As she pulled away, she yanked the hat off her head and released her hair back down around her shoulders. She shook her head. Caught stalking the ex-boyfriend by the blind date she ditched. “Only me,” she said as she laughed at the absurdity of it all.
She put her phone on hands-free and dialed Becky’s number. Her best friend was never going to believe what had transpired since she left the boutique. She couldn’t wait to tell her, but Jules didn’t get the chance. Her call went right to Becky’s voicemail.
Chapter Four
Becky
The sheet Becky laid on was rough against her skin and reeked of bleach. Finally, a nurse pulled back the curtain. She was an older woman dressed in navy blue scrubs that set off her silver hair. “I’m just here to get a little information for the doctor,” she said as she bustled around the small area.
The nurse reminded her of someone’s grandmother, the kind that hosted Easter egg hunts and baked cookies for no reason at all. She always imagined other people’s families with a bit of envy. The grandparents Becky remembered hadn’t been warm or kind at all.
She took Becky’s blood pressure. “one-eighteen over seventy-eight.” She made a note on Becky’s chart.
“That’s okay, right?” After her mom’s issues, Becky always asked.
“Perfect.” The nurse asked Becky a few questions and made notes on her chart. Then she slid open the curtain to exit. “The doctor will be in shortly.”
Becky scanned the room looking for her purse. She was desperate for her cell phone to call Bryan. With a glance at the spot where the nurse had exited, she put one leg over the side of the bed. As the curtain slid open unexpectedly, she jerked it back up.
A doctor appeared wearing a white coat and an expression that said he had been running from patient to patient and needed a minute to grab a cup of coffee. “Becky Morgan, right? I’m Dr. Summers.” He glanced down at the screen of the tablet in his hand. “According to the paramedics, your car ran off the road and struck a tree.” His expression turned serious as he went into medical mode. “Let’s take a look.”
The doctor fired off questions. “Do you feel dizzy at all? Nauseous like you want to throw up?”
He took a little flashlight out of his pocket and flicked it back and forth in front of each eye.
“I did, but I think it was the smells in here. My stomach feels a little better now, though I do feel like I have a headache coming my way.”
“Do you remember the accident and the ambulance ride?”
Becky sat silent for a moment. “I remember being blinded by somebody’s lights. The next thing I remember was hearing a woman call 911.”
Before the doctor responded, she heard Bryan’s frantic voice on the other side of the curtain. “I’m trying to find my wife. She’s been in an accident!”
“Yours?” Dr. Summers asked as recognition of the voice crossed her face.
Becky nodded. “Yup.”
“Okay, well, that’s a good sign that you know who he is. I’ll let him know where you are before we have to find him a gurney.”
The doctor pulled back the curtain just as the nurse was pointing in their direction.
Bryan tried to catch his breath. “Beck, are you okay? I was scared half to death when I got the call. What happened?”
“I’m not exactly sure. I was coming around the curve to get off our exit. I guess someone’s headlights blinded me. I panicked and hit the brakes and skidded off the road into a tree. This could have been much worse, I think.”
“Really, Doctor—” Bryan stole a look at the nametag pinned to the crisply pressed white coat. “Dr. Summers, is she really okay?”
“Aside from a little bruise on her forehead and maybe a knot forming on the back of her head that doesn’t look too bad, she seems okay. But that’s the outside. With car accidents, we can’t be too careful. Your head is moving along at the speed of the car, and then suddenly, it’s not. That’s where the problems can come in.”
“But I feel fine now,” Becky said.
“Some people dismiss it and go on to be fine. There’s also the chance you could have a concussion or develop bleeding or a blood clot if we assume all is well and don’t take it seriously. Sometimes signs and symptoms may not appear until days or even weeks afterward.”
Just then, a nurse pulled back the curtain to reveal an older woman. Her lips, stained a deep mauve to compliment her tan, formed a circle as she looked in and spied Becky and Bryan.
Confusion flooded over Becky. “Roslyn?”
The doctor glanced over, and familiarity registered on his face. “Ros Dubin?”
The woman glanced at the tag pinned on his white coat. “Mark Summers. Look at you. I heard you were covering at the hospital here.”
Becky gave Bryan a sideward glance. “Okay, exactly how hard did I bump my head? Ros, what are you doing here, and how do you know my doctor?”
“I was on the way to meet some friends for dinner, and I saw the car wrecked against the tree. The ambulance was just pulling away, and I was frantic when I saw your personalized license plate for the boutique. I called Bryan, and he told me he was on his way here, but he didn’t know how bad it was.”
Becky glanced at the doctor. “Roslyn is my mom’s best friend. Her family lived next to ours when I was little. I’ve known her my whole life.”
Ros gestured at the doctor. “And Mark, I mean Dr. Summers, is the son of a good friend of mine that I used to work with many years ago. How is your mother?”
Dr. Summers smiled and bobbed his head up and down. “She’s good. She misses nursing, but she’s enjoying retirement. Playing a lot of tennis and you know, lunching with the ladies.”
Ros threw her head back and laughed. “I’ll have to call her. Maybe we can meet for a match at the club and catch up.”
Becky focused her gaze on Bryan who shrugged helplessly. He cleared his throat. “So, Dr. Summers, maybe you and Ros could catch up later? Is my wife okay?”
“Right. Sorry,” he said. “Small world, huh? Well, we could do a CT scan, but a negative image doesn’t always mean a concussion didn’t occur.”
“We should do that,” Bryan said with a definitive nod. “I want to make sure she’s okay.”
“Yes, Mark,” Roslyn agreed, her expression serious. “We would prefer to err on the side of caution with Becky. We don’t want to take any chances that it’s worse than it seems. We both know that can happen.”
Dr. Summers glanced from the husband to the wife and back again to Bryan. “Well, it does appear she may have lost consciousness and was saying some stuff that didn’t quite make sense.”