Quickly, I picked it up. “Is she okay? Is she okay? Is Ma okay—” My voice was as tightly wound as my body.
“I’m on my way to the hospital with her right now,” Eli cut in. His voice was level and calming, but underneath it, I could hear the fear.
Oh, no. This isn’t good.
“Wh-what happened, Eli?”
There was a pause. “She was unconscious on the floor. She has a good gash on her head. Don’t worry. She’s breathing. I’ll be at the hospital soon. I’ll call you when I know more.”
“Eli—”
“Can’t talk. Weather’s too bad. Have to concentrate on the road.”
The way his voice came out in short, clipped statements drove the point home. The storm over Frazier Falls was dangerous, and Eli was driving in it because of me.
I struggled to contain the fluctuations in my voice. “Okay. Thanks, Eli.”
“Emily, I …” He paused. “You should get yourself to the airport. Get on the first flight you can.”
Those final sentences washed over me like an ice bath. They left me cold and numb. I knew what the underlying meaning of his words was. My mother might not make it.
Choking back a sob, I threw together an overnight bag and ran out to my car, but my hands were trembling so hard, I couldn’t start the engine. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t drive like this, and Sadie had gone out for drinks with her friends. She’d be halfway sloshed by now.
I called Don.
It took a few rings before he picked up, but when he did, his voice was full of concern. “Is it your mother, Emily?”
“She—my friend went to check on her and found her unconscious on the floor. He’s taking her to the hospital now.”
It felt bizarre to call Eli my friend. We had never just been friends, had we? But I couldn’t think about that now.
“What do you need me to do?” He asked in a gentle voice.
“Can you—can you take me to the airport? I can’t stop shaking. I can’t stop crying. I can’t drive like this.”
“Of course.” There were a few seconds of silence before he added on, “They won’t have any flights until the storm passes. Wouldn’t it be better to stay in your apartment until then? I could keep you company until—”
“No,” I interrupted. “I’d rather be at the airport. I won’t be able … if I sit at home, it will feel like I’m doing nothing.”
“I understand. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Don’t go anywhere, okay?”
“I won’t. I’ll be out front in my car.”
I sat in my car sobbing in the driver’s seat while my shoulders shook, and my insides trembled. I couldn’t stop blaming myself. My mother’s health had only been getting worse. She and I both knew that. I thought I was doing the right thing by staying in Los Angeles, but in hindsight, I knew I was wrong. I stayed for the money to provide her with the things she needed, but what she really needed was me. If she died, I’d never be able to see her again. If she died, I’d never forgive myself.
Regardless of the circumstances under which I left Frazier Falls, I still left. I was halfway to being able to afford that generator, but what would it matter if mom wasn’t there to use it.
“I’ve been so stupid,” I cried out, the words barely audible around the tears in my throat.
All I could hope for was that Eli would get my mother to the hospital in time and save her. He could have so easily refused to answer my call—he’d have had every right to—and yet he hadn’t. He picked up the phone because it was me. He didn’t lecture me, or shout, or sneer at me. He didn’t think to suggest that whatever I was dealing with wasn’t his problem.
No, he immediately sprang to action as soon as he knew what was going on. Even if I had been overreacting, and my mother had been fine, Eli would never have angrily turned on me for wasting his time.
If I had stayed in Frazier Falls like I should have done in the first place, then the two of us could have been happy together. No, we would have. There were no two ways about it. The only thing that had made our relationship anything less than a proverbial match made in heaven had been my job, and my inability to tell him what was in my heart.
As I waited for Don to arrive, I talked myself into a life in Frazier Falls. I could find a job. Taking over for Rachel Wilkes would be a gift to the entire town.
And now that I had started getting to know some people like John Reilly and my mom’s friend Lucy, I had to admit that Frazier Falls wasn’t as awful as I had made it out to be. It was like my mom described, the town was bigger than home and smaller than Los Angeles. It was the right size. I was only beginning to understand what she meant now that it might be too late.
“I’m so stupid!” I yelled out again, banging my head against the steering wheel. Suddenly, a sharp rap on the window alerted me to Don’s presence. He took one look at my face and opened the door, hugging me before I had an opportunity to say anything.
“Stop crying,” he said. “It’ll be fine. Let’s get you in my car.”
Neither of us said anything for most of the drive to the airport. I was drained, and I didn’t think I could utter any words, even if I wanted to. When we arrived, Don led me to a seat before heading into one of the shops. When he returned, he collapsed beside me and handed over a bottle of water.
“You should eat, but something tells me you don’t have an appetite right now, so drink and take some painkillers.” He handed me two aspirin. “I have no doubt a massive headache is coming your way after all that crying.”
I let out a humorless laugh. “No doubt.”
He glanced at me. “I’m sure your mom will be okay.”
“I don’t know,” I whispered, looking up at the high ceilings of the airport. Unshed tears clung to my eyes, causing the lights above me to blur and blend into one another. “This might be it. I have to consider that.”
“Emily …”
“No, it’s okay. Well, it’s not. I should have been there. There were so many reasons for me to stay.”
Don smiled. “You’re right, but hindsight is always 20/20.”
