When the doctor appeared, the physician paused and looked around the waiting area. “Is anyone here for Beth Prudhomme?”
All three hurriedly rose to their feet. Right away Sam noticed the physician wore a brooding dark look.
Nichole spoke first. “How’s Beth?” she pleaded, holding Rocco’s hand in a death grip.
Sam studied the doctor, trying to read his eyes but seeing nothing.
“She’s in surgery with internal injuries. She has four fractured ribs and a fractured hip that requires surgery.”
Sam had guessed as much.
“She’ll need to be in the hospital several days and then will be transferred to a rehab facility for the remainder of her recuperation.”
Nichole sagged against her husband as if the news was almost too much for her. “Oh poor Beth.”
“You’re her friends?”
“Yes,” Nichole said.
He looked from one to the other, nodded, and said, “Good.”
Good?
Sam could only speculate what the other man meant by that. If he were going to read anything into it, the other man was telling him Beth would need her friends now more than ever.
CHAPTER 5
Beth
Beth woke and blinked, having trouble focusing. She knew she was in the hospital, because the nurse had told her so when she’d regained consciousness in the recovery room following surgery. Amazingly, she hadn’t felt any pain. Not then. The pain had come later, and thankfully, she was given medication that immediately put her to sleep.
She sensed someone was with her. Turning her head, she found Sunshine sitting in the chair beside her bed. She seemed to be deep in thought but noticed right away that Beth was awake.
Sunshine stood and brushed the hair from Beth’s forehead. “Hey, Sleeping Beauty, glad to see you’re awake.”
Beth managed a weak smile.
Sunshine’s worried gaze revealed her concern. “This is a fine predicament you got yourself into.”
“Sorry,” Beth said, but her voice was no more than a whisper.
“Don’t apologize, Sweet Pea.”
“How’d…you find out?” She hadn’t expected to see anyone in her room.
“The hospital called. Someone must have told them I was your aunt. They found my number in the contact list on your phone.”
“Oh.” Beth briefly closed her eyes. “Sam,” she whispered.
“Sam?” Sunshine repeated, apparently unable to follow Beth’s line of thought.
“He was there.” She remembered very little of the accident itself. What did come to mind was Sam. He’d held her hand and spoken softly, assuring her that help was on the way.
“At the accident scene?”
“Yes.” At the time she was convinced she was going to die and had peace about it, and then Sam came and told her she was going to be all right. For whatever reason she chose to believe him. She would survive. This wasn’t the end, her life wasn’t over, at least not yet.
“Who’s Sam?”
“The man.”
“Sam the man,” Sunshine said with a widening smile. “That explains everything.”
“Nichole and Rocco’s friend.”
“Ah,” Sunshine said, her eyes brightening with understanding. “Your dinner date. How’d that go?”
“It was a disaster.”
“Sweet Pea, the car accident was a disaster, not dinner.”
Beth made an effort to smile. “True. Sam must have called Nichole.”
“Makes sense.”
“She knows you’re my aunt.” That must have been how the hospital was able to contact her. As soon as she connected the dots, she gasped. No doubt her aunt had gotten in touch with Beth’s parents.
“Honey, what is it?” Sunshine asked, immediately worried. “Are you in pain? Should I call for the nurse?”
“No.” Beth felt like she was about to hyperventilate. “Did you let my parents know?”
Sunshine hesitated. “Not yet.”
“Thank…God.” Her relief was instantaneous, tension draining out of her. No doubt her mother would use the accident to come rushing to her side and insist she return to Chicago for her recuperation. This was all the excuse Ellie Prudhomme would need to dig up the tender root of Beth’s independence.
“Before I call your parents I thought I should talk to you,” Sunshine explained.
“Good…don’t say anything, please…please.” With effort she raised her arm and reached for her aunt’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. The last thing Beth wanted or needed was her mother rushing to her deathbed, crying, telling Beth that she’d made a terrible mistake in leaving Chicago.
“You don’t want me to tell your parents about the accident?”
“Don’t…don’t tell them.”
“Oh Sweet Pea, they need to know. You were seriously hurt.”
Beth pleaded with her aunt. “Mom…will make a big deal out of this.”
“Honey, it is a big deal.”
“I don’t care. I don’t want Mom rushing to Portland.” Her mother would blame Sunshine and make Beth’s recovery miserable, more miserable than it was destined to be already.
As if a heavy weight had been pressed against her shoulders, Sunshine sagged into the chair she’d scooted close to Beth’s hospital bed. “I have to tell them something.”
“Okay, tell them…tell them it was…” She found it hard to speak. “Tell them it was minor.”
“Minor?” she repeated and shook her head. Sunshine was far too honest to willingly lie.
“Okay, an accident,” she whispered, struggling to swallow.
As if sensing her problem, Sunshine lifted a glass of water with a straw and directed it to Beth’s mouth.
She managed a single sip before she was able to continue. “Don’t tell them…how badly hurt I am.” These few words exhausted her, but Beth had to be certain her aunt understood.
Sunshine shook her head. “You know your mother is going to ask.”
