Chapter 28
28
GRANT
I almost didn’t answer the phone. The screen declared the call from Val, who surely wanted to talk about Tess. Would they think the breakup was my fault? I didn’t know if I could listen to Val blame me, if that's what they were calling to do. Still, Val was my best shot at fixing things with Tess, so I swiped the call on. “Hello?”
“Grant?” Val sounded breathless—frantic—and I sat up straight.
“What’s wrong?”
“Tessa. She’s been in an accident. She’s being medevaced to the city and I thought you’d want to know.”
I was already up and moving before I had time to consider any other response. “Which hospital?”
“I don’t know,” Val said.
“Who called you?”
Val sniffed. “Nora.”
“Okay. I have to go. Thank you for calling,” I said brusquely.
“Course. Let me know if you learn more?” they asked.
“Yeah. I’ll call as soon as I know.” I hit the button before Val had time to reply and switched to call Ethan.
“Hey, I can’t talk. Tessa got hit by a car and they’re flying her down to the city. It’s fucked up.”
“Is she at Good Samaritan General or Pine Valley?”
“What?” Ethan asked, and I growled in aggravation, trying to keep my voice level and calm as I got into my car and pulled out of the garage.
“Good Sam and Pine Valley are the only Level 1 Trauma Centers in the city. If she’s getting a medevac she’s headed to either Good Sam or Pine Valley, so which?”
“Babe, is she at Good Sam or Pine Valley?”
I could hear Nora replying, but couldn't tell what she said. I forced myself to keep calm, remembering it didn’t matter yet. I had at least eighty minutes of driving before it mattered.
“Nora says Pine Valley. That’s where you worked, right? Nora wants to know if you think it’s a good hospital.”
I had completed my residency at Pine Valley, and I thought it was the best in the city—even better than Good Sam. “It’s good,” I replied.
“Good. Look, we have to go. We’re going to drive down there.”
“Drive safe,” I said out of habit.
“Right?” Ethan said. “No shit.”
The drive was long and miserable, and I hated myself every minute for not chasing after her, not demanding that she give us a chance, and not driving her home, safe and sound.
I called Val and together we worked out what had happened the best we could. Val told me Tessa made it all the way home but needed to move her car.
My brain flipped through every possible injury I could think of as well as the treatment and prognosis for each. All I knew for sure was her injuries had to be catastrophic enough to risk a twenty-minute flight.
I tried to turn on sports radio, but the words couldn’t seem to filter into my brain. I switched to music, but it didn’t do a better job of distracting me, and eventually I began to loop through Tessa’s possible injuries once more.
By the time I got to the hospital, it was nearly eleven. I parked in the doctors’ parking, where I’d parked a hundred times before, then, cursing, moved to visitor parking.
I saw the Davises as soon as I walked through the door, and I hesitated, knowing I wouldn’t be welcomed with open arms by her sisters, and I couldn’t even give them a good reason as to why I was here.
Emily was pacing a route that kept her near the windows and doors, away from her family and the hubbub of the front desk. Claire and her parents sat huddled close, talking. All three had red-rimmed eyes. Hudson has his arm around his fiancée. Despite leaving at the same time, I appeared to have beaten Ethan and Nora there. I crossed the distance to reach the family.
“Grant?” Claire asked, as if I might be an apparition.
“How is she? Have you heard anything?”
Juliet stood. “Thank you for coming all the way out here, honey,” she said, wrapping me in a hug. “She’s in surgery now. We’re just waiting.”
“What are you doing here?” Emily said, asking the question I was glad Juliet had breezed over.
“Grant is a friend of Tessa,” Juliet scolded, shooting a look at her eldest.
I nodded, as if it were this simple. “Val called me.”
“Oh, poor Val,” Juliet said. “Is she coming?”
Shit. It hadn’t even occurred to me. “No, but I should update her.” I walked away from the family and back toward the front desk, continuing through the automatic doors when I saw Greyson Cole. “Cole!” The man’s head shot up and he grinned. I crossed to meet him, now fully in the E.R.
“Dupree,” he said as I drew close. “You back?” Grey had been a resident with me and was a friend, though he’d specialized in pediatrics while I’d focused on general surgery.
“No. I’m here for someone. Tessa Davis?”
“Tessa Davis ?” he asked, sounding almost as if he knew her, then he looked down at the tablet he held, tapping quickly. “She came in on AME,” he said, referring to Air Medical Evacuation. I nodded. “They gave her TXA on the flight and we were able to get her into surgery when she got here. I can go get an update.”
“I’d appreciate it. Thanks,” I said. Greyson nodded and headed back the way he came, pulling out his phone as he walked. I pulled my own phone from my pocket and called Val.
“How are things?” they asked.
“I’m sorry I didn’t offer to drive you.”
“What?” Val asked.
“I should’ve offered to pick you up. I’m sorry. I was trying to get out the door so fast I didn’t even think of it.”
Val sighed. “I thought about it, but didn’t figure I’d get to see her anyway, because I’m not family.”
“I’m not family.”
“Yeah, but we both know you’ll barge your way in, especially since she’s at your hospital.”
“It isn’t mine anymore,” I said with a sigh.
“Well, I still have faith in you to barge. I also know you’ll keep me updated. Do you know anything else?” they asked.
“Not really. I have a friend who’s checking for me.”
There was a tiny snort, and Val said, “See. You’re already barging in.”
“Fuck off,” I muttered, even though talking to Val made me feel better.
“Call me when you know more, Dupree. I’m glad you’re there. Tess will be, too.”
I walked back toward the Davis family, offering a small shrug. “She’s in surgery. My friend is going to check on the progress. All I know for sure is she was given TXA on the flight out here, which means?—”
“Internal hemorrhaging,” Emily interrupted, sounding to me like a first-year resident trying to prove herself. I offered the same curt nod I might give a young resident, then turned my attention back to her parents. Mrs. Davis was crying again, held tight to her husband’s side, and Claire spun to press herself into Hudson’s chest.
Hudson and I made eye-contact, and I realized he was the only person in the whole damn room who knew my secret. I was tempted to pull him aside and lay my heart bare, but I knew it would put him in an even more awkward position. He’d been civil enough not to mention Tessa being with me on Nora and Ethan’s wedding night. I couldn’t ask him to continue to lie to his fiancée.
I sat down in one of the chairs heavily. “She’ll be okay,” I murmured, more to myself than the group at large.
“She will,” Hudson agreed, and he sat down in the spot next to me. Claire joined him.