quite a headache. But she’ll be glad to see you once they get her settled in a room.”
“Let us know as soon as they do, son.” Edward excused himself for coffee.
“What about Jake?” Perry asked Jane. “Any updates?”
His mother sat, placing her hands in her lap. Perry had never seen her look so small. She had so many loved ones in the emergency room, he couldn’t imagine what it was like for his parents to be out here waiting all that time. “The orthopedic surgeon came out, ten minutes ago. He said they are finishing up his surgery, and he thought it went really well. But they did have to do a blood transfusion.” She looked up at Perry with watery eyes. “He has a compound fracture,” she said, her voice breaking. “You know how active your brother is. I don’t know what this will mean for him.”
Perry sat down and wrapped an arm around his mother.
“And poor Olivia,” Jane went on, reaching into her purse for a tissue. “She’s got her fiancé in one room and her little girl with a broken arm in another. I just can’t imagine.”
“So Luci’s arm is broken?”
Jane dabbed at her eyes, nodding. “What I want to know is what happened out there. I just don’t understand it. There was no other boat involved, from what Dad learned from the lake authority.”
The brush fire in Perry’s chest surged, once more.
Behind them, the ER doors slid open. “Perry,” his mother said. When Perry turned around, Amelia was standing in the doorway, motioning for him.
Amelia waved over his shoulder at Jane and Edward, as though everything was okay. But Perry could tell it wasn’t. The doors slid closed behind them. “Is Emma okay?” he asked, a bloom of fresh worry burgeoning.
Amelia thrust a paper at him. “The doctor just came back with this report.”
Perry blinked. Had they found bleeding? “And?”
“The lab work,” Amelia sputtered.
Perry stared at the report, but the codes and numbers blurred.
“They ran blood alcohol tests,” she said.
Perry prickled. “Why would they do that? I don’t understand. She’s just a kid.” Then his confusion gave way to understanding. “You mean for Jake.” Again, the angry surge in his chest.
Amelia jabbed her finger to the last line on the sheet. “Look at the results, Perry.”
Perry stared at the bottom line. “It says point-one-two.” He looked up at Amelia. “Jake was intoxicated?”
“Not Jake. Emma.” Her eyes flashed. “Perry, our child was drunk.”
Olivia
Aside from the Goodwins, she was all alone. Since her mother passed away when she was just five years old, it had always been just Pierre and her. And the restaurant. Which supplied them with a colorful if changing flow of people in and out of their lives over the years. But all through her life, whether she was at her highest or lowest, a winner of an art grant or suddenly single and pregnant in the city, there was one person she turned to: her father. And now, with Pierre away in Europe for the summer, Olivia felt the depth of her aloneness set in.
Luci’s arm was broken; she had a fractured radius in the forearm. Olivia had gone with her for the X-rays, during which Luci was stoic and calm. Alarmingly calm, Olivia thought. The good news was that it was a clean break, common in children, the doctor assured her. “Children’s bones are still growing. They heal much faster than us adults.”
