15. Kelsey
Chapter fifteen
Kelsey
I’d just left Sunrise Diner and was about to head home when I received Quentin’s frantic call. I immediately turned around and hurried in the other direction to catch a bus to the Emerald Valley General Hospital.
I was worried sick for the entire half-hour bus ride. Quentin had sounded strange during the phone call, a slight tremor in his usually calm voice. Maybe Arlene was in a worse state than he wanted to tell me on the phone. Maybe it was more than just a broken leg. Maybe her life was in danger. God, what if she died while Leah was out of town?
The bus stopped right in front of the hospital, a gray and beige modern building with large glass panels, at least ten stories high. I leaped off the bus and sprinted toward the emergency room. Pushing past a teenager with an arm cast, I burst into the waiting room as beige and monotone as the hospital’s exterior, filled with uncomfortable-looking plastic chairs bolted to the linoleum floor.
Out of breath, I almost yelled at the receptionist, demanding to know where Arlene Miller was, and was sent to curtain four in the main bay by a disgruntled nurse .
I made my way past patients and all kinds of people in scrubs. When I pulled back the curtain of cubicle four, I braced myself for the worst.
“Kelsey, dear, how lovely you could come.” Arlene smiled at me.
I did a double-take and scanned her from head to toe. That leg definitely looked weird, but otherwise, she seemed… okay?
I turned to Quentin to ask him why he’d called me so urgently, if Arlene wasn’t in any real danger. Then I noticed how pale and sweaty he looked. Arlene might have been alright, but Quentin certainly wasn’t. Before I could ask what was going on, he jolted up from the chair next to Arlene’s bed and rushed past me.
I watched in confusion as he fled, nearly colliding with an old man in a bathrobe, before disappearing from view.
Arlene and I exchanged a concerned look. “I think you should go after him,” she said.
“But you—”
“I’m fine. Go check on him. Please.”
I nodded. “I’ll come back soon,” I reassured Arlene before hurrying after Quentin.
I caught up with him in the waiting room. With a mixture of panic and disorientation, he was frantically trying to open an automatic door with a big sign reading Out of Order .
He needed help. I ran up to him and grabbed him firmly by the elbow, dragging him away from the broken door.
“This way,” I said calmly. “Let’s get some fresh air.”
As I guided him out, I couldn’t help but notice the judgmental stares around us. It made me so angry that I nearly snapped at a gray-haired man blocking the way because he was so busy gawking, but getting Quentin to a safe place was more important than telling that guy off.
Once outside, I dragged him away from the entrance into a quiet corner. He was still breathing heavily. I took him by both hands and tried my best to get through to him. “I think you are having a panic attack. You need to breathe, okay?”
Quentin stumbled backward and turned away from me, steadying himself against the wall of the hospital.
“Slowly,” I tried to coach him. “Do it with me, okay? One, two, three.” I gently touched his back and could feel sweat soaking through his shirt. “Four, five, six,” I continued slowly.
I couldn’t see his face, but his breathing was slowing down. It was working.
I kept counting, and Quentin kept breathing. I felt his body relax under my touch. When I reached thirty-two, he turned around, still pale but looking a lot more like the Quentin I knew again.
“Better?” I asked.
He nodded weakly and sat down on the dry patch of grass, back against the wall, arms wrapped around his knees.
“Damn it.” His voice was still shaky.
I sat down next to him. “It’s okay.”
“I thought I could do it.”
He sounded so defeated it nearly broke my heart. I felt the need to reassure him, to comfort him somehow, so I took his hand and crossed my fingers with his. “You did great,” I said. “You held out so long.”
He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.
“Has that happened before?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yes, but it hasn’t happened for many years.”
“Hospitals aren’t your thing, huh?” I tried to sound lighthearted, to ease the tension, but I could imagine why Quentin had such a strong reaction. A few years before, I’d scalded myself with hot oil while cooking a steak, and the wound had hurt so badly that I couldn’t sleep at night and went to the emergency room the next morning. They put a dressing with some ointment on it and told me it was only a grade-one burn and would heal without issues. If that little mishap had hurt me that badly, how much agony must Quentin have endured? I would dislike hospitals, too, if I’d experienced hell on earth in one.
Quentin swallowed hard. “The smell is the worst.”
“Then why did you come?” I asked.
“Because Arlene is my friend, and I had to be there for her.”
And in that moment, a terrifying realization washed over me like a tidal wave, making me struggle to breathe. There was no denying it. It was crystal clear. I was in love with Quentin Avery.
Shit.
For a while, we sat there in silence, watching the hustle and bustle outside the ER, as I tried to sort through my scrambled thoughts. Maybe it was just a feeling of really strong friendship? I risked a sideways glance at him, and the urge to kiss him rose in my stomach.
No. Definitely in love.
I had absolutely no idea what to do about that revelation. Should I tell Quentin? And then what? As if Quentin would ever seriously date a woman like me. Sex, yeah, that might be on the table. I had an inkling that he found me attractive. But an actual relationship? I had nothing to offer a man like Quentin, and we had practically nothing in common. No, that idea was pretty stupid. Friends with benefits? I’d never tried that, but apparently, it was popular nowadays. Maybe that was a proposition Quentin would agree to.
