Page 6 of Last Seen
“Hi, Kater. Haven’t seen you in a while, either. How’s everything?” The nickname—Kater-Tater—came from who knew where, one of the older girl’s friends, surely, but had stuck.
“Good, good.” Kater gestures at her scrubs, grinning. “Haven’t heard that nickname in a long while. I moved back last year to take care of my grandma and got lucky, there was an opening here and Islotted in.” She raises one eyebrow and taps her left ring finger. “You’re still married, aren’t you?”
“Oh, that’s ... it’s ... complicated.”What is it, Halley? Are you, or aren’t you?
“Isn’t it always? Just thought I’d mention Aaron is back in Marchburg, too. I could give him a call, we could go get a drink. Unless it feels weird to go out drinking with your old babysitter and your summer lifeguard-at-the-pool crush?”
Halley feels her cheeks flush. Aaron Edwards was ridiculously hot, and she’d crushed hard on him during the summers at the pool, though he had no idea she was alive. Compared to Theo, Aaron had placed a very distant second. Aaron was sweet. Theo was sweet—and a dangerous man. Not a danger to her, but to criminals. Something ridiculously appealing to the younger Halley. From the moment they met, she’d been lost.
“Stop. Seriously. Aaron was not my crush.”
“Oh yes, he was.”
“I’m here for my dad,” Halley says, cheeks still heated.
“Fine. Be a spoilsport. Dr. James is in room 141. They just brought him up from recovery. He’s a little loopy still, but he’s awake. He did well. The fracture was pretty bad, and there was an ACL tear, too, but they called in Dr. Phillips, and he fixed him up.”
“Oh, good.” Halley feels her worry slip a notch. Dr. Phillips is one of the best orthos in the state. He was the team doctor for the University of Virginia football and basketball teams. Getting him to oversee her dad’s case is lucky.
“I’ll talk to you soon, all right? Great to see you.” Halley waves and heads down the hall to the right, following the signs to 141. Most of the rooms are empty, though there are a few with beeping monitors and the hushed scent of illness emanating from the half-closed doors. The hospital is an eerie place, even with the lights blazing. She’d seen a horror movie once that took place largely in Georgetown and the hospital there. It always freaked her out. She avoided theExorciststeps,as they were known, as much as possible after that. So many of her college friends liked to hang out there, drink beer and dare each other to do dumb things, but Halley had never been a fan. Even in broad daylight, it felt wrong. She wasn’t usually superstitious, but that spot gave her the willies. Tonight, Marchburg General does the same.
She enters her dad’s room, horrified to see his leg suspended in midair, encased in bandages, and an external fixation device that looks like a metal halo drilled into the skin from his ankle to just below his knee.
“Ouch,” she says, and her dad opens his eyes.
“Halley!” He smiles wide, though she can tell it costs him.
“Hi, Dad.” She crosses the room and kisses him on the forehead. He is pale, and she knows he has to be in pain. “Hurts, huh?”
“I’m not going dancing anytime soon.” He shifts a bit, and she pushes the starchy pillow deeper under his shoulder blades so he can sit up a bit more. “Thank you. You didn’t have to come.”
She points at his leg. “Au contraire, mon frère. You’re going to need some help. It’s no big deal. I’m happy to be here. I needed a few days off. Can I get you anything? There’s a kitchen down the hall. I bet it’s stocked to the hilt with ginger ale and Jell-O and crackers.”
“Be still my beating heart. Crackers.”
“Done. Be right back.”
She hurries down the hall and raids the family pantry. She gets graham crackers and saltines, two miniature cans of ginger ale. The hall is hushed; visiting hours are nearly over.
When she steps into the room, he blinks slowly at her, like a wise old owl. She sets the loot on the wheeled tray perched next to the bed, careful to avoid his IV. “You look beat. I should let you get some rest. I’ll head to the house. When will they spring you?”
“Not right away. Hopefully by the end of the week. But if you’re going to the house now, could you do me a favor?”
“Anything.”
“There’s an insurance letter on my desk. The school changed providers, and I never put the card in my wallet. It will have the new card and all the relevant details for the hospital to bill my new insurance. Great timing, huh? The deductibles just went up.” He laughs lightly, and his eyes are heavy. He’s slipping into the drugs, and that’s probably for the best.
“I’ll get it. Anything else you want from home?”
But he’s asleep.
She watches for a moment, heart sighing silently, arranges things on the tray to make them easier for him to reach, then winds her way back to the front desk. It’s manned by an unfamiliar young nurse now; Kater has been sucked back into her work.
In her Jeep, Halley gives in to the shakes for a few minutes. Seeing her dad hurt, weak and pale, the metal circling his leg and piercing the skin, was a lot. She’s never been leery of blood—she wouldn’t last five minutes in a lab if she were—but seeing him in pain is too much.
Blowing out a steadying breath, she turns over the engine and heads back into the night.
Chapter Three
