“Maybe I don’t want a nice Christian man.”
“Paige.” His exasperated voice raised the hackles on her arms.
“I’m sorry, Daddy. I can’t be the girl you think I should be. I have to be me.”
“And exactly what does that mean?”
“What would you say if I went to bars on the weekends?”
“Instead of going to the nursing home?”
“Yes.”
“You lied to me?”
“In a sense, yes.”
“Is that how you knew the band members who played yesterday? You met them at a bar?”
“Yes. I don’t drink though. I go to listen to the music and dance.”
“Dancing too?”
Oh Lord what would he think if he knew I dressed in leather and rode a motorcycle? Confession time I think. “Yes, dancing too. I need to tell you something. I’ve been going to bars for a few months now. It’s how I met Jacob. I saved him from a bar fight.”
Sweat popped out on his forehead as he took a seat at the kitchen table with her.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I have a little nausea at the moment. Breakfast must have upset my stomach this morning.”
“You don’t look very well, Daddy. I should call the doctor.”
“I’m fine.” He pressed the heel of his hand to his chest.
“Are you having chest pain?”
“A bit of pressure. Nothing serious.” He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief he’d pulled from his back pocket. “Back to you. Why do you feel the need to hang out in bars and why did you lie to me?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me.”
She clasped her hands together, putting them on the table in front of her as she tried to explain this need to her father. “I need to be around people my own age. Dancing is fun. Hanging out with people is fun.”
“Do you really enjoy these things?”
“Yes, I do. I can’t always be the preacher’s girl. I need to do things people my own age enjoy. I don’t want to hang out with the ladies from the auxiliary. The guys in the band are my friends. Jacob is my friend.”
“You’re sleeping with him, true?”
“I have, yes.”
“Premarital sex, Paige?”
“It’s common these days, Daddy.”
“I never thought my daughter would engage in those sorts of things. What would your mother say if she were here?”
“I’d hope she’d understand as I hope you’ll understand.” He leaned over and put his head on his folded hands. “I’m calling an ambulance.”
“I’m fine,” he mumbled right before he slid from the chair onto the floor.
“Daddy!”
He didn’t respond.
“Shit.” She grabbed the phone from the wall, dialing nine-one-one.
“What’s your emergency?”
“My father. He was complaining of nausea, pain in his chest and sweating profusely. Now he’s on the floor.”
“Is he breathing?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sending an ambulance. You’ll need to meet them outside.”
She rattled off the address, stretching the phone cord far enough she could reach his side and still be on the phone.
“Keep talking to me,” the dispatcher said. “If he stops breathing or his heart stops, you’ll need to do CPR until they get there.”
“No, he’s still breathing, but he hasn’t regained consciousness.” Sirens wailed in the distance. “I hear the ambulance.”
“Okay. Hang up with me and go meet them. They’ll need to know where to go.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
She needed something, someone. She wrung her hands together as she headed for the front door. “This way,” she said as the paramedics stepped onto the porch.
“What happened,” the dark-haired paramedic asked.
“We were talking and he just collapsed from the seat onto the floor. He’s been out for several minutes.”
“Any symptoms before that?”
“Sweating, nausea, chest pain, I think. He wouldn’t really tell me, but that’s what it seemed like.”
The paramedics cut his shirt and pasted on plastic sticky things to his chest. His heartbeat blipped over the screen on their machine. They quickly stuck a needle in his arm for fluids. She’d seen enough trauma in the ER to know a few things. It sounded like he had some kind of heart attack. Great. Tell him about your secret life and send your father into a heart attack. Brilliant. “Do you know what’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure, but we are going to treat him as if it’s cardiac related by the symptoms you told us.”
“What’s going on?” her father asked, his eyes now open. “Paige?”
“You’re on your way to the hospital, Daddy.”
“But why?” He started to sit up.
“Lie back, sir. We’ve got you hooked up to some machines to monitor your heart and we’re giving you fluids. We’ll be transporting you to the hospital in a moment.”
“I’m fine.”
“No you aren’t. You need to go,” she said, holding him down by the shoulder.
“All right. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have a doctor look at me.”
“How long were you having chest pain before you passed out, sir?”
“I’ve had discomfort in my chest all morning and a little last night.”
Great. After the barbeque I pushed his need to talk out of the way for Jacob. He was probably having a heart attack last night. “You’ll be fine, Daddy. I’ll be right beside you.”
“Thank you, Paige.”
The paramedics lifted the gurney they’d put him on and locked it in place. With all the monitors beeping and dinging, they wheeled him out through the living room and out the front door to the ambulance.
“What’s going on?” Mrs. Johnson asked, coming from around the side of the church. “I saw the ambulance.”
“It’ll be fine. We’ll let you know when we know something.”
“Is he going to be all right?”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine, Mrs. Johnson.” Paige had already grabbed her keys and her purse off the side table before the ambulance crew had him through the doorway outside. “I’ll follow you to the hospital.”