God, why was I thinking about sex? My friend was in the hospital, and the object of my desire was still shaky and sweaty from a panic attack caused by his traumatic war experiences. I had to get a grip on myself and figure out the Quentin situation later.
“How are you feeling?” I asked him. “Are you good to drive?”
“You want me to go home?” he asked weakly .
“You don’t plan on going back in there, right? Because I won’t let you.”
He sighed. “No, I don’t think going back in would be helpful to anybody. But I could wait outside until we know Arlene is taken care of.”
I stood up and pulled Quentin to his feet as well. “Go home, Quentin. Take a shower, watch some mind-numbing reality TV. I’m taking over from here, okay?”
“Are you sure? You—”
“Arlene would want the same. There is no use in you sitting in front of a hospital all day. Go home.”
“Will you call me if anything changes?”
“Of course. Now, go.”
He finally gave up, and I accompanied him to his car, making sure he actually got in.
Once I made sure Quentin had driven off, I went back into the hospital and found Arlene still in the same little cubicle in the emergency room.
“Is he okay?” was Arlene’s first question.
“He’s okay,” I said. “I sent him home.”
Arlene looked thoughtful. “I’ve seen this before. It happened a lot to the boys who returned from Vietnam.”
I let out a deep sigh and sat down next to her. “Poor Quentin.”
“He’s such a good man,” Arlene said.
“He is.” I nodded and let out a heavy sigh. “He doesn’t deserve any of this. He’s wonderful, just so…” I stopped myself before I could blurt out even more. Not a good idea to gush about him like that in front of Arlene when I was still figuring out these feelings myself.
But Arlene had already caught on. She looked at me with raised eyebrows and a hint of a smirk. “He’ s just so what ?”
“Nothing,” I said quickly. “He’s a really decent guy. That’s what I wanted to say.”
“Just decent?”
“Mm-hmm,” I hummed noncommittally, messing with my hair to look casual and indifferent, but I could tell Arlene was seeing right through me.
I let out a frustrated scoff and slumped back into the chair. “Shit, Arlene, don’t make me say it. It’s embarrassing enough.”
“Ha! I knew it!” She declared with a triumphant grin. “I can always tell these things. Have you told him yet?”
“No!” I shook my head rapidly. “And I’m not going to. Not now, at least.”
“Not now?”
“Not until I pass my GED test, at the very least. I need his help, and I don’t want to make things weird between us.” That was true. Admitting your one-sided crush to your tutor would make things pretty awkward, but I had another reason. In the back of my head was that little hopeful voice that whispered to me that maybe, if I had that high school diploma under my belt, Quentin would give the idea of being with me a little more thought than none at all.
Arlene smiled a knowing smile. “That’s a nice idea in theory, but once two people are in love, they snap together like magnets, no matter what you do. There’s no stopping it.”
“Good thing there aren’t two people in love, then,” I said. “Quentin and I aren’t in love. I just have a stupid little crush, and Quentin has absolutely nothing.”
Arlene laughed out loud. “Sweetheart, that man is madly in love with you.”
I huffed. “You are delirious. Must be from the drugs they give you.” I pointed at the IV bag. “What’s in there? ”
At that moment, a nurse pulled the curtain aside. “The good stuff,” she answered with a grin. “Hi, Mrs. Miller. Can you fill out these forms for me? We need them to admit you to the ward.”
“I’ll do my best,” Arlene said, “But my handwriting might be all over the place. That good stuff stopped working a while ago, I’m afraid.”
“You’re in pain?” I asked, slightly alarmed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“We had more important matters to discuss,” Arlene said with a wink.
The nurse wasn’t having it. “You shouldn’t be in any pain with the amount of painkiller we gave you… Ah, see?” She held up the IV line connecting Arlene’s arm to the bag of clear fluid on the IV stand. “The line is blocked. Just give me a second. I’ll start a new one.”
She disappeared for a moment and returned with a tray with some supplies.
Arlene scrunched her face. “I hate needles.”
“I’m afraid they aren’t optional,” the nurse said. “But don’t worry. I’m quick. You’ll hardly feel it.”
With a few quick, precise movements, the nurse pulled the old line from Arlene’s arm and slid in a new one. Really impressive—she made it look so easy.
“You’re right,” Arlene said, sounding pleasantly surprised. “It didn’t hurt.”
The nurse smiled as she attached the line. “I practiced a lot.” The fluid in the bag started dripping again. “There we go. You should feel better soon.”
The nurse threw away the leftover wrappers and left. A thought, one that I’d had before but had never paid much attention to, crept into my mind.
“Do you think I could do this?” I asked Arlene.
“This? ”
“Nursing,” I said. “Do you think I could become a nurse?”
Arlene raised her eyebrows. “I actually think that is a fantastic idea. Yes, absolutely, Kelsey. You could do this if you wanted.”
“You don’t think it’s silly?”
“Silly? No, why?” Arlene took my hand. “You are an intelligent young woman. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.”
“I’m almost thirty-four.”
“So?”
“I’m way too old to be a college student. Imagine how ridiculous I would look, sitting in a lecture hall between a bunch of fresh-faced high school grads.”
Arlene huffed. “Who cares?”
“I should probably focus on passing that GED test first. No point in putting the cart before the horse.”
“I’m sure you’ll ace it,” Arlene said. “And Quentin said so too.”