The tables were ready to go and Tess would have organized the cash register as soon as she arrived. All Annie had to do was make sure the glass cabinets were full of yummy food.
Tess put a plate of pancakes in the oven to stay warm. “There’s a lemon cake in the pantry and a tray of chicken and Camembert paninis in the fridge.”
Annie took the lemon cake out of the pantry and headed into the café. Two smiling faces were waving at her from the sidewalk. She poked her head in the kitchen door. “Mrs. Dickinson and Mrs. Delaney have arrived for breakfast.”
Tess glanced around the kitchen. “We’re ready to go. I’ll bring the paninis out while you open the café.”
Annie hurried across to the front door and turned the closed sign around. She opened the door and smiled at two of their regular customers. “Good morning,” she said as Mrs. Dickinson headed to their Saturday table.
“And it’s such a beautiful morning,” Mrs. Delaney said as she came through the door.
The newspaper must have been delivered sometime between Annie arriving at work and when the two Mrs. D’s arrived. Mrs. Delaney divided the weekend edition into two equal parts, passing one section across to her friend. “Here you go. Just don’t fill in the crossword until I’ve finished reading the news.”
“Would I ever do that?” Mrs. Dickinson asked.
Mrs. Delaney sent her a loaded smile. “Of course you would. That’s why I’m not paying for breakfast until we’ve finished the crossword.”
Mrs. Dickinson smiled at Annie. “Now you know why we’ve been friends for over fifty years. Margaret knows my one weakness in life.”
Mrs. Delaney looked up from the sports section. “Do you mean men, crossword puzzles or food?”
“We’re seventy-eight years old, Margaret. Of course I mean men.”
They both chuckled as they sat at their table. Annie brought two mugs of coffee out of the kitchen with four small gingerbread cookies on another plate. For as long as she’d been working at Angel Wings Café, the two Mrs. D’s started each Saturday morning in exactly the same way.
“Can I ask you a question, Mrs. Dickinson?” Annie waited for Mrs. Dickinson to nod before she continued. “Why do you like gingerbread cookies with your coffee before breakfast?”
“Ginger’s good for your digestion. Isn’t that right Margaret?”
Mrs. Delaney smiled. “It’s true. They brew ginger infused tea at our retirement village. And a little bit of sugar always makes things sweeter.”
Annie couldn’t fault their logic. The two Mrs. D’s had once told her that they hadn’t been sick in more than ten years. They’d never broken any bones, arthritis didn’t cripple them and they still had their own teeth. All good reasons for them to have gingerbread cookies at seven thirty in the morning.
The kitchen door swung open and Tess walked in with two plates of fresh blueberry buttermilk pancakes in her hands. “How are my two best customers doing this morning?”
“Better now that we’ve seen you both,” Mrs. Dickinson said. “How are your wedding plans going?”
“Slowly.” Tess left the pancakes on the table and smiled. “Sometimes I think running away and getting married in Las Vegas wouldn’t be such a bad idea.”
“You don’t want to do that,” Mrs. Delaney said. “Logan’s mom would never forgive you.”
Tess winked at Annie. “I’d also have three bridesmaids who wouldn’t be very impressed either.”
“It will all work out how it’s supposed to,” Mrs. Delaney said with a knowing glance at her friend.
“I hope so.” Tess smiled at the next customers who walked through the front door. “Enjoy your breakfast. Let me know if you need anything else.”
An hour and a half later, Annie refilled the glasses of orange juice on the two Mrs. D’s table. There’d been a steady stream of people coming into the café all morning. By now, the second wave of breakfast customers were starting to arrive. Tess’ pancakes were their biggest seller on Saturday mornings, and today was no exception.
Annie brought another plate of light, fluffy pancakes out of the kitchen and put them on Mr. McGregor’s table.
He looked at the almost-not-there drizzle of maple syrup and frowned. “You’re worse than my wife.”
“She’s given us strict instructions,” Annie said. “Your morning walks are great, but she doesn’t want you eating too much sugar once you get here.”