“Yes, and much clearer when you’re looking from above. I messed everything up.”
“I take it Frazier Falls isn’t as awful as you thought?”
I dropped my head. “It was before I opened my eyes and saw how beautiful it could be. Can you really hate a place when the people who are most important to you live there?”
“I suppose not. In which case, I have a suggestion.”
I turned my face slightly to look at him. His expression was sad even though he was smiling.
“What is it?”
He sighed. “I think … I think you should take a couple of years off.”
“What?”
“I’m serious. I think you should quit your job and go live with your mom until … well, you know. Clearly, this incident has taught you which order your priorities are in, which frankly, is the right order. There’s no way your mom will come to Los Angeles?”
I shook my head. “She loves where she lives. The air is clear, and she has friends. The weather is generally great. Not that this winter was representative of the norm.”
“Damn global warming.”
I couldn’t help but cry some more. Don immediately put a hand on my shoulder.
“Emily …?”
“It’s meant to be a joke when people say that. Damn global warming, as if it’s the punchline to everything that goes wrong. But the punchline is the fact that global warming could be the culprit.”
“Frazier Falls might be subject to more aggressive storms in the next few years.”
“Exactly.”
“That’s even more reason for you to leave Los Angeles to be with her.”
“It’s more than my mom.”
“Your relationship with Eli Cooper?”
My jaw dropped. “How do know?”
He gave me an are-you-kidding look. “Sadie.”
“Figures.” I glanced at him thro
ugh wet lashes. “Will you be okay if I leave?”
He shrugged. “I was never supposed to hire two people in the first place, remember? You and Sadie were so outstanding that I couldn’t possibly have one of you snatched up by some other city, much to Pete’s displeasure.”
I laughed. “So, what are you saying?”
“I’m saying, I’ll crack the whip and make Sadie pull her weight. You don’t have to worry about us. Focus on spending as much time with your mom as you possibly can, okay? Try to make things work with that man of yours. He sounds like a good one.”
We were interrupted by the sound of my phone. I’d taken it off vibrate for the first time in years, setting the call alert volume to high to make sure I didn’t miss the next call. The shrill of the ring shocked me so much that I jumped out of my chair before fumbling for the phone.
When I saw Eli’s name, even though it was who I desperately wanted to hear from, I couldn’t answer the call.
“What’s wrong, Emily?” A frown marred Don’s face.
“I’m scared.”
“Of what the hospital will say?”
I nodded. “What if …”
He reached over and took my phone out of my hand, accepting the call for me.
“This is Emily’s phone. Don speaking.”
I couldn’t hear what Eli was saying in response, but as soon as Don smiled reassuringly at me, I let out a huge sigh of relief and grabbed the phone back.
“Eli, it’s me. What’s going on?”
“Why is your boss screening your calls?”
I laughed at how absurd it sounded. He sounded jealous.
“I didn’t—I was too scared to answer.”
“You’re ridiculous, do you know that?”
“I know. I’m sorry. What’s going on?”
“The doctors think she has the flu. I called Lucy, and it seems as if your mom had been feeling poorly, but insisted it was nothing. Turns out, she was weak and tried to get up but tripped over her oxygen tank. She knocked herself out good, but her condition is stable. She has a concussion and got a few stitches, but she should be okay.”
“You’re … you’re sure?”
“As sure as I can be. Don’t worry. I won’t leave her side until you get here, so don’t die from worry in the meantime.”
“That’s a cruel thing to say.”
“What, that I’ll stay by her side? I thought that was me being nice. A gentleman, even.”
Before I knew it, I was laughing again. “You’re the only gentleman I know who tells a woman not to die in the meantime.”
“Clearly, you don’t know many gentlemen.”
My heart warmed with his kindness. “Thank you, Eli.”
“It’s not a problem. Let me know as soon as there’s a flight available, okay? I’ll let you know if anything changes.”
“Thank you, and Eli?” I waited a breath. “We need to talk when I get to the hospital. Talk about us because there is an us.”
“You bet your sweet ass we do. Night, Emily.”
“Night, Eli.”
Once I hung up, a wave of understanding crossed Don’s face. “If you needed another reason to leave Los Angeles, it’s right there, in that call?”
Suddenly, I felt embarrassed. “Eli Cooper. He—”
“Is he related to Owen? The one who runs the Green House Project?”
“Yes. He’s one of Owen’s younger brothers.”
At that moment, it looked like Don had a flash of inspiration.
“Your project proposal could do with a trial somewhere smaller than Los Angeles. The data derived could sell his plan to big cities across the globe. Are they implementing anything in Frazier Falls?”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Eli
Judy was in stable condition. The doctors had put her on a strong course of antibiotics to clear up the infection and stitched up the cut on her head.
I hoped to God that Emily would be able to get to Colorado soon. Nobody was actually sure if the storm had been the primary cause of Judy’s collapse, but I deduced that she had no lights and had tripped over her oxygen tank.
The doctors were fairly certain she had contracted a late-season winter flu, but given that she was also responding to antibiotics, it was possible that there was something else at work that wasn’t a virus. Lying in a cold, dark house on her own for several hours had certainly not helped.
