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THE HOSPITAL IN EVERLY FALLS was quickly becoming familiar to Cal since he’d been here multiple times in the last couple of weeks. Once he parked Steph’s car, he hurried into the building with her.
“You’re here,” Lori said, rising from the lobby chairs. She stepped forward and hugged Steph. “I told the others, and they’ll be here in a heartbeat if you need them.”
“Thanks for coming,” Steph said. “I need to find out what’s going on first.”
“No problem.” Lori looked like she might have been crying, or just spooked, but she walked with them to the reception area.
The woman at the front desk told them which room Pops was in. “Only two visitors at a time.”
“I’ll wait here,” Lori said quickly.
Cal and Steph headed down the corridor.
“It’s a good sign that he’s in a room, right?” she asked, her voice quaking with what must be exhaustion and worry. “Not having an emergency operation?”
Cal glanced over at her. In the past hour, she’d voiced all of her concerns about Pops, as if speaking everything aloud helped her process the information.
“Yes, that’s how I’m taking it, too,” he said. “No one is tougher than your grandpa.”
Steph nodded stiffly, then turned a corner. Pops’s strident voice could be heard.
Cal almost smiled, except Pops was saying, “I want the sweatpants my granddaughter bought me last Christmas. This scrap of cloth isn’t for a grown man. It doesn’t even reach my knees.”
Steph hurried forward and practically sprinted into the room. “Pops! Are you okay?”
Cal was right behind her. Pops reclined on a hospital bed, flanked by two nurses, his spindly legs sticking out from a blue-checked hospital gown. One of the nurses was trying to cover him with a blanket, but he kept pushing it aside.
“Oh, there you are,” he said to Steph. “Can you tell these ladies that I’m fine and need to go home now? I can’t sleep in this wobbly bed. Besides, it smells like a bowling alley in here.”
Steph ignored his complaints and moved to his bedside. She leaned down and hugged him, then kissed the top of his head. “What happened, Pops?”
Her soft tone seemed to calm his agitation.
“You didn’t answer your phone.”
“I know, Pops, I’m sorry,” Steph said, grasping his hand. “I’m glad you remembered to call me, though. Did you slip and fall?”
“I felt dizzy, I guess,” he said. “I got back up and called you, but then it happened again.”
As he spoke, Steph covered his legs with the blanket that the nurses had been attempting to give him.
“I stood up too fast. There’s no reason for them to keep me in the hospital.”
“They want to run some tests to make sure you’re okay,” Steph said. “See if there’s anything they need to know about.”
“I’m old, that’s all it is.” His gaze shifted past her to Cal. “Guess you made up with your boyfriend?”
Cal chuckled because Steph blushed, and Pops was grinning.
“We’re still friends, if that’s what you’re asking, sir,” he said, moving to stand next to her. “How are you feeling, buddy?”
“Perfectly fine,” Pops quipped, waving a hand that sported a hospital bracelet at the wrist. “A whole lot of fuss, if you ask me.”
“Might be,” Cal said. “But it’s better to figure stuff out now than later.”
Pops’s eyes shifted toward the ceiling. “I suppose you’re right.” When he looked back at Cal, he said, “Now, can you talk these nurses into turning on the game?”
“I think I can manage that.”
