by Stacy Finz
Ethan’s old truck gingerly made its way down the road and parked next to the Nugget Police SUV. Ethan and the officer exchanged words through their open windows.
Brynn slid into her boots and hurriedly shrugged into her coat but Ethan and a plain-clothes officer met her at the door.
“Let’s go inside.” Ethan brushed the snow off his jacket.
The two men made the cottage feel small.
“What’s going on?” Her voice trembled with concern. “Is everything all right?”
“This is Rhys Shepard, Nugget’s police chief. He’s going to try to get you and Henry through the closure.”
She blinked in confusion. “I thought they weren’t letting anyone through.”
“They might with a police escort for a medical emergency,” Ethan said, then drew his mouth into a straight line and looked away. They both knew this wasn’t a medical emergency.
“What about you? Are you coming with us?”
“I’ll follow in my truck . . . show the CHP my hospital credentials. There’s no guarantee they’ll let either of us pass and if it’s too unsafe to drive we turn around. You understand?” This time he looked her straight in the eye.
“Oh my God.” She flung herself at him. “Thank you, Ethan. Thank you.”
Chapter 13
Brynn had held her breath as the police chief explained the situation in somewhat exaggerated terms to a California Highway Patrolman whose job it was to turn back motorists where Highway 70 met US Route 365. The twenty-three-mile stretch of road emptied into Reno.
She held her breath a second time when Ethan was stopped behind them.
“What if they don’t let him pass?” The police chief had had no qualms making it sound like Henry’s injections were a matter of life or death. He gave a complicated dissertation on Henry’s stem cells and how they were being kept at Renown on ice until he got there. By the time he’d finished, the CHP officer had probably thought Henry’s procedure was akin to a heart transplant. Brynn didn’t think Ethan would go that far.
The rules. He was a stickler for them. Then again, he’d probably broken them today. For Henry. And for her.
“He’ll get through,” said the police chief, who’d insisted she call him Rhys. “And if for some reason he doesn’t make it, he said there’s another surgeon who can do the injections.”
But Brynn wanted Ethan. Only Ethan.
The air was thick, a shroud of white fog, and she could no longer tell whether Ethan was still behind them. The road was deserted of course. Brynn wasn’t sure whether that was a blessing or a burden. At least if there was someone in front of them Rhys could follow the red glow of their taillights.
“Thank you for taking us. I feel terrible that you’re out in this.” The air was so soupy it made her claustrophobic.
“No worries. It really isn’t that bad. And I have a kid.” He looked back at Henry.
They crawled along with only hazy visibility. Even Henry, who was usually too absorbed in a book or a game app on their drives to pay attention, sat forward in the back seat, staring out the window. He didn’t look scared, just interested.
The snow had begun to taper off and Brynn wondered if at some point, before the fog had rolled in, a plow had come through to clear the road. Rhys’s studded tires appeared to be providing plenty of traction.
They’d gone only a few miles when the veil lifted enough that Brynn could see headlights in the rearview mirror.
“Do you think that’s him?” she asked, breathless.
Rhys squinted into his rearview and his lips tipped up. “Looks like a Ford to me.” He patted her leg. “We’re practically home free.”
She hoped so but didn’t want to celebrate yet. They still had a way to go, according to Rhys’s odometer, which she’d been watching like a hawk.
To distract her, the chief made light conversation. She was a little in awe of how he could drive in this and talk at the same time. But he navigated the icy, whiteout conditions like a pro.
“How old is your daughter?”
“Emma’s five, going on twenty. My wife Maddy and I are also raising my little brother. Long story.”
“Maddy who owns the Lumber Baron?”
“Yep.” He beamed. “You met her?”
“Just briefly. Henry and I wanted to see the inside of the inn. It’s gorgeous and she’s lovely.”
“No argument from me on that score,” he said and grinned. “And the inn is her pride and joy. Tell your friends. Business is good but they could always use more, especially in the off season.”
“I will make a point of it,” she said, turning around to see if Ethan was still following. If she looked hard she could still make out the faint glow of his lights. “I’ll have my parents stay there when they come to visit. My mother is an avid antique collector and my father loves history.”
Lexi was more of an Intercontinental girl but as far as Brynn could tell, the Lumber Baron was the only game in town.
“He’s back there,” Rhys said as he peered in his mirror.
“Do you know Ethan well?” Brynn assumed they had at least a passing relationship for the chief to have come to the rescue like this. It was above and beyond duty to taxi people to Reno in a storm.
“Everyone in Nugget knows everyone. There are fewer than six thousand of us, so we stick together. Ethan, Alma and Veronica are recent transplants. But I knew him when we were kids. His father used to run cattle up here and would hire a couple of us in summer to do small jobs around the property. I always liked Ethan. Even back then, you could tell he was destined for big things.”
“Really? Why?”
“There was a kind of intensity about him and a loyalty you didn’t see too often in kids that age. My old man was for lack of a better description the town outcast. I got a lot of crap about it from the other kids. Ethan stood up to them . . . had my back. I was sorry when he stopped coming around.”
“Why did he stop coming around?”