“Be…evasive.”
“Baby girl, I don’t know…”
“Then I’ll call Mom.”
“And then your father will call and drill me with questions,” Sunshine said, her brow furrowed with a frown.
This was worse than Beth imagined. No matter what her parents said, she refused to move back to Chicago. As it was, it’d taken her far too long to break away. As their only child, Beth had been the light of their lives. They wanted her happiness, and unfortunately her mother had a clear picture of what that should be. A view that often clashed with Beth’s wants. Her mother didn’t trust her to make her own decisions, and she seemed convinced that the moment she broke away Beth would fall flat on her face, which apparently she had.
“I’ll make the call,” Sunshine said, reaching for her phone.
Depressed and discouraged, Beth swallowed tightly, already knowing it was going to be a complication she didn’t feel strong enough to handle in her weakened state. “Okay.”
Sunshine left the room and was gone for eleven minutes. Beth knew because she watched the clock and counted off every one of those minutes, struggling not to fall back asleep.
When her aunt returned to the room, Beth immediately made eye contact. “Well?”
“Rest easy. Thankfully, I was able to reach your father.”
That in itself was a surprise, because he was so involved in his work that he often left his phone at the house. “I told him about the accident and assured him that you didn’t want your mother booking the next flight to Portland. He’s going to talk to her and explain that she gave her word to leave you be for six months no matter what.”
Hope flared briefly, and then she realized her father must be the one coming. “Dad?”
“No. We discussed that, but I told him I was afraid if he flew out Ellie would insist on coming as well. I managed to convince him I had everything under control. I suggested they let you handle this on your own with my help.”
Beth could bare
ly believe her good fortune. “Eleven minutes.”
“Eleven minutes?” Sunshine repeated.
“You did…all that…in eleven minutes?”
Sunshine’s blue eyes twinkled with delight. “My dear girl, you underestimate me.”
It went without saying that Sunshine had been insistent and persuasive. Her father appeared to be handling the news of her injuries well. Beth paused and realized she didn’t know the extent of everything herself. She recalled the doctor briefly talking to her and explaining that she was about to have surgery. From what she remembered of the conversation, her spleen was being removed and then there was something about her hip being fractured along with a number of her ribs. That helped explain the ghastly pain she felt.
“Rest, Sweet Pea,” her aunt advised, gently brushing the hair from her forehead. “All is well. Your mother has a mah-jongg tournament this weekend and your dad promised to downplay the accident. You’re off the hook. Just make sure you connect with them and pretend all is well.”
“I will…” Sleep called to her. “Thank…you.” Her aunt had always been her biggest champion.
“Sleep now.”
Beth didn’t think she could keep her eyes open another second and fell into a deep slumber. Knowing her parents weren’t rushing to her bedside helped ease her mind. That assurance was all she needed to float easily into the land of happy dreams.
—
Beth woke with the sound of someone entering the room. She assumed it was a nurse. It seemed they were constantly in and out, checking her vitals, giving her meds, or doing one thing or another. The staff had been wonderful and caring, and she didn’t feel she could complain.
When she turned her head, instead of one of the hospital personnel she found it was Sam. It took her a moment to identify him because he wore his hair down and he was dressed casually in jeans. He had a single red rose she was certain he must have picked up in the hospital gift shop.
“Hey there,” he said, coming all the way into the room. “I thought I’d stop by and see how you’re doing.” He set the flower down on the stand next to her bed.
“Better,” she whispered.
“Certainly better than the last time I saw you.”
Beth managed a smile.
“You remember I was there?”
She nodded and wondered if he knew how much he’d helped her.
He came to stand next to the bed. It seemed he wasn’t sure what to say next.
“The…girl?” Beth asked.
“What girl?”
“In the other car. She okay?”
Sam frowned. “She seemed to be. I’m sure she had a few scrapes and bruises but nothing serious. Her biggest concern was what her father was going to say because she’d wrecked his car.”
Beth closed her eyes and swallowed. “Good.”
“Good?” Sam repeated, sounding angry. “I wanted to shake her. She didn’t even ask about you. I hope she loses her license over this. It’s what she deserves.”
His indignation amused her and she managed a smile. Sounded like the teenager’s father would probably see to that.
“You’re mighty forgiving,” Sam said. “I don’t know that I’d feel the same.”
“Being upset won’t help.”
“True,” he admitted, albeit reluctantly.
He looked away and Beth felt he was probably ready to leave. She wanted him to stay, had things she wanted to tell him, but she was too weak yet. Even talking tired her out.
“I should probably go.” He took a step back from the bed.
Beth extended her hand to him. “Before you go…thank you,” she whispered.
“Oh sure.” He glanced toward the rose. “It’s nothing. I wanted to check in and see how you’re doing.”
She closed and opened her eyes. “Not for the flower…for being there. I…I thought I was going to die.”
“Hey, so did I; you scared the crap out of me.” He smiled. “Wonder if Owen would consider that a swear word. If he does, then I’ll owe him another dollar.”
Beth smiled. “I won’t tell him.”