Mr. McGregor stared at the syrup once more before picking up his knife and fork. “After forty-five years of marriage, I’m still being henpecked.”
Annie laughed. “I’m sure it’s not all bad.”
Mr. McGregor grunted as he took his first bite of his breakfast. They both looked up when the front door bell jingled. Logan walked inside, heading over to the kitchen before Annie got a chance to say hello. He was so focused on where he needed to go, that Annie suspected he hadn’t even known she was there.
“Trouble’s on the horizon.” Mr. McGregor pointed his fork at the kitchen door. “He’ll want to be careful with Tess. Before he knows it she’ll be reducing his maple syrup, too.”
Annie patted Mr. McGregor on the shoulder. “We’re looking after you. Let me know if you need anything else that doesn’t include more maple syrup or orange juice.”
She’d refilled other customer’s coffee cups and served another customer before Logan came out of the kitchen.
“Can we see you for a minute?” he asked.
Annie didn’t know what was going on, but the frown on Logan’s face said it was serious. “Is everything okay?”
Logan opened the kitchen door and waved her through. “Dylan’s in the hospital. I’m flying to Boulder on the next flight out of Bozeman.”
White dots swam in front of Annie’s eyes. She took a deep breath and pushed down all of the panic building inside of her.
Tess brought a chair across to where Annie was standing. “Sit down. Dylan’s okay. Something happened in the first leg of the race and he nearly drowned.”
Annie looked up at Tess. “How bad is it?”
“We don’t know. Dylan’s mom called Logan. She can’t get a flight from Los Angeles until tomorrow afternoon. She asked Logan to go and stay with him until she gets there.”
Annie knew she had two choices. She could stay in Bozeman and worry herself sick, or go with Logan and make sure Dylan was okay. She knew what she had to do, and it didn’t involve being hundreds of miles away from the hospital.
“I’m coming with you,” she said to Logan. “I’ll call Kate and see if she can come in early.”
“I can do that,” Tess said. “What about clothes?”
Logan glanced at his watch. “We don’t have time to go back to your apartment. We need to be at the airport in half an hour if we’re going to make the flight.”
Tess started packing some food into paper bags. “Logan’s already bought his ticket. If you get to the airport and the flight’s full, bring Logan’s truck back with you. I can take you out to the airport for the next flight.”
Annie undid her apron and left it on the counter. She grabbed her bag, checked that she’d remembered her wallet and pulled out a set of keys. “This is the key to my apartment. Can you look after Dylan’s kittens?”
“No problem. I’ll bring them home with me this afternoon.”
Annie tried to remember any other important information. “I left my bike leaning against the back wall of the café. The key to the padlock is on my key ring.”
“I’ll bring it inside when we finish for the day. If you remember anything else, just give me a call.” Tess handed Annie the food she’d packed. “Now get going before you miss the flight.”
Annie didn’t need to be told twice. She gave Tess a quick hug and followed Logan out of the café. “Where did you park?”
“Over here.” Logan strode toward his truck and unlocked the doors.
As soon as Annie had snapped her seatbelt in place she grabbed her phone. There was only one flight lea
ving Bozeman for Boulder in the next hour. “Are you flying on the United Airlines flight?”
Logan slowed down for a set of traffic lights. “That’s the one. It leaves at about quarter past ten.”
Annie took her credit card out of her wallet and tapped the screen on her phone. “I’ve got a ticket,” she sighed. “Now all we need to do is get to the airport on time.”
Logan accelerated away from the intersection. “We’ll make it. I’ll drop you off at the main terminal and find somewhere to park my truck. Check yourself in and I’ll meet you at our departure gate.”
Annie nodded. “Did Dylan’s mom tell you anything else?”
Logan shook his head. “When she called, Dylan was still in the Emergency Room. I’ve got the hospital’s phone number. We can call them while we’re waiting for our flight.”
Annie closed her eyes for a moment. “I hope he’s okay.”
“So do I,” Logan said softly.
