Page 16 of Sunset Tides
“Just spit it out!”
“Well, you know Claire had that stomach bug,” he said, voice low and solemn.
“Yeah? Is she okay?”
“She’s fine,” he said. “She said you would panic.”
“Well, when you’re this bad at relaying information, yes, I am going to panic. But she’s fine?”
“She fell and hit her head. She needed some stitches,” he said.
“Oh.” Lucy took a deep breath. Her face felt tingly, and that usually happened when she forgot to breathe. “Just some stitches. Okay.”
He was quiet for a moment. “The doctor was worried about how dizzy she was. She wants her to get checked out, just to make sure it’s not something more serious.”
“More serious like what?” Lucy spotted a gas station ahead and turned on her blinker to pull in. It was too hard to drive and think at the same time.
“They don’t have the machines they need here for testing, though, so they sent her to the mainland.”
She pulled into a spot and put her car into park. “Okay, that makes sense. What do they think could be wrong?”
“Uh, what they said is – it might be a stroke.”
Lucy’s entire body went numb. “Claire had astroke?”
“They don’t know yet,” he said quickly. “That’s what they’re going to find out. She feels okay, though. She’s still talking and arguing with me – ”
“Can I talk to her?”
“Not right now. She’s being transported. They’re flying her over.”
Flying her over!
It was getting impossible to breathe. Lucy punched at her car door, trying to open the window.
“Don’t panic, though, okay?” Chip’s voice was low and calm. “It’s just a concern. Claire thinks it’s all silly, but she agreed to go.”
“She downplayseverything.You can’t listen to her!” The window finally opened. It didn’t help much, but it was something. “Where is she going? I’ll meet you there.”
“Just hang tight, and I can update you when – ”
“No. I’ll get on the ferry now, or I’ll swim if I have to. Where is she going?”
“Bellingham.”
“Got it.” Lucy took a deep breath. “I’m going to leave now. Send me the hospital name.”
“All right. I’m almost there. I’ll see you soon.”
She accidentally hung up on him before saying goodbye. Oh well, Chip would forgive her.
She pulled up the ferry schedule and saw that if she hurried, she could make the next sailing.
In some strange time warp, only seconds later she pulled her car onto the ferry. As they set off, she took a moment to catch her breath.
Searching online for symptoms of strokes wasn’t helpful. He said Claire was still arguing with him, so that was good, right? That was a good sign, if she could talk?
Her frantic search was interrupted when a call from Fiona popped up on her screen. She dismissed it. There was no time to talk to anyone.
