If wishes were horses…
Twelve
Aline
I handed the driver a bill and told her to keep the change without even looking to see how much that tip would be. The fact that she yelled a thank you meant I’d given her a good one, and I waved a hand at her in what I hoped was a polite manner. I doubted she’d be offended by my being preoccupied, especially as she’d been sympathetic when I’d told her I needed to go to the hospital because my boyfriend had been in a car accident.
My pulse was racing, and I had the now-too-familiar taste of fear on the back of my tongue, but I forced myself to walk calmly into the ER. No good would come of me panicking. If anything, it would delay me getting to Eoin, and that was the goal, getting to him. I needed to see for myself that he was okay.
I was halfway to the front desk when I spotted someone I recognized, and I veered off to speak to him instead. I wasn’t Eoin’s family, so I didn’t know if I’d be able to get information about him, but Bruce had been with Eoin at the time of the accident.
“Bruce!” I called.
He spotted me when I was only a few steps away and smiled, but it wasn’t the same brilliant smile that I’d seen at the bar where I’d last seen him. That alone was enough to tell me that it hadn’t been some little fender bender.
“Cain said you’d be here,” Bruce said. “He’ll be back in a couple minutes and will let you know if you’ll be able to see Eoin.”
I didn’t like having to wait, but I understood that Eoin’s health had to come first. If he needed to rest, then I would stay here until I could see him. Fortunately, Bruce could do something to distract me for a few minutes.
“What happened?”
“It was crazy.” Bruce shook his head. “All five of us were in the SUV, heading out for a job when this moving van came out of nowhere and just slammed into us. Cain was driving, and he did some fancy shit that kept us from wrecking into anyone else, but the SUV flipped.”
My hands curled into fists, every nerve in my body taut. Logically, I knew that what Bruce was talking about was in the past, but I still felt like it was part of the present, something that was still happening.
“Dez and I were able to get to the van and get the driver out.” Bruce rubbed the back of his neck, winced, and then continued, “He woke up in the ambulance on his way here, and the medics were able to figure out what happened. Apparently, he’s diabetic, and he hadn’t realized his blood sugar was so low. He passed out at the wheel.”
I hadn’t realized I’d been angry until Bruce finished explaining the situation. Cain had said they’d been hit, and while I supposed Cain could have been at fault, I hadn’t really considered it. I didn’t know much about Cain, but he’d struck me as the sort of capable man who always had the most competent person doing a task. I knew how well Eoin drove, which meant Cain was even better since he’d been behind the wheel.
No, I’d been furious at the other driver, at whatever had distracted them to the point of causing an accident. But now, I knew it hadn’t been something completely preventable. Sure, the man might’ve taken better care of himself to ensure he wouldn’t pass out, but this was a far cry from texting while driving or intentionally running a red light.
“Aline, Bruce.”
I turned as Cain approached, and something tight inside me eased. While he didn’t look happy, he didn’t look like someone who had to deliver bad news either.
“I pulled some strings so I can take you back to see him,” Cain said to me before looking at Bruce. “Can you wait for Fever and Dez? Let them know that I’m going to call the client and figure out what our next step is.”
Bruce tapped his fingers to his forehead in a little salute. “Will do, boss.”
I followed Cain past the front desk and into the main ER. We passed three curtained sections before Cain pulled aside one of the curtains and motioned for me to step through.
The first thing I saw was blood, but then our eyes met, and Eoin’s entire face lit up.
“Hey.” He held out his hand, and I took it. He pulled me closer. “I’d kiss you, but I’m a bit of a mess.”
“I don’t care.” My chaotic emotions made my voice uneven, but I didn’t care about that either. I brushed my lips across his, contenting myself with a chaste kiss while we were in public. He was alive and didn’t seem to have any life-threatening issues. I could inspect every inch of him for myself later.
“Mr. McCrae.” It was only then that I realized a doctor was here too, and she appeared to be torn between amusement and annoyance at my presence. “I need to discuss results with you.”
Cain stepped away. “That’s my cue. I need to handle things with our client, and I’ll touch base with you when I have things squared away.”
As Cain left, I turned to follow, but Eoin’s grip on my hand tightened. “Stay.”
“Mr. McCrae.”
“You can talk in front of her,” he said to the doctor.
“All right.” The doctor ignored me and went straight to the facts. “The initial x-rays didn’t show any fractures, but I’m still waiting for the results of the CT scan.”
“If nothing’s broken, I can go, right?” Eoin asked. “I mean, the CT is just an extra precaution.”
“No,” the doctor said, looking annoyed enough that I wondered if Eoin had been giving her a hard time. “It is not just a precaution. You broke a window with your head, and while I don’t doubt you have a very hard head, bone versus glass isn’t a competition you want to risk losing.”
“You did what with your head?” It was my turn to hold his hand tighter.
He shrugged. “I’ll have a headache and probably a bruise, but it’s far from the worst thing that’s happened to me.”
I studied him for a moment. “This can go one of two ways. You can stay and wait for the results, or I can call someone in your family and have them tell you to not be an idiot. I have plenty of people to choose from.”
He scowled, but there wasn’t any real animosity in his expression. “All right. I’ll stay, but if the CT’s clear, I want to leave.”
“Fine.” With that, the doctor left the two of us alone, the expression on her face clearly saying that she was glad he would be my problem soon.
“I have to ask,” Eoin said, “how did you know I was here? I’m glad you are, don’t get me wrong, but I was surprised to see you come in with Cain. Did he call you?”
“I called him,” I explained. “Just logical.”
“Why was it logical?” A strange expression crossed his face.
“Well, you’d said you would be gone on a job for a while, and I heard male voices in the background during our call, so I figured you were together.”
Now he just looked confused, and a warning bell went off in my head. Something was off.
“Eoin, you texted me about having a job. We were talking on the phone.”
“I did? We were?”
I could barely ask the question. “Are-are you…are you having memory issues?”