Page 64 of Winning His Wager

“I don’t think so. She’s never said.” Dixie was going to sit every sister she had down first chance she had and get updates on all medical conditions and key facts. She’d just keep it in her phone at all times, from now on. Her cousins, parents, aunt and uncle, too. Just in case.

“Just aspirin,” Fletcher said. “She’s allergic to aspirin. It gives her hives. What’s wrong with her?”

Dixie looked up at him. She wrapped one arm around him. He looked ready to rip Dylan off that gurney and into his arms right now.

Dixie looked into his eyes. That’s when it clicked.

He loved her.

Dixie’s heart hurt for him now. Fletcher really loved her baby sister.

Another Tyler had bitten the dust. When a Tyler man fell, he fell hard. No denying that now.

“From initial assessment,” Nate said. “It’s most likely a ruptured appendix, but we’re going to have to confirm that.”

“So what happens now?” Fletcher asked.

“We’ll take her upstairs, run a few more tests, and then, if it is her appendix, we’ll move on from there. Get things taken care of,” Nate said. “Why don’t we step outside? Give the team room? Dixie can stay with her. She’s de facto next of kin now.”

“I—”

Nate led Fletcher from the room. He was probably the only one who could.

Dixie stayed by her sister’s head, out of the way as they prepped her. Dylan’s eyes blinked again. She looked right at Dixie, the freckles on her cheeks darker than usual. She just looked soyoung.

Dylan just looked at her. Dixie pressed her forehead to Dylan’s briefly. She’d only had her for four months, but this was her sister. And it hurt to see her like this. “You’re going to be okay, baby sister. I’ll make sure of it.”

“Me? I’m tough as nails. Just…keep an eye on Fletcher for me, okay? Just for a little while.”

“I’ll do that.” But for now, she wasn’t going to leave her sister alone.

44

Abby was workingthe desk when Marin rushed in, Lucy with her. It was definitely not time for Lucy now.

The front doors of the inn opened and there Dusty and Ben were. Then the rest of the Talleys just sort of appeared out of nowhere. Abby checked the clock. It was only like seven o’clock. What was going on?

“Abby, we need you to stay,” Marin said. It wasn’t a question. “Through the audits. We’ll pay double overtime. It’s an emergency.”

Abby wasn’t stupid enough to protest. She just wasn’t. She’d done the shift for extra money before. She just nodded. “What’s going on?”

The doors opened again. Dusty’s parents were there. Her mother was practically freaking. Her dad looked really angry.

“What’s wrong? Dusty texted us to get here as fast as we could,” the woman said. “She said it was an emergency.”

“What exactly is going on?” Darcey asked, coming out of the dining room entrance, all irritated again and everything. “What’s happened now?”

It was a Friday night. The busiest time of the week. Darcey was always in the dining room then. Or the lobby. Being Queen of the Manor. Being Queen Bitch, in Abby’s opinion. Talk about constant PMS.

“Martin just called us,” Ben said. “Dylan collapsed a few minutes ago. Fletcher and Kaece are driving her to the ER now.”

Dahlia, that little loser twin, started crying. “Is she?—”

Her twin wrapped an arm around her and the teenager who was friends with Caitlyn now. “What’s wrong with her?”

Besides being a stupid man-stealing bitch? Abby chastised herself for her unkind thought. What if Dylan died or something? Not exactly very nice of her to think that, was it?

Then Martin and one of those twin Tyler guys were there. Everyone sort of just mobbed them.

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