by Liz Isaacson
“Love you, Sammy.”
Her emotions flew out of control, and tears filled her eyes in less time than it took to inhale. “Love you too, Mom.”
She hung up and wiped her eyes, catching Bishop as he said, “Yes, it’s at Vaughan Benton’s house. I’m not sure what happened.”
Sammy gestured for him to hand her the phone, which he did. She needed to call Gary too, and her mind whispered that Bear was in town this morning as well. She quickly explained the situation as she knew it to the operator and handed Bishop his phone.
“I have to call my neighbor.”
“I’ve called Bear,” Ranger said. “He’s leaving the meeting right now.”
“Thank you,” Sammy said, another surge of tears arriving. She sniffled as she tried to find Gary’s number, her fingers trembling. “My dad had hip replacement surgery a few months back, and he’s just unstable on his feet.”
A sob threatened to come out of her throat, and her fingers felt fat and clumsy. It landed on the screen, and the letters jumped from the Fs to the Ms. Her vision blurred as more tears filled her eyes.
“Hey,” Ranger said, and the next thing she knew, he’d taken her phone from her hand. “Hey, slow down, Sammy.”
She looked up at him, the storm inside her about to break. Her tears spilled over and ran down her face. “I’m fine,” she said, but her voice was at least an octave too high, and she was definitely not fine.
Bishop and Ranger enveloped her in a hug only a moment before she broke, and she sobbed for a good few seconds, everything so hot and so horrible.
She took a breath, and then another, working back to her center. On the third breath, she straightened her shoulders, and they released her simultaneously. “Okay,” she said. “I really am okay. I need to call Gary, and I need to get to the hospital.”
“I’ll drive you,” Bishop said, already striding into the kitchen to get his keys.
“No,” she said. “Then I’ll just have to come get my truck later.”
“I’ll bring it right now behind you,” Ranger said, holding out his hand. “Give me the keys.” Bishop returned to his side, his eyes wide and eager.
Sammy paused, slowing down for a moment the way Ranger had suggested. She had two good, kind, faithful men standing in front of her, wanting to help her. “Thank you,” she said, her emotions already starting to well up again. She dug in her pocket for her car keys and handed them to Ranger. “Let’s go. I can call Gary in the car.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Bear heard the sirens behind him as he turned onto the last road that would get him to Monkeytown, where Sammy and her parents lived. He pulled over and let the ambulance go by, then he eased right back onto the road and followed it.
It had to be going to Vaughan’s house, because Three Rivers didn’t have a lot of other reasons for an ambulance to be out, lights flashing and siren wailing.
He pulled onto the block as two men entered the house, and he continued until he could park out of the way and still be close to the house. He jumped from the truck, noting how different the neighborhood seemed now that life had been cleaned up from the tornadoes.
There was no one in the front living room, and Bear called, “Rachel? It’s Bear Glover. Sammy called me.” Not entirely true, but semantics right now weren’t important. Ranger had called, not Sammy, but the result was the same.
Bear was here.
Sammy’s mother came out of the kitchen, her tear-streaked face filled with grief.
“Hey,” Bear said. “Sammy called and said Vaughan fell. I was in town, and I came to help.”
Rachel rushed toward him, and he barely had time to open his arms before she stepped into them. She sobbed against his chest, and Bear didn’t know what to say or do. After several seconds, he dared to ask, “Is he…okay, Rachel?”
She stepped back and wiped her face with the kitchen towel in her hand. “He’s unconscious. They’re trying to wake him up, and they can’t.” She shook her head. “I wish he would’ve just waited for me. He’s not supposed to go up the steps by himself.”
“Where did he fall?” Bear asked, glancing around.
“The back steps,” she said. “Onto the cement. I’m not even sure how long he was lying there before I found him. I don’t think I was at the bin for too long, but I had to make two trips, because the bucket was so heavy.” She shook her head, and while she was probably double Sammy’s age, Bear could see his Sammy making the same movements and crying the same tears.
