“The doctors and nurses are taking good care of Grandma Lacy,” Duke promised. “She’ll be all right.” One of those tears broke loose and ran down his cheek, leaving a hot trail in its wake. “Come back to us whenever you’re ready. We’ll be here waiting for you. In the meantime, they’re taking good care of your girl.”
How’s my girl? was the way Grandpa Lor would greet his wife every morning when she joined him in the kitchen. He knew the exact time she woke up and had a cup of coffee waiting for her with a splash of milk, just the way she liked it.
Duke had asked his grandfather once how the two of them had kept the spark up all these years.
We finally got the hang of marriage after about the fifteen year mark, he’d explained with a laugh. The early years, he’d said, were about figuring each other out and compromise. Something he admitted to being bad at until he found his wife sitting in a chair looking out the window with a suitcase open on the bed. Tears streaked her cheeks.
Right then and there, I realized how much of a jerk I’d been. She wasn’t asking for much but deserved the world. I asked myself why on earth I would treat the love of my life the stubborn way I had been.
Grandpa Lor had said from then on, his thinking changed. He wanted his wife to know how much he loved her and needed her. His change had been overnight, but it took time for her to trust it would stick.
“Show me a sign you’re still in there, Grandpa Lor,” Duke whispered. It struck him as strange how small and frail his grandfather was lying there instead of just looking like he was peacefully sleeping. Duke had no idea how someone in a coma was supposed to look, to be fair. Still, he hadn’t expected to see the man who had no problem throwing a fifty-pound bag of feed over each shoulder looking like this. “Squeeze my hand.” Do something.
Watching his grandfather lie there motionless with a breathing tube sticking out of his mouth had to be one of the most unnatural sights Duke had ever seen.
For a second, he debated checking the nurses’ stand to ask about the tremors in his grandfather’s hand but decided against it now that they’d stopped. There were no other signs of him waking out of the coma, so Duke let it be.
Waiting was the worst. Not sleeping for almost two days wore his nerves thin.
“What’s happening in there?” Audrey finally asked in a voice slightly above a whisper as she took to pacing around the room.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” he admitted. “Part of me wants to attempt to slip into the room but I’d end up being a distraction.”
“I feel the same,” she said. “I’d use my badge if it would help, but I highly doubt it would and the last thing I want to do is take attention away from where it needs to stay, focused on your grandmother.”
“We could go downstairs and grab more coffee,” he offered, figuring a walk might do them both some good.
“Yeah, okay,” she said. “But maybe water this time.”
There was a time when he believed he could read her mind. Of course, he’d been wrong or he would have seen her disappearing act coming. He should have known the perfect summer wouldn’t last and neither would the perfect girl. Whatever temporary magic they’d had at sixteen had disappeared. Too many years had passed. They’d become different people.
Duke stood up as he released his grandpa’s hand. He stalled for a second, wishing the older man would reach for him. He didn’t.
It was too early to give up hope. His grandfather could wake up any minute. The first person he would look for was his wife. Once the emergency passed in the next room, could Duke pull some strings to get his grandparents moved into the same room?
He followed Audrey out of the dimly lit room into the bright hallway with rows of fluorescent lighting in the ceiling. They took it slow as they passed Grandma Lacy’s room. Activity still buzzed inside, which he took as a good sign. Leaving the floor was more difficult than he anticipated, but he forced himself to get into the elevator anyway.
The cafeteria was on the first floor. It was a bright room with a wall of vending machines offering everything from lattes to brisket sandwiches. The art on the walls was what could only be described as cheery with yellows and oranges.
Duke bought a hardboiled egg to go with his coffee. Audrey picked out yogurt to go with her water. Neither spoke false reassurances that his grandmother would magically be all right, and he appreciated it. Life didn’t always work out the way folks wanted it to. People died, sometimes at the hands of cruel individuals. Life wasn’t always fair. Period. Duke’s family was no different. They weren’t special. Life could deliver a blow to them just as easily as it could anyone else. And just to prove a point, it had many times over, beginning with Duke’s parents.
“How about sitting here for a minute while we eat?” Audrey asked, motioning toward a four-top table near to the door.
“Okay.”
The cafeteria had a view to a courtyard outdoors. It was too hot to sit outside, so he wouldn’t suggest heading out there even though fresh air sounded good to him about now.
Duke took a seat across from Audrey at the square table. They positioned themselves where both could see the door. Being in law enforcement had trained him never to sit with his back to a door. The habit carried over into his off-duty time, as was the case with every other law enforcement officer he knew. Audrey was no exception.
Two bites later, he’d polished off his egg. Eating wasn’t high on his list right now, but it would put something in his stomach to balance out the coffee. He fished out his cell phone and checked to see if word had spread to any of the others about their grandmother. Relief washed over him when there were no emergency messages or requests for information. The minute he had information to share, he would provide an update to his cousins and sisters. Mesa Point was a small town, and word could spread like wildfire if it wasn’t contained. His family would hear the news from him first.
A woman entered the cafeteria. Stephanie Napier. Her gaze locked onto Audrey, and a concerned look wrinkled her forehead.
The encounter Duke had been hoping to avoid was about to happen. Dammit.
“I HEARD YOU were in here,” Stephanie said to Audrey. The woman’s laser focus caused Audrey to sit up a little straighter in her chair. As far as nightmares went, this one was right up there.
“We should go,” Duke said as he pushed to standing.
“Do you have any idea what the sheriff wants?” Stephanie asked Audrey, undeterred by Duke’s statement. “I just got the message that he wants me to meet him at my home, but he won’t say what for.”
Audrey could lie and say she had no idea except that her name would certainly come up as the target of Jenson’s infatuation, if it was one.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Duke continued, unfazed. “But my grandmother coded upstairs, and we were just heading up.”
Audrey appreciated him trying to spare her the inquiry from Stephanie.
Jenson’s mother was five and a half feet tall, give or take, with long straight hair tied back in a low ponytail. Her face was oval, her ears a little too big for how thin it was. Eyes were a deep shade of cobalt blue. Stephanie had brackets around her mouth and fine lines above her lip from years of smoking despite covering the smell with a strong breath mint. She wore scrubs and her name tag marked her as an RN. Other than scrubs, she had on tennis shoes and very little, if any, makeup.
“I just thought maybe we could clear up whatever it is he wants,” Stephanie said on a shrug. “Nothing surprises me anymore with two teenagers, but they’re good kids. I got the sense this was something urgent.”
“Go home,” Audrey gently urged. “Speak to my boss.”
Stephanie stood there for a long moment. “Should I be worried?”
“You should get in your car and drive home as safely as possible,” Audrey said, dodging the question as best she could. “I’ll stop by after in case you have any other questions.”
A thinly tweezed eyebrow shot up. She opened her mouth to speak, but Duke came up beside Audrey and placed his hand on the back of her arm.
