by Lee Hollis
“Conner, what is it?” Hayley asked.
“Nothing, I’m good,” Conner lied, keeping his eyes glued to the menu, not wanting to make an issue out of what was bothering him. “The Tempura Tuna Tacos sound delicious.”
Gemma slapped her menu down on the table. “You’re obviously in pain! What’s wrong?”
Conner sighed. “My shoulder’s a little sore, that’s all.”
They all focused on his left side, where he had landed on the hood of the car. The swelling on his arm and shoulder looked as if it might burst through his shirt, like Bruce Banner when he got angry and transformed into the Incredible Hulk.
“That’s it,” Gemma said as she stood up from the table. “We’re going to the emergency room.”
“Can we just wait and see if the swelling goes down? If it hasn’t by the morning, I’ll go see a doctor,” Conner begged.
Gemma reached over and rolled up the sleeve of his shirt. His arm was turning purple. “We’re going right now. Come on!”
Conner knew he was not going to win this one. He shook his head, annoyed and frustrated, and they all stood up to leave as Bruce handed Hayley the key to his car. “You take him. I’ll pay for our drinks and meet you over there.”
Luckily, the hospital was only a few blocks away.
By the time Hayley and Gemma had parked the car and escorted Conner into the ER, his arm had only gotten worse.
Nurse Tilly, a perky RN with a bright demeanor and infectious smile, was manning the reception desk. She took one look at Conner and jumped on the phone to get a doctor on call to get down to exam room three where she told Conner to wait. Gemma never left his side and the two disappeared down the hall led by another nurse. Hayley remained in the ER and was joined by Bruce a few minutes later.
After forty-five minutes had passed, and Hayley and Bruce had gorged on just about every processed snack the vending machine had to offer, Gemma finally emerged from the exam room and crossed over to them.
“He dislocated his shoulder.”
“Oh no!” Hayley cried.
“They fixed it and the doctor says it should heal in about six to eight weeks. He just needs to wear a sling to keep it immobilized so he doesn’t injure it again. It could have been a lot worse.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” Hayley said.
“He should be out in a few minutes. Is it too late to go back to the restaurant? I’m starving,” Gemma said.
Bruce checked his watch. “I think we can get in under the wire before the kitchen closes.”
Suddenly, a man burst through the doors into the emergency room yelling, “Please, my wife is very sick! I need help!”
Nurse Tilly quickly grabbed the phone on her desk to call for some assistance.
They all spun around to see Ted Lancaster, sweat running down his cheeks, a panicked look on his face. Trudy was in his arms, her eyes closed, her face a ghostly white.
Hayley was the first to rush over to them. “Ted, what’s happened to her?”
Ted gasped, out of breath. “I don’t know. One minute she was fine, and then the next she had a fever and chills and was vomiting! I rushed her here as fast as I could, but by the time we got here, she was too weak to even walk by herself.”
Two orderlies showed up with a gurney and Ted gently set his wife down on it. They quickly whisked Trudy away, leaving her distraught husband behind.
Hayley had managed to get a look at Trudy as they wheeled her off. She was barely conscious and gasping for air, as if she was having trouble breathing.
Something was seriously wrong with her.
Chapter 9
Hayley was not about to leave Ted Lancaster alone to wander around the emergency room waiting area, lost and distressed after the ER staff had rushed his wife off to be examined by a doctor. She told Bruce to take Gemma and Conner to get some food and she would meet them all home later once she got word that Trudy’s condition had hopefully improved.
Bruce didn’t like the idea of leaving her behind, but Hayley was insistent and determined to remain with Ted, who she felt needed a friend right now. Bruce finally agreed, and with Gemma doting on her injured boyfriend, who was now sporting a white sling, the three of them filed out to try and get back to McKay’s before closing time.
Hayley sat down next to Ted, who was slumped over in a chair, head down, his hands covering his face. She put a comforting arm around him. “Can I get you anything, Ted?”
He shook his head and mumbled that he was fine.