“I’m going to go talk to the paramedics, okay?” he asked. “Do you want to come with me or stay here?”
“I’ll come.” She wiped her nose and face with the towel again, and Bear took her hand in his. He walked through the kitchen and mudroom to the back door, taking care to move slow enough for Rachel to keep up.
“Hello?” he called as he started to inch open the door. “It’s Bear Glover.” Meeting no resistance, he opened the door all the way and stepped onto the back porch. He’d stacked wood here several months ago, and he noted the pile was still as he’d left it.
He went to the top of the steps and looked down. Two men knelt on either side of Vaughan, who did not have his eyes open.
“Can we move him without him waking up?” Bear asked.
One of the men looked up at him, and Bear recognized Tyler Winthrop. “Hey, Tyler.”
“Bear,” he said, clearly surprised.
“Hello?” another man called, and Bear and Tyler both turned to watch another man come around the house. He was at least a decade older than Bear, and he should probably know him, but he didn’t.
“That’s Gary, our neighbor,” Rachel said.
Gary slowed as he took in the form of Vaughan on the ground. He lifted his eyes to Rachel, and asked, “Are you okay? What do you need from me?”
“Let’s move him,” the other paramedic said, standing. He’d put a neck brace on Vaughan. “We need everyone to stay back.” He looked at Tyler. “We’ll go through the garage or around. Call in a non-responsive fall and tell them to get a room prepped.”
Bear didn’t know what any of that meant, but Tyler spoke into the radio on his shoulder, and the two of them got Vaughan onto the stretcher.
“I’ll follow in my truck,” he said. “Come on, Rachel. Come with me.” She needed to eat something and have somewhere to sit and relax. Bear could get food and stay close. He knew it would be killing Sammy not to be here, and he determined he could be her substitute for thirty minutes until she arrived.
He followed the ambulance to the hospital, and he sat with Rachel while they did the emergency room check-in procedure. She’d shut completely down, and Bear had to lean forward and repeat every question the nurse asked.
“Rachel,” he finally said. “We’re done. Come on.” He practically hefted her to her feet. “We have to wait over here, and someone will come get us when they have any news.” He glanced at the wide door that led back into the emergency department, wondering what was happening with Sammy’s dad.
He blinked, and he remembered thinking and wondering the same thing about his father the day he’d died.
“Please, Lord,” he said right out loud. “Don’t let today be the day he dies.”
“Amen,” a woman said from the waiting area, and Bear managed to give her a quick smile before herding Rachel to a seat in the corner where Bear could see the whole waiting room, the entrance to the ER from the outside, and the door he needed a nurse to come through so everything could be explained.
No one came through it, and Bear closed his eyes and prayed.
Twenty minutes later, he paced from the door back to Rachel, who seemed to have fallen into a catatonic state. When a nurse came out and called her name, she didn’t even move. Bear stepped forward and said, “I’m here for her.” He indicated where she sat, staring at the floor and lowered his voice. “I’m actually worried about her.”
“You guys can come back,” the nurse said, her eyes growing concern when
she looked at Rachel. “He’s awake, and he wants to see her.”
Bear stepped over to Sammy’s mother and said, “Rachel, she said we can go see Vaughan.”
Rachel looked up as if she’d never seen Bear before, her eyes wide. He helped her stand, nodding with encouragement. “Yep. There you go.” They went through the door Bear had been eyeing for a while now, and the sharp scent of machinery mixed with bleach hit him.
Bear instantly recoiled, his eyebrows drawing together. He kept one hand on Rachel’s arm to keep them moving at a steady pace as they followed the nurse. She led them past several other rooms before stopping outside of one and gesturing for them to go inside first.
Bear’s alert was on high, and he scanned the room as he entered. Vaughan lay in a bed, one foot raised a little off the mattress, his eyes closed.
“Vaughan,” Rachel said, flying toward her husband. He opened his eyes, and Bear hung back, feeling very out of place.
