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CHAPTER TEN
TULLY
I almost didn’t answerthe phone.
Nobody answers unknown numbers, and for a moment I considered not answering it at all, but it was a local landline.
I’d been home for all of thirty minutes. I was in the kitchen and Ellis was insisting I eat somethin’ before going to bed. It’d been one helluva day and I didn’t really feel up to talkin’ to anyone.
I half expected it to be a news reporter and I wasn’t gonna answer it. Then I thought maybe tellin’ someone to fuck off seemed like a good idea.
“Mr Larson,” a voice said. “This is Doctor Jillick.”
My knees buckled and the room tilted.
“I want to reassure you that your husband is stable, but we believe he’s suffered a delayed ventricular arrhythmia episode. He’s having a cardiac MRI—”
The room began to spin and I couldn’t hear what else she said.
“Mr Larson?”
“I’m coming back,” I said, looking for my keys.
“I would ask you not to, Mr Larson,” she replied. “The ICU doesn’t take visitors at this time. He’s receiving the best possible care.”
“That’s great,” I said flatly. “But I’m coming back. I’ll sit in the hall if I have to.”
I’d sit in the fucking car park for all I fucking cared.
I still couldn’t find my keys.
I disconnected the call and was tryin’ real hard not to lose my shit. “Where are my fucking keys?”
Ellis held them up, and for a split second I thought he was going to say no...
But he didn’t. “I’ll drive you.”
* * *
I wasn’t jokingwhen I said I’d sit in the hallway.
I wasn’t allowed in to see him, which wasn’t a great surprise. I wasn’t even mad. It took every ounce of control I had not to cry.
But in the hallway, I sat.
And that’s where I was when my mum came in just after six in the morning. I must have dozed off because I startled when she sat down next to me.
“Oh, Tully,” she whispered. “Ellis called us.”
I nodded, trying to think clearly. I scrubbed my hand over my face. “I don’t know how he is. I’m not allowed in to see him.”
She rubbed my back. “He seemed okay when we left him yesterday,” she whispered.
I nodded. “I know. Delayed symptoms, delayed reactions. I dunno. It’s common with lightning injuries.” I shrugged. “The doc said he had a ventricular episode or something. Must have been right after I left. He was tired. I should have paid attention. I shouldn’t have left.”
“You didn’t have a choice, love.”
I blinked back tears, and my nose burned. “He needs to be okay.”
