Page 26 of A Secret Chance
As she continued rubbing the sheets, they started to feel rougher under her hands. She giggled as she felt Brock’s breath tickling her ear.
“Lauren.”
She snapped her eyes open. The voice was a man’s, but it wasn’t Brock’s. She winced as her eyes were assaulted by the fluorescent lighting of the hospital room.
“Lauren.” The voice spoke again. She squinted and saw Dr. Dupont’s face slowly come into focus. She felt his hands on her forehead, his thumbs holding her eyes open as he flashed a light into each one of them. “You are in The Chance Rapids hospital. You fainted,” he said.
Tears welled up in her eyes as the pre-dawn light of Brock’s room at the heli-ski lodge disappeared into the burning bright lights of the emergency room. She wanted to close her eyes and go back to her dream. She wanted to go back in time to that night with Brock.
Brock. Shit.
She sat up. “Oh, my god.”
“Relax, Lauren.” Dr. Dupont gently eased Lauren back down onto the flat pillow of the hospital bed. “We are going to keep you for some monitoring.”
“How did I...” she looked around the room.
“How did you what?” Dr. Dupont had slipped a blood pressure cuff on her arm.
“Get here?” she squeezed her eyes tightly. The last thing she remembered was the meeting at the café.
“Ambulance,” the doctor replied. “I’ve already called your sister.” Dr. Dupont was new to the community, and it was no secret that he had a major crush on a certain local realtor.
“I’m fine.” Lauren pulled the heart rate monitor off her finger.
“You probably are,” Doctor Dupont said. “But we need to make sure. And I need someone to watch you for at least twenty-four hours.”
And you’ve got a crush on my sister, Lauren thought to herself.
Then it came to her, faintly at first, then grew louder, that Pearl Jam song. The monitor started to beep like crazy and she felt her breaths coming faster and faster.
“Oh, my god,” she whispered.
Doctor Dupont looked to the monitors. “I’ll get you a Xanax.”
“It’s not...” Lauren started, but the doctor had already rushed off.
“Anxiety,” she finished.
Lauren relaxed back down onto the hospital bed. She closed her eyes and tried to conjure up Brock’s face but gripped the sheets in frustration when she couldn’t picture the details of the young tree planter. She squeezed her eyes tightly trying to rid the image of the slick smooth-faced businessman that appeared instead. Baxter’s eyes were crinkled and there were a few hints of gray in his short dark hair, but the eyes. The tree planter’s eyes sparkled just like that of the businessman. The heart rate monitor beeped as Lauren’s beats per minute shot up. She snapped her eyes open as the hospital door clattered open, but it wasn’t the doctor returning. It was Charlotte.
“Lauren,” Charlotte rushed to the bed. “What happened? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Lauren pushed herself up on the bed. “Get me out of here.”
Charlotte rested her hand on Lauren’s forearm. “Hold on. The doctors told me that you fainted.”
“So?” Lauren shook her sister’s hand from her arm.
“So?” Charlotte’s eyebrows practically shot up into her hairline. “You don’t faint.”
“Maybe it was something I ate,” Lauren murmured. “And Char. I’m fine.” Lauren pulled the heart rate monitor off her finger, but not before Charlotte noticed the 100 bpm.
“The heart rate monitor says otherwise,” Charlotte took the plastic device and clamped it back on her finger.
“Listen,” Lauren snapped. “I’m fine.” She pulled it off again and set it on top of the machines beside her bed. “Dupont just wanted you to come in so he could flirt with you.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes. “I’m sure that’s not the truth.”