Hayley sat back and sighed. She had just seen Trudy earlier that day and she had appeared healthy, robust, and energetic. What possibly could have happened to her since then that had made her so gravely ill? She wondered if she should try to lightly question Ted, but decided against engaging him at this time because he was so obviously physically and emotionally distraught. Instead, they sat in silence, Hayley keeping a hand resting gently on Ted’s back so he would know that she was there for him if he needed her.
After nearly ninety minutes passed, and the last few patients in the waiting area were taken into the exam rooms by a nurse, leaving only Hayley and Ted and Nurse Tilly, who was behind the reception desk, a doctor solemnly walked out in a white coat, carrying a clipboard. Hayley didn’t know him. He was rather short and stout with thick, heavy eyeglasses and a scruffy beard.
“Mr. Lancaster?” the doctor asked gruffly.
Ted shot up to his feet and raced over to the doctor. “Yes, I’m Ted Lancaster. How’s my wife?”
“Resting comfortably now,” he said, glancing at some notes he had scribbled down on a piece of paper attached to the clipboard. “She was showing symptoms of severe food poisoning and so we pumped her stomach and got rid of all the contents. Her fever went down. She’s still very weak but doing much better.”
Ted looked at the doctor, confused. “Food poisoning?”
He nodded. “As far as we can tell. We’re still waiting on the toxicology report to prove it. Do you know what she had to eat today?”
“No, I didn’t see her until I got home from the church where I work. We hadn’t had dinner yet, and she was already feeling sick when I saw her,” Ted said.
“I’m sure we’ll figure out the culprit,” the doctor said, distracted. “She’s in room two-eleven if you’d like to go see her. I have another patient I need to attend to.”
The doctor brusquely pushed past Ted, hardly a candidate to win Best Bedside Manner.
Ted called after him, “Thank you, Doctor... I didn’t get your name!”
But the doctor was already gone.
Hayley stood up and crossed over to join Ted. “Would you mind if I came with you?”
Ted turned and seemed to notice her for the first time. “No, of course not, Hayley. I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you.”
They took the elevator up to the second floor and found Trudy in a corner room, lying in bed with her eyes closed. There was another bed next to hers in the bland, sterile semiprivate room but it was not currently occupied. A pitcher of water and a plastic cup had been set out for her on the Formica table attached to her bed.
“I need to go down to the gift shop to buy some flowers so we can spruce up this room at some point,” Hayley said softly.
Trudy slowly opened her eyes and smiled at the sight of her husband and Hayley.
Ted leaned over and grasped her hand. “How are you feeling, honey?”
“Better,” she whispered, her lips dry and chapped.
“The doctor said you suffered a bad bout of food poisoning. What on earth did you eat today?” Ted asked, squeezing her hand before lifting it up to kiss it.
Trudy grimaced. “A candy apple.”
“Well, who can resist eating a candy apple? It’s Halloween,” Hayley said, laughing.
Trudy tried sitting up in bed but she was too weak. She slowly leaned back, resting her head on the lumpy pillow, and with her jaw clenched, managed to spit out, “It was from Cloris Fennow.”
“What
?” Hayley gasped.
“Who’s Cloris Fennow?” Ted asked, perplexed.
“She owns a rival food truck called Burger She Wrote,” Hayley explained. “And she’s made no secret of the fact that she is supremely unhappy that Trudy has arrived in town and become her chief competition.”
Ted blinked, aghast. “Well, that’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard! Do you honestly believe she’s evil enough to try and poison my wife?”
Trudy nodded. “She came back a while after you left today, Hayley, with a peace offering, one of her self-described ‘world-famous candy apples.’ She apologized for her behavior earlier and explained that she had overreacted and was embarrassed about it, and just wanted to let me know that she had no ill feelings toward me. I wasn’t going to eat the apple, but she waited around and wouldn’t leave until I at least tasted it...” Trudy stopped, took a deep breath, and exhaled.
