Part 15 (1/2)
”He's all right?” he asked again.
”The doctor said he's going to be fine. They changed his medication. They want to watch him for a few hours and then I'm allowed to take him home.”
His eyes moved from Kevin to her. ”I'm glad he's okay. When I heard...” His voice trailed.
”How did you find out?”
”Seth came by the marina.” He tilted his head slightly as if to get a better look at her. ”You holding up okay?”
She nodded, then choked out a laugh. ”Only a few days on the job, and I run out of the office screaming.”
”Seth has that effect on the people who work for him.”
She laughed, feeling lighter than she had all day. ”I should call him.”
”Seth can wait until tomorrow.”
”I barely gave him an explanation.”
”He figured it out.” When she still didn't relent, he added, ”Besides, the afternoon is shot.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and for several minutes the only sound came from the buzz of the lights and the rain against the windows. ”Do you want to go get a cup of coffee or something?”
Alison looked over at her son's sleeping form. He looked so small and helpless lying in that bed. She knew it was silly, but she didn't want to leave him.
As if noticing her reluctance, Drew said, ”I could bring some back.”
”No, I'll walk with you. There's a waiting area down at the end of the hall,” she said. ”It's not too far and there's a coffee machine.”
He waited by the door while she kissed Kevin's cheek and picked up her purse. Her heart was pounding when she crossed to him. ”You didn't have to come,” she said.
”I came because I wanted to.”
She gave him a sad smile. ”He asked about you.”
Drew wasn't exactly sure when that little boy had come to mean so much to him, but he did. He meant a h.e.l.l of a lot more than Drew had ever intended. More than he was comfortable with. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. Wasn't sure how he was going to deal with it.
”Come on,” he said. ”Coffee's on me.”
Because he was an EMT, Drew was usually comfortable in just about any type of medical environment. The Waterton Clinic, however, was different. It was a small, twenty-eight bed facility that catered to sick children, most with serious asthma or some type of allergy-related malady. He didn't like it when children got sick. In all the years he'd been an EMT, that got to him more than anything else.
The nurses' station at the end of the hall was brightly lit. But several offices they pa.s.sed along the way to the waiting area were darkened and quiet. As he and Alison made their way toward the coffee machine, Drew could hear the b.u.mp of the food cart as it was wheeled from room to room. He could smell the food being served, hear the clink of silverware and the cheerful voices of the late afternoon food service nurse trying hard to raise the spirits of her young charges. They pa.s.sed a room where the sound of a blaring TV emanated through the open door. Inside, a little boy around eight years old watched cartoons, laughing from within his oxygen tent.
On reaching the waiting area, Drew went to the hot beverage machine, fed coins into a slot and bought two cups of coffee. Alison stood at the floor-to-ceiling window as if watching the storm beyond. The overhead fluorescents cast harsh white light onto her face, and for the first time since arriving he was able to get a good look at her. Signs of heavy-duty stress were etched into her every feature. Tension formed a crease between her usually smooth brows. Her face was colorless. He could see the tracks of tears on her cheeks and realized she'd been crying at some point. But even disheveled and worried, she was still the most beautiful woman he'd ever laid eyes on. He knew it was crazy, but he wished he could have been there for her.
”You look like you could use this,” he said, handing her one of the cups.
”That bad, huh?”
”I figure if your shoulders get any more tense you might dislocate one.”
”I hear that's pretty painful. Good thing you're an EMT.”
”I'm pretty good at working out kinks, too.” He set down his coffee. ”Come here.”
She gave him a wry smile, making no move to get any closer. ”I think we've made that mistake before.”
He smiled back, relieved that the crease between her brows had smoothed out. ”Okay.” He thought about his own stress level and realized he needed to get something off his chest. ”I owe you an apology.”
Her eyes met his. Within their depths he saw fatigue and wariness pulling her in different directions. ”No, you don't,” she said after a moment.
”I practically mauled you the other night, then I said something cruel. I shouldn't have done either of those things. I'm sorry.”
”What you said needed to be said. Better to say it now than later.”
Drew suddenly got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.
”You kept me from doing something both of us probably would have ended up regretting,” she said. ”Don't apologize for that.”
”Alison-”
”Things got intense,” she interrupted. ”If they'd gone any further, I think it would have affected our friends.h.i.+p. I don't want that to happen.”
”That's not-”
She cut him off. ”You can't have it both ways, Drew.”
”Both ways?”
”You can't...come on to me and then change your mind when things suddenly get too hot to handle.”
”This isn't about me changing my mind.”
”Really? What would you call it?”
For the first time, his temper stirred. ”Look, I didn't plan for anything to happen between us.”
”Neither did I,” she snapped. ”All I know is that I don't understand what's going on with you, and you don't see fit to discuss it with me.”
”Maybe I'm still trying to sort some of this out.”
”I can't deal with your angry moods. I can't be close to you one moment, then have you shove me away the next because you feel you need that in order to have a clear conscience.”
”This has nothing to do with my conscience.”
”The h.e.l.l it doesn't.” Her eyes flashed like heat lightning. ”I can't tell if you're lying to me or if you're lying to yourself.”
”I'm not lying to anyone.”
”You've never dealt with Rick's death.”
”Rick doesn't have anything to do with this.”