Chapter 33 Unconscious Luke
Hallie kept looking up at the clock in the hospital waiting room, as if watching it was going to make time go by any faster. But she didn’t know what else to do. She couldn’t focus on anything.
Luke had been taken by helicopter to a hospital in Austin. He was still unconscious, as far as she knew.
She thought of the last few days they spent together working at the ranch, eating donuts, and having a laugh as they teased each other. He wasn’t such a bad guy after all.
Her sweaty hand clutched a blue pen. She was supposed to fill out a form with Luke’s information for the hospital, but so far all she had written was his name.
The last person she expected to see walked through the doorway. Normally, she couldn’t imagine Terry coming all the way to the city just to visit her, but these weren’t normal times.
“Don’t worry,” Terry said, swaggering across the room and plonking down on the vinyl-covered seat next to her, “I’m only here because mama and daddy wanted me to check up on you, and being a good sister, I obliged.”
“Oh, that makes sense,” Hallie said almost blankly. She was too tired to be annoyed by Terry.
“How’s the patient?” Terry asked.
“I don’t know. They’re going to check him out soon. He’s already been moved to a separate room.”
“Oh.” Terry seemed to look sympathetic for a moment. “The guys were saying he got hurt quite bad. I know you must be pretty shaken up by this, even if he is a fake boyfriend.”
Hallie smiled a tiny bit. “Let the record show, I have never admitted that your theory about this fake relationship has any basis in reality.”
“When you say stuff like that, I know it’s fake!”
“I see you haven’t told anyone yet.”
“Yeah, I thought about it,” Terry said, stretching casually in her seat.
“But maybe I enjoy holding it over your head. Or maybe I’m waiting until you take it so far that there’ll be no going back without making a complete fool of yourself in front of mama and daddy.
Of course, if you release your right to the ranch, you wouldn’t have to worry about what I’m planning. ”
“I don’t negotiate with blackmailers,” Hallie said, lifting her chin proudly.
Maybe the only thing that prevented Terry from revealing the truth about the fake relationship was the fear that their mama would disown them both.
Hallie thought she could trust the truce for now, but how long before Terry found some way to use her secret against her?
“Relax, the truce is still on,” Terry said. “I’m not about to kick you when you’re down.”
“Funny, I thought that was exactly your style,” Hallie said.
“Since you’re turning into the bad sister, maybe I’m becoming the good sister who is above such dirty tactics.”
“I can only hope,” Hallie said sarcastically.
“Let me get you a coffee,” Terry said, getting up suddenly. This was weird: she was never this helpful.
“French vanilla,” they both said at the same time.
“Coming right up,” Terry said with a smile. It was also weird that she remembered what Hallie’s favorite flavor was. Their mama usually didn’t keep such things in mind, too occupied with running the ranch. It was probably just that Terry was nosy. Very little information escaped her.
In a couple of minutes, she came back with a steaming coffee cup.
“Thanks,” Hallie said. The drink was comforting, and she didn’t mind that it was from a vending machine. Sometimes those cheap coffees were the best.
“You know, if you were going to pick someone to be your pretend boyfriend, you could have chosen someone who knows how to ride,” Terry said, evidently unable to keep her mouth shut for more than a few seconds.
“He does know how to ride. It’s not his fault those idiots gave him a wild horse. By the way, did they catch a wild horse just to play this prank on him?”
“Yep, so the rumor goes.”
The sound of male voices filtered down from the hallway, and a whole group of cowboys entered the waiting room. They were led by Paul, with Ken and a few guys trooping in and standing awkwardly at the entrance.
“Seriously?” Hallie said.
They took off their hats, looking sheepish.
“We’re really sorry,” Paul said.
“Yeah,” Ken added, “We came here to apologize to Luke. How is he doing? Is he okay?”
“Sit down and wait over there,” Terry commanded, “Hallie doesn’t want to see your faces right now.”
The guys did as they were told, sitting in the back corner of the waiting room where Hallie couldn’t see them.
The doctor still hadn’t come, and it had been over three hours. Was there something seriously wrong with Luke?