Ted kissed her hand again. “Don’t speak anymore, honey. This can wait until you get your strength back.”
But Trudy was determined to continue. She waited a few moments, staring at the ceiling, gathering her thoughts, and then went on. “I took a few bites, and that finally seemed to satisfy her, and so she left. Not long after that, I started to feel feverish, and my stomach ached and it just kept getting worse and worse...”
“You poor thing,” Hayley said in a hushed tone.
“I know it was her. And I know why she did it. She wanted to make me sick, or worse, so she could swoop in and take over at the Garbers’ Witches Ball with her own truck.”
Ted grabbed his phone from the back pocket of his jeans. “I’m going to call the police and have her arrested.”
“We should probably wait until the toxicology report comes back so we know for sure Trudy was poisoned,” Hayley suggested quietly.
“I don’t want to wait!” Ted howled. “She tried killing my wife!”
Trudy weakly tugged on her husband’s shirtsleeve. “No, Ted. Hayley is right. I don’t want to make any accusations until we know for certain...”
Ted quickly became docile again at the sound of his wife’s soothing voice and put his phone back in his pocket. “Okay, sweetheart, whatever you want.”
“You haven’t eaten anything all night, Ted,” Trudy said. “Why don’t you go down to the cafeteria and get yourself a sandwich or something?”
“I’m not leaving your side,” Ted said emphatically.
“I want you to go, Ted, please, you must be starving. Hayley will stay here with me until you come back.”
Ted was only interested in pleasing his wife, and so he nodded to Hayley, and reluctantly walked out of the room.
Hayley sat down in a chair next to the bed and smiled at Trudy. “You had us pretty scared there for a while.”
Before Trudy had time to respond, Reverend Staples swept into the room, out of breath, looking alarmed. “Trudy, my dear, how are you?”
Hayley noticed Trudy stiffen slightly. “Reverend Staples, what are you doing here?”
“I was on the floor visiting one of my congregation, Vera Smallidge. She’s here having her gall bladder removed...”
Vera Smallidge was a devout churchgoer and could always be counted on to drop a fifty-dollar bill in the collection plate every Sunday, so of course she had VIP status, with one benefit being a friendly visit from the good reverend whenever she was under the weather or suffered any kind of malady.
“I was literally on my way out when Nurse Tilly told me you were here,” Reverend Staples said as he crossed the room to Trudy’s bedside.
“I’ll leave you two alone...” Hayley said, starting to get up.
Trudy shot her a pleading look, begging her with her eyes to stay put. “No, Hayley, you don’t have to go...” she whispered, almost desperately. “Please stay.”
Hayley immediately picked up on the cue and sat back down, smiling at Reverend Staples, who didn’t seem at all happy she had chosen to remain there.
Reverend Staples reached over with his bony, wrinkled hand and gently stroked Trudy’s hair. “Tilly told me you might have eaten something that made you ill?”
Hayley studied the reverend’s face, which was so full of affection and devotion as he continued stroking Trudy’s hair like he would his own wife. It was odd and disconcerting and Hayley felt like she was intruding on a deeply personal moment, except for the fact that Trudy’s expression betrayed a sense of revulsion at the reverend’s touch. It was obvious he was making her exceedingly uncomfortable. She seemed to want to recoil and push his hand away, but she was weak and probably did not want to offend her husband’s superior, at least for the time being.
Hayley was transfixed by Reverend Staples’s behavior, mostly because she had never seen him act this way around anyone, least of all his own wife, Edie. It was as if he had a boyish crush on Trudy, who was frankly less than half his age, and he seemed to have completely forgotten that Hayley was in the room to witness it.
“What can I do to make you feel better?” Reverend Staples asked, hovering over Trudy, still stroking her hair and holding her hand. Trudy just stared up at him, either too weak or too apprehensive to rebuff his laser-like focus.
It was downright creepy.