Rhys laughed. “High school, rodeo, girls. The usual suspects. And not long after, I left and Ethan went off to college, then med school. I’m glad we’re both back. He and his family are great additions to our town.”
It answered the question of why Rhys was helping them. Though it sounded like this is the way things were done in Nugget. One for all and all for one.
She turned around and Ethan was still there. Her chest hitched at the sight of him following slowly behind them. Yes, Rhys was right. Ethan Daniels was loyal and he’d had her back. A surgeon superhero if there ever was one.
* * * *
The sound of Brynn’s boots echoed through the hospital hallway. It was quieter than their previous visits, which she attributed to the storm. The lights were on, though, and she took it as a good sign.
Rhys had dropped her and Henry at the hospital entrance and said he had errands to run in Reno before heading home. By then, he hoped the road was open.
She hadn’t seen Ethan’s truck come through the portico and assumed he’d headed directly to the parking structure and into the building.
The way to the orthopedic clinic was now engrained in her head. “How you doing, Henry?” Even without a major medical procedure staring him in the face, today had been taxing enough for both of them.
“Dr. Daniels said it won’t hurt.”
“Nope, they’re going to numb your legs with a local anesthesia, like what the dentist does when you get a filling.” Perhaps she shouldn’t have used that analogy. Henry hated the dentist.
A nurse was standing in the waiting room the minute they got there to take Henry back to an exam room.
“Should I go back with him?” Brynn wanted to be there in case Henry needed help with undressing and putting on a hospital gown.
“We’ve got it covered, Ms. Barnes. Dr. Daniels is scrubbing in and will come
out when he’s finished with the injections to talk to you. It should only take about an hour. Afterward, we’ll need Henry to stay in recovery for another hour. I heard you had a harrowing drive in. Why don’t you go down to the cafeteria and get something to eat? If Dr. Daniels needs you for any reason we’ll call down to the cafeteria on the intercom.”
Brynn kissed Henry and forced herself to go. She hadn’t eaten much for dinner and her breakfast had consisted of a few bites of coffeecake. There was a sandwich shop next to the cafeteria. She ordered at the counter and found a quiet table in the corner to dash off a group text to her mother and Lexi.
We made it! Henry’s getting his injections now. Will update you later.
She sent a second text to Zena, asking her to book them a suite at a nearby hotel for the next few days. Brynn wasn’t taking any more chances with the weather. Henry still had two more days of treatments to go.
Ethan came through. He pretty much made the impossible happen. For the second time that day, she flashed to their kiss. No one would accuse her of kissing Ethan because she’d confused gratefulness with attraction. At the time, she’d been anything but grateful.
But now she could see it from Ethan’s side. His attraction to her had made him break the rules not once but twice. She had no illusions. The only reason they were here was because Ethan had pulled strings and been less than truthful about the seriousness of their situation with the authorities.
It was heady, knowing he’d done that for her and her son. At the same time, she had come to understand Ethan well enough to know that he would beat himself up over exaggerating the facts and bending the rules while making Rhys an accessory. He’d barely been able to look her in the eye when he showed up at the cottage that morning.
She ate half her sandwich and wrapped the rest for later. Maybe Henry would eat it when he came out of recovery.
On her way back, her purse began to vibrate. She rummaged through her bag and sighed with relief when she saw the caller ID.
“Hey, Lex.”
“I can’t believe you made it.” Lexi sounded out of breath. “Did the weather let up?”
“Not exactly but Ethan got us a police escort.”
“Ethan, huh? You’re now calling your son’s doctor by his first name?”
If Lexi only knew. “Where are you? It sounds like you’re hiking. Or at the gym.”
“I’m showing office space and the elevator is out of order. I just climbed twelve flights of stairs. Hopefully, unlike me, my client’s in good shape. Hang on a sec.” Lexi switched to the other line and came back a few seconds later. “That was him. He’s in the lobby and on his way up. I just wanted to say yay! I’m so glad you made it to the hospital. I’ll get all the details from you tonight. Give Henry a kiss for me.”
“Bye, Lex. Good luck with your client.”
The waiting room was empty. She took a chair in front of the TV and switched on the weather. The power was still out to more than a thousand homes on both sides of the Nevada-California line but the winds had died down and the fog had lifted. Ethan would be able to get home.
She scrolled through her emails and messages. Nothing from Layla or Rich. Thank goodness. Brynn didn’t know if she could multitask today. Her nerves were already on overload. She swiped a magazine off one of the side tables and thumbed through the pictures. That’s all she could manage.
For the next thirty minutes, she watched the clock. She was just about to visit the restroom when Ethan came in. He’d changed from his jeans and cowboy boots into a pair of scrubs and tennis shoes, like he’d worn the first time. Until now, she’d never found scrubs particularly sexy.
“All done.” He smiled. “Come on back. You can hang out with Henry.”
“How did it go?”
“It went great. I’m real happy with how clear everything was on the ultrasound and how precisely we were able to inject the stem cells in relation to the fractures.”
Brynn was aware of how Ethan always said “we.” With him it was a team effort. With Mason everything had always been “I.”
