“Come on,” she said, “I’m driving you. You’re too upset to get behind the wheel of a car, and there’s no way I’m letting you go to the hospital alone.”
Kara nodded mutely, and together the women hurried to the front of the store. Mary paused there for a moment to quickly tell the rest of the staff what had happened, then ran to join Kara in her truck. A few minutes later, Mary sprayed gravel off the tires of the vehicle as she sped quickly out of the parking lot and raced across town to get Kara to Maeve’s side.
Jamie had sat through tough meetings before, but today had been one of the hardest that he could ever remember. “I know you hired me to ensure that this deal went through quickly, and I can understand why you might be getting impatient,” he said in a loud voice, hoping it inspired confidence in him from the group of men seated across the boardroom table.
One of them nodded solemnly. “Yes, and we’ve already agreed to one extension on our offer to buy the garden center after the little girl was taken ill. But now it seems they want to drag this out even longer. I think it might be time to withdraw our offer and move on to other opportunities.”
Jamie forced a smile. Everyone was becoming impatient and more insistent that he get things sorted out with Kara quickly. Jamie hadn’t told them that she had no idea he was part of the group trying to buy the land, and he was still hoping he wouldn’t have to share this information with her.
“I don’t think we need to remind you,” added one of the other expensively attired men, “that you’ve already been given a substantial amount of money upfront to make sure this deal got done swiftly, and we will expect you to either deliver the signed contract soon or return the fee.”
Jamie nodded. Unfortunately, returning the money to them wasn’t an option. Even though he had been living with his parents for the past few weeks, spending time in both the city and Larkin Bay was expensive, and since Jamie had recently purchased himself a new sports car, most of the money was already spent.
He kept smiling.
Later, driving back to Larkin Bay, Jamie slapped his palm on the steering wheel. Looking around at the forested scenery around him, he didn’t see its natural beauty but instead found it claustrophobic. He was already missing the brick-and-concrete city he’d just left behind.
Reaching out, he turned up his drum-heavy rock and roll playlist and pushed the gas pedal of the car down a little harder. Jamie grinned as he felt the vehicle respond to the pressure. He loved this car and driving it back and forth to the city weekly was the one thing making his whole miserable stay in Larkin Bay bearable right now.
As his phone pinged beside him on the seat, Jamie glanced over and saw that a text had come in from his mother. Groaning, Jamie picked up the phone to look at it. He was tired of this too. His mother probably wanted him to pick up milk on his way back or wanted to know if he was going to be home for dinner.
Doesn’t she realize I’m not a kid anymore?
He was getting too old to be living in his parents’ house and running their errands, and he couldn’t wait until this sale was complete so he could move out. When he had originally moved back to Larkin Bay, he’d assumed that he would be living with Kara by now, and the lack of an invitation from her to do so or even to entertain the idea of dating him was both surprising and frustrating. She was certainly no longer the pushover she’d been when he’d dated her back in college.
Scowling, he picked up his phone and read the message about Maeve being taken to the hospital. As he glared down at the text, he didn’t notice that he was pulling the wheel slightly to one side. A few seconds later, the road ahead curved, and Jamie looked up quickly when he heard the blaring horns of the other cars around him. His eyes widened, and he jerked the wheel to the left. In a flash, he crossed over the center line and was now headed directly into oncoming traffic.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Kara leaned over and kissed Maeve on the forehead.
No fever.
Her little girl looked so small in the hospital bed. Kara tucked a curl behind her daughter’s ear and smoothed the blankets again. Maeve stirred for a moment but settled right back to sleep.
Kara sighed. There was nothing she could do right now but wait for Maeve to wake up. Soon, they should get her tests back, and hopefully they would show what was going on.
Pacing around the perimeter of the small hospital room, Kara glanced at her watch and once more wished the minutes away.
I just want Maeve to wake up and smile at me.
When Kara and Mary had arrived at the hospital, Evelyn had been distraught. “I can’t believe this happened while I was watching her,” she wailed as she clutched Kara’s arm. “I’m the one with all the experience in dealing with diabetes, and I still let this happen.”