***
Annie’s heart pounded in her chest. She walked through the main doors of the Foothills Hospital in Boulder, hoping Dylan hadn’t gotten worse while they’d been in the air. Logan had called the hospital before they’d left Montana, but no one would tell them anything. They’d had to call Dylan’s mom and ask her to call the hospital to give them permission to find out what was happening. It had been a stressful morning for everyone, and Annie had a feeling it was only going to get worse.
They followed the signs to the Emergency Room and waited to speak to the receptionist. Within minutes they were taken through a double set of doors into the Emergency Room.
Annie didn’t know what she’d been expecting to see, but it hadn’t been the semi-circular nurses’ station, or the familiar curtained off cubicles around the outside of the room.
An avalanche of memories came crashing down on top of her. The last time she’d been in an Emergency Room had been five years ago. She’d rushed to the hospital to see her ex-husband and daughter after the car accident. No one had told her Ruby had died. She’d gone to the hospital prepared for cuts and grazes, broken bones and bruising.
Like today, she’d been taken toward a white curtained room to see her ex-husband. But he hadn’t been the only person in the cubicle. She hadn’t been prepared for what she’d seen.
With all of the best intentions in the world, a nurse had brought Ruby’s body into the same room as Paul. He’d been cradling their dead daughter in his arms. Grief and utter despair had filled the cubicle with emotions so raw that Annie had broken down, sobbing against the bed until a doctor came to help her.
The smell, the noise, and even the look of the Emergency Room in Boulder was enough to trigger everything that Annie thought she’d dealt with. When the nurse they’d been following stopped in front of a curtain, Logan didn’t hesitate to walk behind the flimsy white fabric. But Annie hung back. She needed to know that Dylan was still alive before she went anywhere near the cubicle.
Logan looked over his shoulder. “Are you okay, Annie?”
She shook her head and bit her bottom lip. Tears filled her eyes until Logan became a shadowy blur in front of her.
The nurse rested her hand against Annie’s arm. “Dylan’s sitting up in bed with an oxygen mask on. He’s tired, but stable.”
“Is he going to be okay?” Annie whispered.
“He’s doing really well. One of the doctors will come and speak to you soon.”
Annie knew the nurse hadn’t answered her question, but for now it was enough. Dylan wasn’t dead. The rest they could figure out as they went.
She took a deep breath and grasped the hand that Logan held out. His grip was firm and warm, everything she needed to take the next step.
“Better?” he asked.
Annie nodded. When they walked into the cubicle, Dylan had his eyes closed. His skin was pale and he looked so tired that the tears in Annie’s eyes started to fall. She let go of Logan’s hand and walked toward Dylan, stopping beside the bed.
“Hi, Dylan. Logan and I are here.”
His eyelids fluttered open, then closed again. The soft hiss of the oxygen machine was the only sound in the room.
Annie reached down and touched his hand. He’d trained so hard, changed his entire life to make sure he was in the best possible condition for the race. She didn’t understand how this had happened.
“Couldn’t do it.” Dylan’s voice was muffled behind the oxygen mask.
Annie looked into his eyes. “Couldn’t do what?”
“Water. Too many people.” Dylan coughed and the nurse moved to his other side.
“Take a deep breath…that’s right…nice and slow…” The nurse checked a couple of monitors, then looked back at Dylan. “You’re doing fine. I’ll put the buzzer for the nurses’ station in your hand. If you need me again, just push the red button.”
Dylan nodded and the nurse left the cubicle.
Logan came and stood beside Annie. “How are you feeling?”
“Not good.”
“You’ll get better.” Logan spoke with such confidence that Annie would have believed him if she hadn’t have been standing beside Dylan.
Before she managed to find out what had happened, a doctor walked into the room. His wide shoulders and easy smile camouflaged the dark circles under his eyes.
The doctor held out his hand. “I’m Tim Roberts. You’re Dylan’s friends from Montana?”
Logan shook Tim’s hand. “I’m Logan and this is Annie.”
“Nice to meet you both.” Dylan’s doctor unhooked a chart from the end of the bed. “Are you happy for me to discuss what we’re doing with your treatment, Dylan?”