“Tomorrow, we’ll draw Henry’s blood, send it to the lab, and mix up a nice concentrated blood-platelet cocktail. Friday, we’ll inject him with it. The whole thing shouldn’t take more than thirty minutes.”
“What about pain?” she asked as Ethan took her back to the exam rooms.
“His joints at the site of the injection will be sore for a few days. Tylenol should be fine but avoid NSAIDs. One of the nurses will give you a list but stuff like aspirin and Ibuprofen. No baths for three days. Henry can take short showers, starting tomorrow afternoon. And I want him to limit activity on both legs for twenty-four hours. Ideally, I’d like to see him go home and stay in bed until our appointment tomorrow.”
“We’re staying in a hotel tonight, close to the hospital.”
Ethan nodded. “That’s wise. At least until this weather clears up.”
Brynn noted that he didn’t mention what he was doing as far as sleeping arrangements. She supposed he wasn’t needed to draw blood. A phlebotomist would likely see to that task. More than likely he wouldn’t administer the blood-platelet injection on Friday either.
“How long until we know whether it’s working?”
“Times vary. But in a few weeks we will hopefully see signs of improvement.”
“When does Henry start physical therapy?” She was sure they’d discussed all of this and that she’d even been given written materials that laid out her son’s post-procedure schedule. But with everything going on, those details were as hazy as the fog they’d driven through to get here.
“Soon. For now, though, I want him to take it easy.” If Ethan was tired of repeating himself Brynn would never know it. His patience was one of the many things she admired about him.
They found Henry propped up on both elbows, drinking water from a straw.
“Hey, baby.” She kissed his forehead. “How do you feel?”
“It hurts.” His bottom lip trembled.
Ethan asked the nurse to get Henry Tylenol, then came around to the other side of his bed. “Charlotte’s going to hook you up, buddy. You hungry? I can have something brought up from the cafeteria.”
Brynn held up her leftover half sandwich. “I saved this for you.”
Henry got one whiff of the tuna and turned up his nose. “Can I have pizza?”
Her son was clearly milking this for everything he could.
“I’ll trade you.” Ethan unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite, then asked the nurse’s station to have a hospital service worker bring up a slice of pizza. “We’re like the Four Seasons here.” He winked at Henry and polished off the rest of the tuna melt.
“Let me get you something,” Brynn offered. There were a couple of restaurants across the street from the hospital. Her lousy half sandwich would only tide him over for so long.
“Nah, I’m good. I’ll grab something on my way out.” He didn’t mention when that would be.
Brynn was tempted to ask, even invite him to have dinner with them in their hotel suite. But he had his own family to get home to. Besides, he’d been all business today and she got the strong impression he wanted to keep it that way.
* * * *
At the end of the day, Ethan debated whether to drive back to Nugget. The weather had improved and for now it had stopped snowing.
In the end, he drove to Alma’s townhouse in northwest Reno and collapsed on the sofa. Though Alma offered him unfettered use of the swanky apartment, he only stayed when he had a late surgery. Now that he’d seen how bad the drive from Nugget could be in a snowstorm, he’d probably make more use of the townhouse in winter.
He hated missing dinner with Roni and tucking her in for the night. But it was convenient having the option to crash here when he needed to. And the place sure didn’t lack amenities. Giant flat screen, wet b
ar, food delivery and only a ten-minute drive to the hospital.
It was a little feminine and fussy—lots of white carpeting and floral upholstered furniture—for Ethan’s taste. The townhouse had been Alma’s before she’d married Ethan’s dad and it reflected her glamorous anchorwoman lifestyle. There was one wall dedicated to her Emmys and other journalism awards as well as photos of Alma with celebrities, governors, and even two presidents.
In summer, Roni liked to visit and use the complex’s swimming pool. Joey’s parents had one too, but Veronica was partial to Alma’s. It might’ve been the over-the-top waterfall or the fact that Alma’s neighbors had a daughter Veronica’s age.
He grabbed a beer from the fridge, flipped on the TV with the sound muted, and called home.
“Hi, Daddy. Grandma said I could talk to you first. I have another looth tooth.”
“You do? Which one?”
“The front one. Grandma told me not to wiggle it. When are you coming home, Daddy?”
“Not until tomorrow. Is it still snowing there?”
“I can’t tell because it’s dark outside. I’ve got to go and have ice cream now. Love you, Daddy.”
“Love you too. Sleep tight, bonny Roni.”
Alma got on the phone. “How did it go with Henry?”
“Piece of cake.” The drive in not so much. But it was done now. He’d ignored his conscience so he could continue being Henry’s doctor. The reason for that was even less forgivable than the lies he’d told today. “I’ve got a few patients tomorrow but I’ll be home for dinner. Thanks for holding down the fort.”
“Of course. Get some rest.”
“Kiss Roni for me.”
He turned up the sound on the TV, channel surfed, and landed on a cop show, which he halfheartedly watched. Midway through, he rummaged through Alma’s freezer. There wasn’t much there.
He considered ordering in but found a can of chicken noodle soup in the pantry. According to the expiration date, it was still good. While he heated the soup on the stove top, he called Brynn, telling himself it was only to check up on Henry.