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Isabel had been staying with Grandpa while her parents had been out together. On an anniversary date actually. Eight years of marriage, seven of them being parents, and it all ended that night. She clearly remembered the phone ringing at Grandpa’s big old house up on White Birches Lane. It had been late and a phone ringing late was never good news. The next thing she’d known, Grandpa had whisked her out of bed and into her coat and sneakers.
“Where are we going?” she’d asked him.
“For a little drive.” But she’d known right away Grandpa wasn’t telling her something.
Deciding to be a good little girl, she’d let Grandpa buckle her into his truck and he’d sped off. Isabel hadn’t known they were at the hospital at first. The building was this big dark shape in the night like the others around it. But when Grandpa had taken her inside, she’d put the pieces together.
“Are Mommy and Daddy here?” she’d asked.
Grandpa’s hand had tightened around hers and she’d seen him consider lying to her. Had seen it in the dip of his eyebrows, the twist of his lips from one side to the other, the hesitant mumble.
“Just tell me, Grandpa.”
“Yes, Belly. They had a car accident.”
She hadn’t asked any more questions. The hushed voice and quick peeks at her from the doctor when he’d come out to talk to Grandpa had told her what she’d already felt inside herself.
Her parents were gone.
Grandpa had taken custody of her and he’d been there every time she’d needed him since then. But did she return the favor?
Nope.
Instead, she’d gotten distracted by Jackson Henley and recreating the past with him. Foolish. They couldn’t stay in the past. They had futures in different places.
Isabel found a vending machine and bought a bottle of water. She would have preferred alcohol, but the chances of finding a vending machine like that were zero. Unscrewing the cap, she took several huge gulps of the water, nearly draining the bottle at once. She heaved in a breath, but when she turned around, Charlie threw her arms around her.
“I came as soon as I heard,” Charlie said. “How is he?”
Isabel slumped against her best friend. “I don’t know, Charlie. I don’t know.”
“Okay, let’s see what we can find out. I have a lot of friends here from working rescues with my chopper. I’m sure we can get some news.” Charlie maneuvered Isabel into a walk back toward the nurses’ station, but each step was robotic as if Isabel was no longer in control of her body.
“What if I lose him?” Was she asking about Grandpa or Jackson? God, her head pounded.
“Your grandfather is a tough guy,” Charlie said. “He’s got mountain man blood coursing through him. He’s going to be fine.” It sounded convincing when Charlie said it.
They stopped at the nurses’ station and Isabel focused on the mosaic tile design on the front of it. It was three mountain peaks, like the town sign when you entered Maplehaven. She’d climbed all three of Maplehaven’s mountains.
With Grandpa.
As Isabel fought back tears, Charlie spoke with the nurse sitting behind the semi-circular desk area. “Hey, Maggie.”
“Hey, Charlie.” Maggie frowned at her computer screen. “Did you helicopter someone in? I don’t have an alert here.”
“No. I’m here for Eugene Perri. This is his granddaughter, Isabel, my best friend. Do you have any news on him?”
Maggie tapped on her keyboard, but before she could say anything, Jackson appeared beside Isabel.
“The doctor came into the waiting room,” he said, raising a hand to touch Isabel’s elbow but dropping it before he actually made contact. “You can meet him in your grandfather’s room. Room 236.”
Charlie thanked Maggie then nudged Isabel away from the nurses’ station. “I can take it from here,” she said to Jackson.
Jackson’s gaze flicked to Isabel. When she didn’t say anything—didn’t beg him not to go—he nodded at Charlie and handed Isabel her purse. “I’ll take Blaze over to my cottage.”
She rooted around in her purse and pulled out her keys. She didn’t want to rely on Jackson, but she had no idea how long she’d be at the hospital and Blaze shouldn’t have to suffer. Not when he liked being with Jackson so much. She wiggled her grandfather’s cottage key off the ring and held it out to Jackson.
“Thanks.”
