“She’s tough, Nate,” Luz said with a reassuring smile. “Tough and otherwise healthy, from what I can see of her medical records. We will work on figuring this out and try to get her out of here as soon as we can.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Do you have someone to help you with Sophie?”
He suddenly remembered Jess, still out in the waiting room, anxious for news.
“Yes. She’s at school right now then going home with a friend.”
“Once we have Eleanor in a regular room, she can have more than one visitor.”
“Thanks for everything.”
The doctor nodded. “She’s in good hands,” she said again.
“I know.”
He returned to Eleanor’s room and found her asleep. As Josie, her nurse, was still at her bedside while watching the EKG, he decided to go out and update Jess.
She was thumbing something into her phone when he walked out. As soon as she spied him, she rose and shoved her phone into her pocket.
“How is she? What’s happened? Sophie was just texting me. She’s pretty frantic. School just got out. Apparently, a classmate told her an ambulance came to the house. She thought it might be you, especially when she tried to reach you and couldn’t.”
He pulled out his own phone and realized he had somehow activated the do-not-disturb feature. He quickly turned it off and was bombarded with texts from a dozen different people asking about Eleanor.
“I’ll reach out to her.”
Gram is fine for now. They’re treating her well. I’ll tell you more as soon as I know. Love you.
She responded with a weird face he guessed was the worried emoji.
“Do you have any more information?” Jess asked.
“Not really. She’s sleeping right now but they need to run some tests. She’s got an irregular heartbeat, which could result from any number of reasons. Apparently, it’s been going on for some time, though she never bothered to mention it to me.”
“I knew something was wrong,” Jess said guiltily. “I should have told you. She had a few incidents in the time I’ve been working at Whitaker House. Random moments when she would suddenly go pale for no obvious reason and then have to rest. She told me she had been ill before I arrived and was still recovering.”
He did remember his mother being sick but she had assured him she was feeling better. “I think she purposely didn’t want me to know anything was going on with her. She knew Sophie and I would both find it upsetting, especially so soon after my father died.”
She rested a hand on his arm and just that simple touch seemed to calm him, steadying something wild and worried deep inside.
“How can I help?”
“You already have,” he said gruffly. “You called an ambulance and had her brought here, which is huge. And it helps to know you’re here.”
Those feelings he had been fighting ever since they first appeared seemed to wash over him, stronger than ever. No question about it. He was falling in love with Jess. She was a calm haven to rest from the storm.
For now, anyway. Until she left town.
This was a really lousy time to realize how far gone he was over her, especially when he knew she was planning to load up her Airstream and drive away from Cape Sanctuary in a few days.
“Are they keeping Eleanor?”
“Yes. At least a day or two for tests. Luz, my friend who is the ER doc, said there is a possibility she might need a temporary pacemaker if her heart rate doesn’t self-regulate.”
“Temporary is good.”
It all seemed overwhelming to him. “I guess. But bottom line, the tests will take time and then they’re admitting her. You don’t have to hang around that whole time.”
“I don’t mind. But if you want, I can pick up Sophie from her friend’s house after school and she and I can go back to Whitaker House and grab some of Eleanor’s things that might make her more comfortable during her stay. Her favorite robe, slippers, that kind of thing.”
“Great idea.”
“What about you?” she asked. “Can I bring you something to eat from the cafeteria before I leave? You might not have a chance to take a break again until they get her settled into a room.”
“I don’t think I could eat right now. But thanks.”
She nodded. “All right. You had better go be with your mom. I’ll be back with Sophie in an hour or so.”
“Thank you.”
Words were inadequate to express his gratitude. Though he knew it wasn’t the smartest idea, he grabbed her in another embrace, needing the strength he found there.
“I don’t know what I would have done without you. I hate to think about Mom being alone for hours on the floor. Or, worse, Sophie finding her there after school.”
“I’m so glad I was there.”
Her arms tightened around him. He didn’t want to let her go but knew he needed to return to his mother’s treatment room.
He lowered his mouth to steal a quick, intense kiss.
She pulled away, looking flustered, her eyes bright and her color high. “I’ll see you later tonight,” she said.
He nodded and turned away to go back to his mother, wishing with all his heart he could have her by his side...and that he could ask her to stay.
35
Jess
Jess pulled away from the hospital, still reeling from all the unspoken emotions of that last kiss.
That look in Nate’s eyes. She had never seen that before, from him or anyone else. As if she was his everything. His sea and his stars and his sky.
She had wanted to stand right there in the emergency department waiting room and savor the feelings.
No. It was impossible.
First, she must have imagined that look. Second, even if it was real—even if it was somehow possible Nate might be developing feelings for her—so what?
She was leaving in only a few days, three at the most. She had another job scheduled soon and more lined up all summer long.
Anyway, she didn’t do relationships. She was happy with her wandering life, never staying in one place long enough to put down roots or build lasting connections. She had left no space in the world she had created for a long-term relationship.
But, oh, if only she had. An ache of longing hit her as she drove, so fierce and hot that she had to grip the steering wheel. Nate was everything she could ever want in a man. Kind, caring, passionate. Each time he kissed her, she only wanted more.