Page 61 of Flirting in Traffic

Esa turned to Finn. She’d been aware of his steady gaze fixed on her during the entire exchange with Ms. Angstrom. Now that she’d had a moment to reflect back on it, she recognized his bulky clothing as belonging to one of the men that had been trying to push the IDOT truck out of the express lane.

“I know you’re probably very busy with everything going on but would you mind coming? I may need some help.”

“Sure,” he replied gruffly.

Toni Angstrom led them to a white Oldsmobile. Esa instructed Toni to get back into the driver’s seat. She said a quick hello to the elderly gentlemen who sat in the passenger seat as she settled a whimpering Scott in the back. Toni shakily introduced Esa and her father, Eli Shore, to one another.

Esa stood and squinted to see Finn’s face through the swirling snow.

“My car is right over there,” she said, pointing.

“Where?” he asked, obviously confused.

“There…the dark blue Lexus.” She felt her cheeks color when he met her gaze steadily. Maybe he’d been looking for the Ferrari, she thought with a flash of embarrassment. “The keys are still in the ignition. If you could get them, my purse and my medical bag out of the trunk, I’d really appreciate it.”

Finn nodded and started to go.

“Oh, and the bottle of water next to the driver’s seat, please!” Esa called out. She really needed to try to get some fluid into the little boy. Finn turned and nodded once in understanding.

Esa clambered into the backseat of the Oldsmobile and closed the door. She spent the next minute trying to calm and comfort Toni Angstrom equally as much as the sick child. At one point Scott’s grandfather turned with unnatural stiffness in his seat. Esa peered at him through the semi-darkness.

The back of her neck prickled a warning.

“Ms. Angstrom, can you please turn on the inside lights?” Esa asked.

“Certainly,” the woman replied. She looked a little surprised when she did so and turned around to see the doctor staring not at her sick child but at her father.

“Are you feeling all right, Mr. Shore?” Esa asked, taking in his pale face tinged with a sickly shade of grayish-blue. He seemed barely able to turn around in his seat he held his shoulders and chest so stiffly. Pain pinched his features. As Esa watched, he clutched briefly at his left shoulder and winced.

The elderly gentlemen glanced uneasily at his daughter before he answered. Esa’s heart went out to him. He was obviously worried about frightening the distraught woman any more than she already was.

“I’m doing just fine. Worried about my grandson, of course,” he said in a thin, thready voice.

“Do you have a heart condition?” Esa asked softly.

His lips thinned. He nodded almost imperceptibly before Toni could turn her anxious gaze to him.

Esa gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile. Panic wouldn’t do anyone any good at this point. “Try to relax, Mr. Shore. Your grandson is going to be just fine. You can turn down the lights, Mrs. Angstrom.”

When she saw Finn approaching, Esa quickly got out of the car and shut the door behind her.

“What’s wrong?” Finn said when he saw her face.

Esa reached quickly for the medical bag he carried along with her purse.

“Are there any lanes open at all for emergency medical vehicles?” she asked quietly.

His brow furrowed. “The express lane has been closed for emergency vehicle use only because of the storm. But you saw how they’re fairing in this crap. They’re getting stuck just as easily as the motorists they’re supposed to be assisting,” he said, referring to the IDOT truck he’d been trying to push out of the snow earlier with other members of his construction crew.

“You need to call for an ambulance. And Finn…you and your men need to find a way for it to get through. There’s a medical emergency.”

“Were you just saying all that stuff about the kid being okay to calm the mother down?” Finn asked intently.

Esa shook her head. “No. It’s not Scott who needs immediate medical attention. It’s his grandfather, Mr. Shore. I think he’s either had a heart attack or is in the process of having one as we speak. Thank God I have aspirin in my bag, but there’s not much else I can do except to keep his daughter from getting hysterical.”

“Don’t worry, Esa. We’ll get the ambulance through.”

She took reassurance from the steely fortitude of his tone. “Shore. Eli Shore. Tell them, there’s a small chance they’ll be able to pull up some records on him. And Finn, thank you,” she said earnestly before she opened the car door.

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