I hadn’t left the hospital once, instead, relying on my brothers to bring me a change of clothes and a meal. I couldn’t imagine anything worse than Judy waking up to an empty room. It wouldn’t be what I’d want, which was company, and lots of it.
I left Judy’s bedside in search of a cup of coffee. It was bitter and cheap-tasting, but it was coffee, nonetheless. The caffeine hit me, taking the edge away from my exhaustion.
Pax had been in contact with Lucy Rogers to keep her informed of Judy’s progress. The younger woman had wanted to visit her in the hospital, but given the storm that started as rain and turned to sleet, then to snow, it was simply too risky.
John Reilly had called too, as had Rachel Wilkes. It was gratifying that even in the middle of a storm, there were many people concerned enough about Judy Flanagan’s health that they would gladly brave the weather to see her. Even Alice sent pie.
Sadly, the most important person couldn’t make it through the storm to see Judy. I had wondered for a panic-stricken moment if Emily might try to tackle the long drive from Los Angeles to Frazier Falls, but even she wouldn’t risk that. She was in no state to get behind the wheel going by the fact that she had asked her boss to take her to the airport.
It had been a few hours since I’d heard from her, though I figured she had probably fallen asleep. Because of the wildly varying times that she had messaged and called me over the last twelve hours, it would come as absolutely no surprise if she was out for the count. Hopefully, she was on a plane, or in a taxi coming from the airport.
Not for the first time, had I wished that I could be by her side to comfort her. Her boss, Don, had been there for her. A stab of jealousy poked at me when I thought about him. He’d been there for her when I wasn’t. I cradled my head and swallowed the regret.
“I’m an idiot,” I muttered in irritation.
Behind me, a nurse taking care of Judy laughed.
“Mr. Cooper, don’t worry. Ms. Flanagan is doing well. Her pain meds will wear off soon, and she should wake up in the next hour or so. Will you stay with her until then?”
I nodded and went back to Judy’s room. The old woman before me looked frail as if she might wither away to nothing under the fluorescent, unforgiving light of the hospital, but there was some color to her cheeks that hadn’t been there when I’d brought her in.
“I wish Emily was here for you,” I whispered, reaching out to hold her hand. “You and I both know how hard she’s working to get back.”
A few minutes later, Judy shifted in her sleep. I could see her eyes roving underneath their lids. Her eyelashes fluttered, and I felt the pressure of her hand squeezing mine.
She opened her eyes as a human-shaped cannonball rushed through the door.
Emily, with her hair in disarray and her puffy cheeks as red as apples, breathed heavily as she clutched the doorframe. She glanced at me for half a second, then widened her eyes when Judy smiled at her.
“Emily, sweetheart, why do you look like you ran a marathon?” Judy asked quietly. Her voice was barely a croak.
I held up a cup of water with a straw in it, which Judy drank from before realizing who had given it to her.
“Eli? What am I—” She looked around the room. “Where am I?”
Her question was left unanswered as Emily hurled herself forward; her body wracked with sobs as she collapsed onto the bed, her arms circling her mother before another word could be said.
“Emily, honey, what happened? I’m okay; you’re okay,” Judy soothed. She looked at me. “Eli, could you tell me what happened?”
I smiled softly, which hid the tightness I felt as I recalled what had happened. “It looks like you tripped and fell,” I explained. “Emily was worried about you because of the weather, and you hadn’t returned her calls, so she asked me to check up on you. I found you on the floor and took you to the hospital. That was yesterday.”
“Yesterday? Oh, my. I remember not feeling well. My cough was coming back. I stood up …” Judy shrugged.
“How are you feeling now?” I asked.
“Much, much better. Thank you for bringing me to the hospital. Have you been here the whole time?”
I nodded, suddenly embarrassed. “I didn’t want you to be alone when you woke up.”
Judy beamed. “Your parents clearly brought you up right. Emily, stop crying and look at me. Can’t you see I’m okay?”
“You didn’t tell me you were feeling worse,” Emily cried against the pillow. Her mother smiled down at her, stroking Emily’s beautiful red hair. “You can’t do that. I need to know these things. Otherwise …”
“Okay. I swear I won’t do it again. I didn’t want you to worry.”
Emily looked up suddenly, her eyes wet and bright. “You won’t get a chance to do it again. I’m moving to Frazier Falls.”
Judy frowned. “Honey, don’t do this for—”
“For what? Don’t do this for you? Ma, you’re the most important person in the world to me. And I—I nearly lost you. It was horrible, not being able to be by your side. I won’t let that happen again.”
“But what about your job?”
Emily wiped away the tears on her face and sat up on the bed.
I got out of the chair I was sitting on to let her take it instead, but Emily shook her head.
“Some things are more important, Ma.” She looked between her mom and me. “The people I love are important. I’m staying. As long as the store has potatoes, we won’t starve.”
Judy laughed, but then winced. “That was a sentence I never thought I’d hear.” Then she glanced over at me, sitting silently and politely and waiting for—I didn’t know what. Had Emily just said in a roundabout way that she loved me? I suddenly became aware of the fact that it wasn’t right for me to be interrupting this moment.
Shelter Me: A Frazier Falls Novel Page 15