Hayley was just about to intervene and rescue Trudy when Ted returned, carrying a paper sack of food. He was surprised to see the reverend at his wife’s bedside. “Oh, hello, Reverend. I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“I was just leaving,” Reverend Staples said, a smile slapped quickly on his face to hide his disappointment that Trudy’s husband had soured their time together. “You know how to reach me if you need anything. I’m here for you...”
He let the words linger before deciding it might be better to add, “Me and Edie, of course.”
And then he stalked out of the room.
Ted didn’t seem to pick up on the tension or icky behavior on the reverend’s part, but Hayley certainly did, and she found it utterly disturbing that Reverend Staples appeared to be so obsessed and obviously in love with his successor’s wife.
Chapter 10
After some reassurance from the short, bearded doctor they met earlier that Trudy would make a full recovery, Hayley finally headed home. It was already past ten at night, and she was hoping to get to bed right away.
When she pulled into the driveway, she noticed all the lights upstairs were off, and when she entered the kitchen and was greeted by an excited Leroy jumping up and down with his tail wagging, she could hear someone in the living room watching an opinion show on a cable news channel. After grabbing a doggie treat from the cupboard and tossing it to Leroy, Hayley wandered down the hall to find Conner slouched in one of the recliners, relaxing in sweatpants and a T-shirt. He clutched a half-empty bottle of water in his free arm, the one not in a sling.
He sat upright, startled, when Hayley suddenly appeared as if he had not heard her come into the house. “How is she?”
“Doing better.” Hayley sighed. “They say she has to stay overnight for observation, but the doctor thinks he’ll be able to release her sometime tomorrow.”
“What a scare,” Conner said, shaking his head.
Hayley nodded, still not quite believing that someone—as in Cloris Fennow—would deliberately poison her chief food truck competitor.
It just didn’t seem real.
Cloris was many things, but a poisoner?
“You heading up to bed?” Conner asked before taking a swig of his bottled water.
“After I take Leroy out for a quick walk around the block.”
Leroy’s ears perked up at the mention of his name.
“Mind if I join you?” Conner asked.
The question surprised Hayley. Not that she didn’t want him coming along, she just realized that she had never really been alone with Conner, or had any kind of meaningful conversation without Gemma present.
“No, of course not. Glad to have the company,” Hayley said.
Conner jumped out of the recliner and
bounded into the kitchen to grab his sneakers, which he had left near the back door. Leroy was running around in circles now, unable to contain himself as it became clear there was a lot of activity happening that indicated they were going out. When Hayley grabbed his leash from the hook next to the laundry room, he nearly took flight he was so beside himself with excitement. It took Conner a few minutes to get his shoes on as he only had the use of one good arm. After struggling a bit, Hayley decided to help him out by kneeling down and tying his laces.
A few minutes later, they were strolling down the sidewalk side by side, Leroy a few feet ahead, straining to break into a run but held back by his leash.
Hayley glanced at Conner, who was keeping stride next to her, an intense look on his face, which was illuminated by the streetlamp they were walking past. Hayley knew he had something on his mind, but she waited for him to speak first.
After about half a block, Conner cleared his throat, kept his eyes fixed on the road ahead, and said quietly, “There’s something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about.”
“Okay...” Hayley said tentatively, still clueless as to what might be coming.
“I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and I didn’t want to move ahead with anything until I had your blessing . . .”
Hayley didn’t respond. She was thoroughly confused. But then he just came out with it.
“I want to marry your daughter.”
The shock of his words caused Hayley to drop the leash and Leroy bolted ahead of them, the tags on his collar jangling in the night breeze.
“Leroy, get back here!” Hayley cried.
Leroy ignored her and kept running.
“Leroy!”
Finally, Leroy stopped and sniffed some grass on a lawn, allowing them to catch up to him and get a hold of the leash that he had been dragging along behind him.
“I take it you didn’t expect that,” Conner said with a wry smile.
“To be honest, no, I didn’t.”
“Do you think it’s too soon?”
Hayley shook her head, still stunned. “No... I...”