Dylan nodded. His eyes followed his doctor around the bed to the monitors, then traveled back to Annie. There was a deep sadness in his gaze that worried her. She’d seen the same look in his eyes when she’d first met him. He was scared, deep inside, and he didn’t know what to do about it.
Dylan’s doctor opened his chart. “We’re running a few tests to see if the water Dylan swallowed has affected his heart. In the meantime, we’re giving him a broad spectrum antibiotic to stop any infection in his lungs. He’ll be going up to the radiology unit for some scans soon.”
Logan frowned at Dylan. “Did you stop breathing?”
Dylan nodded.
Annie reached for the chair beside her and sat down heavily on the vinyl seat.
“Dylan was lucky,” his doctor said. “The wetsuit he was wearing gave him extra buoyancy. One of the other competitors realized what was happening and pulled Dylan’s head out of the water. The rescue boat had paramedics on board and they started CPR.”
As soon as Dylan’s doctor mentioned CPR, Annie stuck her head between her knees and tried to focus on breathing.
Dylan’s doctor kneeled beside Annie and held her wrist. “Your pulse is all over the place. Are you okay?”
Annie took a deep breath to clear the dots in front of her eyes. “Bad experience in a hospital.”
“Do you want to leave?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I’ll be fine.
Dylan’s doctor stayed beside her. “The most important part of treating someone who has nearly drowned is the care they get immediately after the accident. The race organizers had three paramedics on the water and all of the resuscitation equipment they needed. Dylan’s got a great chance of making a full recovery.”
Dylan tried to move, but the drips and cords got in the way. He lifted his oxygen mask off his face and stared at her with as much conviction as Logan had. “I’m going to be all right, Annie.”
He started coughing and his doctor lifted the mask off his face. “I know coughing hurts, but it’s doing its job of getting the water off your lungs.”
Dylan ignored the oxygen mask his doctor held out to him. He glanced at Logan. “Where are you staying tonight?”
Logan shrugged. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead. There’s bound to be plenty of hotels close to the hospital.”
“You could
both stay in my hotel room.”
For the first time since they’d arrived in Boulder, Annie smiled. “I can just see Tess’ reaction to that offer. It’s not going to happen.”
Logan smiled, too. “She’d disown me. We’ll find somewhere else.”
Dylan’s doctor slid the oxygen mask over Dylan’s head. “Now that you’ve stopped coughing, you need to leave the oxygen mask on.” He turned to Logan and Annie. “There’s a list of hotels that are close to the hospital at the main reception counter. Most of them will give you a discount if you mention you’re visiting a patient.”
Dylan looked at Annie. The smile on her face disappeared until there was nothing left but the worry of what might have been.
Logan cleared his throat. “I don’t know about you, Doc, but I could do with a coffee and something to eat.”
“As long as that oxygen mask stays on between coughing episodes, I’ll join you.”
Annie looked up. “I’ll make sure it stays on,” she said quietly.
Dylan’s doctor waited for Dylan to agree before he followed Logan out of the room. He stopped at the edge of the curtain and turned to Annie. “Push the button if you need anything.”
After everyone had gone, Dylan held out his hand. Annie gripped it tightly. “What happened?”
Dylan looked down at their hands. “I thought I’d be all right. I’d trained each day in the indoor pool. I knew I could easily swim the distance, but halfway across the reservoir I started to panic.”
He took a deep breath and pushed the oxygen mask off his face. Annie put it back on.
“It’s annoying,” he muttered.
“So are you when you don’t listen to what your doctor says.”
Dylan glared at her over the top of the mask. Annie didn’t mind. It was better than the terror she’d seen in his eyes when they’d arrived.
“The men that captured me in Afghanistan used water. They tried to drown me. They’d tie me to a frame, then tilt it backward until my head was under water. It took me nearly a year to be able to have a shower after I came home.”
Annie’s eyes filled with tears. “Why didn’t you tell someone?”
Loving You (The Bridesmaids Club Book 2) Page 20