Within moments, she was following behind the screaming ambulance toward the hospital, thoughts of losing her dad rushing through her mind. She couldn’t lose him too. I need Jacob. She grabbed her cell phone, scrolled through the numbers and hit talk.
“Paige?”
“Hi. Listen. I’m on the way to the hospital with my father. I think he might have had a heart attack.”
“Which one?”
“University Hospital.”
“I’ll be right there.”
“Are you sure? You don’t have other things you need to be doing?”
“Honey, if you didn’t need me, you wouldn’t have called. I’ll be there in forty-five minutes.”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Be tough. It’ll be okay.”
“I feel terrible, Jacob. I think I brought it on.”
“Why?”
She could hear the jangle of keys and an engine start on his truck. “I told him about my weekends. I lied to him.”
“Babe, it’ll be okay. He’s a tough guy.”
“But the stress brought this on. I know it did.” Tears began to roll down her cheeks. With her hand on the phone and one on the wheel, she couldn’t brush them away.
“Calm down, Paige. You’re drivin’, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Be careful, darlin’. You can’t help your father if you’re in the bed next to him and if you do that, I’ll have to kick your butt.”
She laughed through her tears. Leave it to Jacob to make her feel better. This is why she loved him. What the hell? She sniffed. “It’ll be fine, I hope. Thank you for making me lau
gh. I needed to talk to you. I really need you to hold me.”
“I’ll be there soon.”
She pulled into the parking lot of the hospital behind the ambulance. “I’m at the hospital. Meet me in the emergency room waiting room when you get here. I’m sure they won’t let me back there until they know something anyway.”
“Okay. Be strong. It’ll be okay.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. See you soon.”
I love you was on the tip of her tongue, but she held it in. This was a new feeling for her and she wasn’t sure what to do about it. She really didn’t know him well enough to say I love you, did she? The phone clicked in her ear, signaling Jacob had hung up. She bit her lip and slowly laid the phone on the seat next to her purse. Do I really love him? Wow. This wasn’t something she’d expected to be racing through her heart. What the hell do I do now?
* * * *
Jacob raced through the streets on San Antonio, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel of his truck. Paige needed him. It felt good. He liked the thought of her needing him a little too much. What did it mean for their relationship? He wasn’t sure, but it was a step in the right direction.
The hospital parking lot came into view. He found the emergency room entrance as he pulled into a parking spot big enough for his truck. His heart thumped in his chest. She needed him. The thought brought a smile to his face even in the wake of this tragedy with her father. He liked being needed, he found. With her being such a strong woman, admitting she needed him had to be tough on her as well.
He jumped out of his truck, locked the doors and headed for the entrance. The double glass doors slid open when he stepped in front of them, revealing the stark whiteness of the room. Even the curtains on the windows were white. Double doors to what he assumed led to the back of the emergency room, sat back against the walls.
Paige stood off to his right, rubbing her arms as she paced in front of the chairs. “Paige?”
“Jacob.” She flew into his arms like a bird coming home to roost.
Her tear stained cheeks broke his heart. “How are you holdin’ up, babe?”
“Not good.” She rubbed her face on his shirt. “You smell good.”
“I’m sure I smell like sweat, hay, and horse shit. I was throwin’ hay when you called.”
“I like it. It’s you.” She stepped back, but not completely out of his arms. “Thank you for coming.”
“You needed me.”
“Still. You didn’t have to come, but you did. It says a lot about you.”
Her green eyes glistened with unshed tears as he wiped the remaining wetness from her cheeks with his thumb. “He’ll be okay, darlin’. Was he talkin’ when they brought him in?”
“Yes, but he’d lost consciousness at home. I’m scared.”
“I know.”
“Paige Tyler?” a nurse called from the doorway.
“Yes?”
“Your father wants to see you now.”
“Can my, uh, friend come back with me?”
“Sure, but you two can’t stay long. We’re still running tests.”
“Thank you.”
They followed the purple clad nurse back through the doors, down a long hall to a curtain off area to the left. “In here.”
“Do they have any idea what happened?”
“I’ll let the doctor talk to you both. He’ll be in momentarily.” She pushed the curtain aside to reveal her father’s pale face lying on the gurney with his eyes closed.
“Daddy?”
He opened his eyes and frowned. “What is he doing here?”
“He came because I called him. Be nice.”
“He’s the one who led you down the road to Hell, Paige. How can you expect me to be nice? You need to find a Christian man to be with, not some hoodlum who hangs out in bars.” He coughed several times, making his heart rate increase enough to set off the dinging bells on the monitor.
“You need to calm down, Daddy.”
“I won’t calm down. Get him out of here.”
“I won’t. I need him here.”
“Then you need to leave too.”
“Daddy!”
“What’s going on in here?” the doctor asked, pushing through the split in the curtain. “You need to slow your heart rate down, Mr. Tyler.”
“It’s Reverend Tyler and I want these two to leave my bedside. Tell my daughter I’m fine so she can leave.”