The nurse came in with a doctor, and they started talking about the things they’d done. “We’d like to do x-rays,” the doctor said. “And an MRI. We want to make sure he doesn’t have a concussion, and depending on what we find, we might keep him overnight.”
“Overnight?” Rachel looked up, alarmed.
“…see him right now,” a woman said from down the hall. “Dad,” she called, and Bear knew that voice.
He nodded to everyone in the room and ducked into the hall to intercept Sammy. She spotted him instantly and came toward him at a jog. “Bear?”
“He’s in there,” he said, not sure what else he was supposed to say. Sammy didn’t slow or stop when she reached him. She brushed by him, her panic almost as palpable as the horrible scent hospitals all had. He didn’t understand why they couldn’t spray something citrusy or floral to mask the scent of death.
He heard Sammy asking questions, and part of him wanted to go in the room and be her support. The other half couldn’t even focus on her words, and his desire to get out of this hallway prompted him to walk away.
He was practically running by the time he made it outside, and he ducked around the corner and pressed his back into the brick behind him. He pulled in breath after breath, wondering why the only thing he could think of was the last time he’d been in a hospital.
His father had died here, fifteen years ago. Something Sammy had told him months ago crept through his mind, comforting him.
Everyone experiences grief in different ways, at different times. It can sneak up on you like a thief in the night when you haven’t cried for months.
“Or years,” he said to himself.
He wasn’t going to cry now either, but he did allow himself to miss his father for several powerful seconds. Then he went back inside and took the seat he’d been waiting in previously. He spent some time updating Ranger and Bishop on the situation, and they said they’d cover him at the ranch today.
On the family text, Ranger told everyone what was happening, and instantly, well-wishes for Sammy and her father came in from every Glover who had a smartphone.
Bear was overwhelmed with the outpouring of love he felt from his family. He’d felt like this several times in his life, most recently on his birthday. Everyone he cared about and would want to be at a birthday party for him had been there. After he’d finished kissing Sammy and telling her thank you, she’d led him to the pizza table to get dinner.
There, he’d found another batch of colored greeting card envelopes, and he’d enjoyed birthday wishes from the cowboys at Three Rivers, Seven Sons, and the other ranches around town. A week later, he’d gotten a card in the mail from Wade Rhinehart, and Bear realized Sammy’s reach knew no bounds.
He scrolled through his social media, just trying to kill time. He read the family texts again, but there was nothing new there. The minutes passed, and Bear was bored. After an hour, he got up and approached the reception desk. “Excuse me,” he said. “Can I get an update on Vaughan Benton?”
“Let me check.”
His stomach growled, and he thought he might be able to run and get lunch for Sammy and her mother, as they were probably hungry too.
“He’s gone to MRI,” the woman at reception said. “You can go back to the room and wait for him there.”
“Okay,” Bear said, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to do that. Sammy hadn’t texted him, and he didn’t know what proper boyfriend protocol was. In the end, he pushed through the door and went down the hall to the room. He didn’t feel like air was the wrong thing to breathe as he had earlier, and he entered the appointed room.
It was empty.
He turned in a full circle, as if Sammy would be hiding somewhere. Perhaps they’d gone with Vaughan for the scans. Bear pulled out his phone and called her, pushing against his hunger and boredom and restlessness.
Bear didn’t sit around hospitals much, and he was used to working all day long. Working hard.
“Hello,” Sammy said, and Bear could hear something else in the background.
“Hey,” he said, infusing some happiness into his voice. “Where are you? I was thinking I’d go get us some lunch if you guys want. Then when your father gets back from the MRI, we’ll be able to wait without wanting to gnaw off our own arms.”
“Oh,” Sammy said. “Um, my mom and I are getting lunch right now.”
Surprise leapt through Bear. “Oh.”
“I didn’t—you didn’t have to wait, Bear.”
“Well, I did wait.”