Mary had taken the older woman aside and tried to comfort her. “I’m sure it’s fine, Evelyn. Since Maeve's diagnosis, I’ve been reading a lot about diabetes, and once her blood is tested and her glucose stabilized, she’ll be right as rain.”
Kara had nodded in agreement, and after a few more minutes of soothing talk, Mary, hoping to further distract and calm Evelyn down, convinced her to go down to the hospital cafeteria with her for a cup of coffee.
Kara had sighed with relief when they left Maeve’s room. She knew Evelyn wasn’t to blame for what had happened, but her repeated apologies and worrying were just adding to Kara’s stress.
Moving to the small room’s window, Kara held up her phone, trying to improve its reception. She had quickly tapped out a message earlier to both Mark and Jamie, letting them know what had happened, but neither man had replied yet.
Frowning at the phone, she checked her signal again. She was supposed to be meeting with Courtney later this afternoon to discuss the details of the sale of the garden center. She might be able to ask the developers for another extension on the offer, but since she had already decided what she wanted to do, it didn’t seem worth the trouble.
Rolling her shoulders to loosen some of the tension, Kara tapped out a quick text message to Courtney and hit the send button. She knew not everyone would approve of her decision, but she would just have to try to accept that she couldn’t please the whole world all the time.
Going back over to Maeve’s bedside, Kara sat on the edge of the cot. She smiled at the little girl and kissed her on the forehead again. Watching hopefully, she silently prayed for a response, but Maeve slept quietly on. Kara sighed and looked back at her phone. Swiping at the screen, she reread the reply to the text she had sent Scott earlier. He had politely thanked her for wishing him well and sent his love to both her and Maeve. There had been nothing since.
“But he texted the word love, Maeve,” she said out loud. “I don’t think we can read too much into it, but wouldn’t it be nice if he meant it and was now on his way here to be with you and me? It’s silly to think about, I know, but your mom can dream.”
Kara sighed heavily as she watched Maeve’s chest rise and fall steadily. Jamie’s actions at the bar had only emphasized how wrong he was for her. Once Maeve was well, Kara would return his ring to him and let him know that while he’d always be Maeve’s father, he would never be anything more to Kara than that.
Nodding with satisfaction at her decision, Kara paced the small confines of the room once more, waiting for the doctor to return with Maeve’s test results and trying not to worry as she kept watch over her little girl.
“The hardest thing about being the mother of a young child with diabetes is trying to keep her sugar levels where they need to be,” Dr. Casey said to Kara when she came into the hospital room to check on Maeve and share her test results with them later that day. “I am going to keep Maeve here for a little while longer just as a precaution and so we can monitor her glucose levels, but I think what your mother-in-law was seeing was Maeve showing classic signs of hypoglycemia. Everyone reacts to it differently, which is why she didn’t recognize the symptoms. It can be scary, so I’m not surprised she was so upset.”
Kara breathed out a long sigh of relief, and Dr. Casey smiled reassuringly at her. “Maeve is going to be just fine. I’ll drop back in and check on her again in a few hours, and we’ll have another look at all her levels, too,” she added, before patting Kara's hand quickly and turning to leave the hospital room just as Courtney arrived.
Courtney moved to the foot of Maeve’s bed to gaze down at the young girl for a long moment before reaching over and hugging Kara.
“I came as soon as I got your text, and the other girls are standing by too. I’m so sorry, hon. Is there anything we can do to help?” she asked.
Kara shook her head. “No, but I appreciate that you’re here. The doctors and all her nurses have told me she’ll be feeling better when she wakes up. She’s going to be just fine, I think.”
Both women looked over at Maeve, who stretched and shifted in her bed before settling back down to sleep. Kara pulled the bedsheets a little higher around her, then turned back to Courtney. “The one thing this has helped make very clear is what I should be doing about the sale of the garden center, though. I need to make sure I have the money to pay for Maeve’s medical expenses over the next few years, but I can’t do that at the expense of Larkin Bay and everyone we love here.”
“And what exactly does that mean?” asked a calm yet angry-sounding voice from the doorway. Both women turned to see Jamie standing at the entrance to the hospital room, glaring at them.