“I can’t say that, Reverend. I don’t know what’s wrong with you yet. Are you sure you don’t want her here?”
“I’ll go wait outside, Paige. It’s obvious he doesn’t want me here.” He rubbed her arm before he turned to go. “I’ll be in the waiting room.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No need.” He leaned down to kiss her quickly on the forehead, not wanting to disturb her father any more than necessary.
The man started coughing heavily again as Jacob disappeared around the curtains and back down the hall. Well, that went fabulously. What the hell? Does he really think I’m the reason Paige went to bars? What did she tell him was going on between us?
He pushed through the doors to find the cafeteria. Coffee sounded mighty good right about now.
“You look lost, cowboy,” the receptionist said from behind her little desk. “Can I help you find something?”
“The cafeteria? I could use a cup of coffee.”
“Down the hall to your left. It’s at the end. You can’t miss it.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem.”
The woman seemed nice even as she eyed him with a blatantly appreciative stare, but he couldn’t really revel in the look when Paige’s father might be fighting for his life right at this moment. Not that he’d looked at many women since she’d come into his life. He found he compared everyone to her these days.
The click of his booted heels down the long corridor sounded ominous even to him. He really didn’t like hospitals all that much. They reminded him of sterile, stark environments meant to keep people from interacting with each other. He liked to touch, to hold, or to kiss. Maybe that made him kind of touchy feely, which didn’t seem natural for a guy, but it was for him. He liked the feeling of skin beneath his fingertips.
He poured a cup of coffee and dumped in some sugar and cream before heading for the checkout. Once he paid for his cup, he went straight back toward the waiting room. He was there for Paige and he’d be there until she didn’t need him anymore.
His cell jingled in his pocket. “Hello?”
“Hey, son. Where’d you run off to?”
“Sorry, Ma. I didn’t get a chance to tell you. Paige called. Her dad is at the hospital in San Antonio. We don’t know what’s going on yet.”
“I’m sorry to hear he’s feeling poorly.”
“I planned to call you in a little bit when I knew more so I could tell you how long I’d be gone, but he kind of chased me out of his room.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I’m not sure what’s going on yet, but I didn’t want to upset him further.”
“That doesn’t sound very good.”
“It’s not. I’m in the waiting room for when Paige comes back out. I’m here for her anyway, not so much for him.”
“If you get a chance, tell him we’re thinking of him and praying everything is okay. He seemed like a nice man when we met at the barbeque.”
“I’ll tell him. I’m sure prayers wouldn’t hurt right now.”
“Will do. We’ll see you when you get home or give us a call later to update us when you know something.”
“Sure. Thanks.”
“Be careful, Jacob. There’s a storm moving in from the west. Sounds like we might get hit pretty hard with rain and wind later.”
“I will. Bye, Mom.”
“Bye, sweetie.”
The long line of empty chairs along the back walls looked like a good place to rest his butt so he slid into a seat with a weary sigh. This
wasn’t the way he wanted to get out of back breaking, grueling work this afternoon, but he’d take any break he could.
As he sipped the hot liquid in his cup, his thoughts rushed backed to what Reverend Tyler said about him. He definitely needed to talk to Paige and find out exactly what she’d told her father. How could that man think he was the reason behind Paige’s apparent spiraling into the depths of Hell? Or something along those lines.
Paige came through the double doors, spotted him sitting in the chairs and headed in his direction. “I’m really sorry about that.”
“It’s okay. We’ll talk about it later. What did the doctor say?”
“They aren’t sure if it’s his heart or something else. He hasn’t had any changes in his EKG so they don’t think it’s a heart attack, but they are doing chest x-rays, blood tests, CAT scans and other stuff to try to figure it out.”
“Well at least he didn’t have a heart attack.”
“True.” She sighed as she sat back in the chair. “I hate this not knowing.”
“About what he said in there.”
She looked down at her hands before looking back up at him. “Don’t listen to him.”
“Why does he think I’m to blame?”
Her gaze beseeched him to believe her and understand, but he wasn’t sure he could. How could he deal with her not telling her father the entire truth? This could be detrimental to their relationship. What if she couldn’t deal with telling her father?
“For some reason he has it in his head, I didn’t start going to the bars until you and I met. Not that we met at the bar because I was already there.”
“You haven’t told him about checking out places like The Dusty Boot, riding your motorcycle or dressing in leather, have you?”
“No. He knows I don’t go to the nursing home. I told him I’d been going out to spend time with people my own age. You know, dancing and stuff.”
“You didn’t correct him about our meeting, did you?”
She grasped his free hand, holding it between her own cold ones. “No. Not yet, but I promise I will, Jacob. I’m not hiding how we met necessarily. I just didn’t want to upset him anymore.”
“When, Paige?”
“Soon.”
He sipped his coffee until he got to the bottom of the cup. Extra sweetness hit his tongue with the last dregs. He grimaced at the taste as he set the cup on the table to his left. “I don’t like this. Not at all.”
For the Love of a Cowboy (Cowboy Dreamin') Page 12
