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CHAPTER ONE
I settled back in my seat, waiting for the door to open and for Kyle Collinsworth to emerge from talking to the doctor. I had gotten there after Kyle was called in for the consult, but given I was neither fiancée nor family, I was too late to accompany him. And we’d already agreed that he’d hear whatever news there was first, then I’d join him. Kyle had been wonderful about keeping me updated on Faron’s condition. I settled down in one of the chairs to wait and picked up a magazine, flipping through it but barely seeing the words.
My focus was off, because I couldn’t stop thinking about Faron. Where was he wandering? Was he aware on any level? Was he trapped in a dreamland of his own? Giving up on the article I had been trying to read, I tossed the magazine back on the end table and glanced at my phone to find a text from Grams.
i made it back to port townsend in one piece. miss you. your mother is foaming at the mouth that you didn’t come with me.
let her foam, I texted. i told you she’d be upset, I texted back. please, please reconsider living up there? you can sell your house and buy one here in starlight hollow. i had so much fun when you were living here. hell, you can stay with me if you want.
Grams paused for a moment, before texting back: no i can’t. that would be a big mistake, for both of us, but thank you for the offer. however, i will think about moving. to be honest, the way your mother acts is embarrassing. it makes me question whether we can coexist in the same town together. she’s definitely not getting better with age, unlike a good merlot.
welcome to the club. i love her but i can’t stand being around her for more than an hour without wanting to scream. she was always flighty and self-centered, but something about my encounter with the butcher changed her. i’m at the doctor’s office right now. i’m waiting for news on faron. i hate this. i hate that he’s still in a coma. love you. oh—move down here, pleeeeaaassseeee….?
She texted back a Care emoji and a smile.
Sighing, I set my phone down and glanced over at the door behind the receptionist.
The doctors had moved Faron to a long-term care facility after about six weeks, where he could be cared for by specialists. He wasn’t in an emergency situation, so they wanted to free up the hospital bed and staff for other more critical, acute cases. Today, the doctors wanted to talk to his brother, and Kyle had invited me to come in for the update. Unfortunately, I arrived too late to go in with him, but I also thought Kyle should hear whatever news there was first.
Faron had been in the medically induced coma for over two months. The doctors weren’t sure when they would be able to bring him out of it, but today they were supposed to update us on what his current condition was. Both Kyle and I were hoping that they would say that they’d be able to revive him soon, that his brain had healed enough from the bludgeoning he’d received.
Fidgeting, I thought about texting Bree, my best friend, but wasn’t sure what I’d say. She knew where I was, and she knew that I’d text her when we knew more about Faron’s condition. He’d been injured in helping protect her, so she was invested in how he was doing.
I finally settled on texting May. how is fancypants doing? is he behaving himself?
he’s fine. i take it you haven’t heard anything yet?
not a word, and i arrived too late to go in to talk to the doctor with kyle. you’d think—I paused as the door opened, and Kyle peeked out, motioning for me to join him. I joined him. i have to go. the doctor’s ready to talk to me. Shoving my phone in my pocket, I headed toward the open door.
Kyle, taller and stockier than Faron, resembled his wolf-shifter brother, but he didn’t have the magnetism that Faron did. They were both polite and cordial, but Faron was King of the Olympic Wolf Pack and he owned it. Kyle had no desire to take the position, but was facing that fate if Faron didn’t wake up, soon.
“Please, have a seat,” the doctor said. His name was Zayde Johnson, and he was tall and gangly, with a headful of blond curls that made me wonder how long he’d been out of med school. But, given he was a shifter, he could be thirty or three hundred. “Good morning, Elphyra. I hope you’re well.”
“I can’t complain,” I said as I sat next to Kyle, who had a somber look on his face. “So, what’s the verdict?”
Dr. Johnson settled behind his desk. “Unfortunately, the news isn’t what you hope to hear. The swelling in Faron’s brain hasn’t decreased enough at this point. There’s a lot of inflammation. As I explained to Kyle, we want to try an experimental procedure, but there’s no guarantee. However, given Faron’s been in a coma for nearly two months, if we don’t do something soon, the damage will be permanent.”
I glanced at Kyle, then back at the doctor. “How dangerous is this procedure? What are the risks? And is there a chance that he’ll come out of this on his own?”
“Right now, I estimate he has a fifty-fifty chance to heal naturally. But every day he spends with the swelling in his brain increases the chance he won’t pull through. As far as the procedure, there’s always going to be a risk. I won’t deny it’s experimental. However, given the alternative, I think it’s in his best interest to try.”
“I’ve decided to give them permission,” Kyle said.
The doctor sat back. “We’re scheduling the procedure for next week.”
Even though I thought it might be too soon to try out an experimental operation, it was ultimately Kyle’s choice, and I wasn’t going to interfere. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
Kyle reached over to take my hand. “Just pray and hope.”
I stared at his fingers, grateful that I wasn’t the one having to make the decisions. I doubted I could handle the pressure. “If that’s what you need, then I’m here, with hope and a prayer in my heart.”
With that, our visit with the doctor was over.
* * *
I had barely pulled in the driveway and was getting out of the car when my phone rang. It was Grams.
“Hey, what’s up?” I leaned against the car, staring up at the October sky. The summer heat was long gone and we were into cool, rainy days, and blustery nights. It was my time of year. I thrived in autumn. The town was gearing up for the spooky season. While I usually loved the energy, after the trauma I’d been through with the Butcher and now, the uncertainty with Faron’s health, this year I wasn’t all that keen on celebrating the season of death.
