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“No, I’ve been in meetings all day today. I just turned my phone on like thirty seconds ago for the first time since last night. Why? What’s wrong?”
Josie blew out a deep breath.
“Now I don’t want you to panic.”
“What going on, Josie?”
In my experience, people only said ‘don’t panic’ right before they said something you should definitely be panicking about.
“George got hurt at work today.”
“What?” I was surprised my windshield didn’t crack with my high-pitched exclamation. “Oh my God! What happened? Is he okay?”
If George got seriously hurt or killed before I even had a chance to tell him how I felt about him, I was never going to forgive him. It hit me in that moment: I needed to do whatever I could to make things work with George, because the thought of losing him made me want to throw up.
“I don’t know yet. They found him in the machine room unconscious and covered in blood from some kind of a head wound. I just dropped Sofia off at her friend’s house and I’m heading to the hospital now.”
“Fuck. I’m in Houston. What hospital is he at?”
“Holy Name, it’s just off the highway about thirty miles out of town. If you’re in Houston, you’ll pass it on the way back here. There’s tons of signs and you can see the hospital building from the highway.”
“I’m leaving now. I’ll get there as fast as I can.”
“Just be careful Cassandra, we don’t need another accident in the family today.”
Normally I was a careful driver, always staying safely within five miles of the speed limit, but the second I cleared Houston city limits and got on the highway I pressed my foot down heavily on the accelerator and didn’t let up until I was nearing the exit for the hospital. Fortunately, traffic had been light, and I hadn’t run into cops or other delays.
I slammed my car into the closest parking spot I saw and took off for the Emergency Room at a dead run. The entire way to the hospital I’d berated myself for pushing George away. I loved that guy, and I’d let my own insecurities keep me from saying it. He’d not said it to me either, of course, and that made me a little nervous, but I knew in my heart even though he wasn’t a guy who talked about his feelings a lot, he showed them through his actions.
When I got inside the Emergency Room I headed right over to where George’s sister and brother-in-law were waiting.
“How is he?”
Josie leapt up with a relieved smile and pulled me into a tight hug.
“They came out a little while ago and said he’d regained consciousness. He has a concussion, plus a gash on his forehead that needs stitches. They think that’s it, although they’re gonna run a few tests just to make sure.”
I sagged into a chair, relieved it wasn’t more serious.
“Have you seen him yet?”
“No, they said once they got him stitched up and finished up with all the tests, they’d let us come back.” She leaned against her husband. “Gawd, I hate waiting like this.”
“I hate losing our ‘no workplace accidents’ streak,” David grumbled.
Josie smacked him on the shoulder. “That’s my brother you’re talking about,” she reminded him.
David had the good grace to look chagrined. “I know, and I’m worried about him too. But we were closing on the companywide safety record.”
“Family of George Jeffers?” We all jumped up as a man in scrubs walked into the waiting area. He was covered in blood stains which I hoped weren’t from George.
“Yes,” we said in unison.
“I’m Doctor Simonson, George’s doctor. He’s gonna be fine.” We all breathed in relief. “He’s got a nice goose egg on the back of his head which gave him a concussion. He needed about a dozen stitches in his forehead from whatever hit him. And he sprained his wrist when he fell. But that’s all relatively minor, and he should be able to go home tonight and make a full recovery.”
“Thank you, Doctor, can we see him?” Josie asked.
The doctor nodded. “I can only send you in one person at a time. Sorry, hospital rules. Any chance one of you is Cassie?”