Sammy didn’t say anything, and something scratched on her end of the line. She said, “I’ll be right back, Mom,” her voice farther from the speaker than normal. A few seconds passed, and she said, “I didn’t ask you to wait.”
“You didn’t even say hello to me,” he said.
“You left, and I didn’t know where you were.” She sighed, and he could just see her trying to find the right thing to say. He’d like to hear it too. “I had everything handled, Bear. I didn’t need you to rush over to my parents’ house in the first place.”
Bear’s irritation grew. “I apologize for being concerned about my girlfriend’s father.”
“Bear,” she said.
“No,” he said. “It’s fine. You don’t like it when I try to be in your life. I get it.”
“It’s not that,” she said. “That’s not fair. You can’t just put words in my mouth.”
“Then what are the right words?” he asked, disliking how harsh his tone was. But the grizzly had come out, and he hadn’t been out of his cave in a long time. He turned and left the room, because there was no point in staying here now.
“I don’t need you to save me,” she said. “We’ve talked about this before.”
Yes, they had. Bear had made her feel weak by stepping in and taking care of things. Had he done that here? He didn’t think so. He’d been in town. His brother had called him during a meeting and said Sammy’s father was injured. Ambulances had been called.
It was one hundred percent normal for him to go to her parents’ house.
“I can bring you something,” Sammy said.
“It’s okay,” Bear said. “There’s a cafeteria here.” The thought of eating in the hospital cafeteria had Bear’s stomach revolting, but he didn’t care.
“Bear,” she said, her voice heavy with frustration.
“I’ll just go back to the ranch,” he said. “You clearly don’t want me here.”
“That’s not true either,” she said, her voice soft yet still heavy.
He went out into the waiting room. “What do you want, Sammy?”
Silence poured through the line, and Bear disliked this contention between them. Things had been going so well, and he’d been getting so close to knowing with every fiber of his soul that he loved her.
She sniffled, but her voice was strong when she said, “I just want my father to be okay.”
Bear’s emotions flew up and down, almost in the same second. “I know you do.” He stared out at the parking lot, undecided about
what to do next.
What’s the right move here? he prayed to know. An answer didn’t come.
“Just wait for me to get back,” Sammy said. “I’ll bring you an avocado burger, okay?”
Bear nodded, his mouth watering already. “Okay,” he said. The call ended, and Bear wandered down the sidewalk to a bench. He didn’t want to wait inside, and he couldn’t sit in that small room, waiting for Vaughan to come back from his scan.
He still had nothing to do, but his mind was consumed with thoughts of Sammy now. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed before Sammy sat next to him on the bench, a Styrofoam clamshell container in her hand.
She passed the food to him, and he took it without looking at her. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
He opened the lid and took out the burger, his stomach cramping painfully. He ate in silence, Sammy at his side and plenty of tension inside the bubble where they existed.
He wiped his face and tossed his napkin in the container before he closed it. “Thank you.”
“I didn’t—of course I want you here, Bear.”
He didn’t know what to say. Perhaps the truth would work. “Doesn’t feel like it.”
“I just….” She exhaled heavily. “I’m still getting used to the idea of having help.”
“Hmm.” Bear didn’t think that was it at all, but he was tired. He didn’t want to argue with her. He wanted to offer to pick up Lincoln from school and take him to the ranch so Sammy wouldn’t have to worry about him. He wanted to tell her he’d bring them dinner later. He wanted to hold her hand and kiss her and assure her that everything would be all right with her father.
He said nothing.
She looked down at her phone. “Mom says they’re going to keep him overnight.” She stood up. “We should go in.”
Bear looked up at her. “You go. I have to get back to the ranch.” He stood too, and she tracked him with her eyes.
“I—”
“Let me know if you need anything,” he said, smashing his hat further down onto his head. “I apologize for overstepping my bounds.” He walked away, half-expecting her to call him back. She didn’t, and that only drove home her message. With every step, he heard her telling him that he made her feel weak, and she didn’t like that.