“I appreciate it,” he said, grinning now.
He was handsome when he smiled, which didn’t appear to be something he did nearly often enough.
“You being there helped me. You said I was going to be all right and I believed you.”
He nodded. “I probably shouldn’t admit it, but I was pretty shaken up myself.”
“You were hit?”
“No, no, just seeing how badly hurt you were got to me.”
It was more than his assurances that helped. “You held my hand.”
“Don’t suppose you noticed how hard it was shaking?”
“No. Your touch, it grounded me.” She wondered if he’d noticed how tightly she’d clung to him.
He shook his head. “Truth is, Beth, I think we were basically holding on to each other.”
“You called Nichole and Rocco?”
“Right away. Has she been here?”
Beth had been out of it most of the day. “I don’t know.”
“She said she would.”
“I’ve been asleep…I can’t seem to stay awake long.”
“Last night we were all here at the hospital, worried and anxious for an update on your condition. It took hours before we learned anything.”
Sam was full of surprises. “You came to the hospital?”
“Would you rather I hadn’t?” His question had a defensive note.
Unexpected tears welled in her eyes. “I…I didn’t expect that. Thank you.” She took a breath. “You thought I was going to die, didn’t you?”
His grin transformed his face. The laugh lines that fanned out from his eyes told her he probably had a good sense of humor. His eyes were dark and bright as they smiled down on her. She liked his beard and briefly wondered what it would be like to kiss a man with a beard. It was bound to be a pleasant experience and one she wouldn’t mind.
She wasn’t herself. Beth didn’t look at a man and wonder what it would be like if he kissed her. They’d said more to each other in the few minutes since he’d entered the room than they had through the entire dinner party.
“Nichole and Rocco were here as well,” Sam added.
“I’m sorry you had to wait so long.”
“I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.” He looked a little embarrassed and shrugged one shoulder. “I wouldn’t rest easy until I knew you were going to be all right.”
“Are you assured I’ll recover now?”
“Seems you will.”
“So I’ll live to torment another poor, unsuspecting blind date.”
A short laugh burst out of Sam. “I’m sorry, Beth.”
“Me, too.”
Sam dismissed her apology. “Nichole was ready to skin me alive if the looks she sent my way were any indication.”
Beth grinned. “I don’t think she was happy with me, either.”
“I doubt she’ll play matchmaker again.”
“Why’d you agree?” She’d suspected almost immediately that Rocco had somehow coerced him into meeting her.
Sam relaxed. “Rocco’s a good friend—the best. He said it meant a lot to Nichole, and there’s little I wouldn’t do for the two of them.”
“I thought Rocco was holding you hostage.”
Sam tucked his hands in his back pockets. “What about you? Why’d you want to meet me?”
She remembered her own hesitation. “Nichole asked me. I wasn’t keen, but my aunt convinced me I should go. She said…” It seemed silly to tell him this, but she did, anyway. “She said you could be the man of my dreams.”
Sam frowned. “Bet I was a sorry disappointment.”
“No more than I was to you.”
His face sobered. “Actually, you weren’t that much of a letdown.”
Beth guessed she should consider that a compliment. “You, either.”
“I avoid relationships,” Sam explained. “Don’t want y
ou thinking it was anything personal.”
That was reassuring.
Then he was quick to add, “Decent women unnerve me.”
Beth blinked up at him, unsure what he was telling her.
He looked slightly embarrassed. “That didn’t come out right, did it?”
“What kind of women are you comfortable with?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said, as if no one had ever asked him that before. “The kind who hang out at The Dog House, I guess.”
That was the tavern Nichole had mentioned. For sure it didn’t sound like the name of a tearoom.
“You know what I mean, right? Women who play pool and drink beer. The kind who don’t mind if I say a four-letter word every now and again.”
“Ones who won’t charge you a dollar when you do,” she said, struggling to hold back a smile.
He grinned. “Yup.”
“What about Nichole? Isn’t she decent?”
“Nichole,” he repeated slowly, as if he hadn’t considered how he felt about her before Beth had asked.
“Does she go with Rocco to The Dog House?”
“She used to before Matthew was born.”
“Play pool?”
“Taught her myself,” he boasted.
“Drink beer?”
“She prefers wine, but when she’s with Rocco she has beer. It isn’t her favorite, though.”
“I’m glad you made an exception for her.”
“It wasn’t hard. Nichole is great and Rocco is crazy about her. Before Nichole, all he thought about was work and being a good dad for Kaylene. The responsibility weighed on him. Then he met Nichole and everything changed. I hardly know him any longer. She turned his world upside down.”
“Did you like the changes?” she asked.
A frown briefly appeared. “At first I thought she was playing him. A classy woman like that with a tow truck driver. It didn’t add up. I warned him once and he nearly snapped my head off. They split for a while, something to do with her ex-husband, and I don’t think I’d ever seen Rocco more depressed. I might have said I told you so if I hadn’t been afraid he’d rip off my head.”
Sam seemed lost in his thoughts. “I didn’t mean to rattle on like that,” he said, shaking his head.