Chapter 6
Stone Cottage
Gulf Shores, Alabama
After hanging up with Joules, Taylor gave Edna’s little magic food number another call.
This time, she ordered a grown-up meal, salmon, asparagus, and a salad.
She resisted the urge to order another ridiculously sugary, inappropriately named drink.
Instead, she opted for the most expensive Chardonnay they had.
The restaurant agreed to drop the food off at her cottage, so she packed up and headed back to shower.
She had just finished dressing in her last set of clean clothes when the doorbell rang.
Taylor thanked the delivery boy and gave him a stupid, crazy tip.
Now that she knew Bennett was footing the bill for her little hideout pity party, she wanted to spend as much money as possible. The more it cost him, the better.
This was the first real meal she had eaten in days, and luckily, she only drank two glasses of wine.
A vast improvement over the last few days.
She watched a sappy rom-com and then turned in early.
She was emotionally exhausted and physically spent.
She slept like a baby and woke the next day starving.
Taylor contemplated calling Edna’s magic number again but decided against it.
Better to get herself together and start taking responsibility for feeding herself.
Dressing quickly, she made a list of what food staples she would need for the rest of the week and headed back into town.
There, Taylor hit up a local grocer and stocked up on several healthy meal options.
She still had several more days at the beach, so she bought enough food to see her through.
The shopping center also had a sporting goods store next to it.
As Taylor headed back to her car, loaded down with bags of food, she walked by the store window and spotted her favorite brand of running shoes.
After putting her bags in the car, she went into the store and was pleasantly surprised to find not only a new pair of running shoes but also all of the running gear, sports bras, and socks she needed to run at the beach.
Back at the cottage, Taylor put away her purchases.
She fixed herself a quick lunch and then found a spicy romance and read for a few hours.
It was not the type of book Taylor typically read as it was quite explicit, bordering on smut.
She knew that Joules would say she was being a prude.
The more she read, the more shocked she became.
She was unsure if she was more shocked that the book was Edna Stone’s cottage or what the characters were doing to each other.
She wondered if Edna had read it. Taylor could not imagine the stuffy old lady reading such a racy book.
As she read, images of Bennett and Poppy began filtering through her mind.
Slowly, their faces began to replace the images of the characters in the book.
Seeing Bennett and Poppy doing all the various explicitly described acts suddenly made Taylor sick to her stomach.
Throwing the book down, she went to her room and quickly put on her new running gear.
She did some light stretching and then took off down the beach, trying to outrun the sexual images of Poppy and her husband dancing through her head.
Usually, Taylor ran about four miles a day without any problems. But not today.
A quarter of a mile into her jog, she had to stop.
She literally could not breathe. With her hands on her knees to support herself, she was gasping for air.
Her chest hurt, and her heart was racing.
She was sweating like she had just run a marathon.
Suddenly, there was a roaring in her ears.
For a second, she was afraid she was going to faint.
All around her, the ocean roared ashore, and the sun was softly setting.
Yet, she was not aware of any of it. It took every bit of concentration she had just to put one foot in front of the other.
The emotional upheaval of the last few days was physically affecting her ability to breathe.
After a few minutes of trying to catch her breath, Taylor put her hands on her hips and tried again.
Only this time, she was walking. She could not believe that the one time in her life she needed to run, she couldn’t.
Suddenly, the pain in her chest hurt so bad that she clutched it.
She could feel herself falling face-first into the sand but could do nothing to stop it. And then there was nothing but black.
Gulf Shores Regional Hospital
Gulf Shores, Alabama
March 2012
When Taylor came to, she was lying on a hospital bed.
All around her, machines were beeping, and lights were flashing.
She was still wearing running shorts and shoes, but her T-shirt was gone.
Her bright pink sports bra was still in place, but it was pulled so far down that her breasts were fully exposed.
The wires attached to her chest were connected to one of the machines that was beeping loudly.
She tried to sit up, but a sharp pain cut across her chest.
“Ouch, that hurts,” she groaned, lying back on the bed, holding her chest.
“Easy there, sport.” At that moment, the most beautiful man Taylor had ever seen stepped over and patted her arm.
“Where am I? How did I get here?” Taylor looked around the room, trying to remember what had happened as the pain in her chest began to subside.
“You are at Gulf Shores Regional Hospital. I am Doctor Stone, a heart specialist who happened to be on call when you were brought in. You passed out while running. The paramedics thought you were having a heart attack and brought you here. Do you remember going for a run or an ambulance ride? A couple of kids found you. Can you tell me what happened?” As he talked, he shined a small bright light into her eyes.
“I had just started running when all of a sudden, I couldn’t breathe and had a sharp pain in my chest. That is the last thing I remember.” She could hardly believe that she had been in an ambulance and didn’t remember anything about it.
The gorgeous doctor smiled and said, “Well, an ambulance brought you in a few minutes ago. You were out cold. You gave us all a real scare until we were able to hook you up to the heart monitor to see if it was a heart attack or not.”
“A heart attack?” Taylor croaked. This was all she needed. She was going to die in a little hospital in Alabama all alone.
Shaking his head and laughing lightly, the doctor replied, “No, you are not having a heart attack. Your EKG looks great. I think you might have gotten overheated or something. Is that possible? Did you get too hot while running?”
“No, I had just started running. I didn’t go more than a quarter of a mile before I started having trouble breathing and having this pain in my chest. I usually run at least four miles almost daily with no problem.”
Nodding, the doctor gave her a questioning look and asked, “Okay, any chance you could be pregnant?”
At that, Taylor all but snorted and said, “No chance. I am not pregnant. It’s not possible.”
The doctor responded by asking, “Are you sure? It won’t take but a minute to check.”
“Positive! No, I am not pregnant, and I wasn’t overheated. What else could be causing me to have chest pains and shortness of breath?”
“Well,” the doctor said, “it was probably just a panic attack. You are young and healthy. All of your vitals are good. The EKG was clean. Have you been under a lot of stress lately? Stress can cause them, and they can be very painful and make you think you are going into cardiac arrest.”
Taylor’s first thought was to say, “You have no idea.” But, what she said instead was, “Actually, yes, I am. Do you think that is what caused it? Too much stress?” She was trying to sound calm and relaxed when she felt anything but.
Well, that was just great. Bennett’s little affair turned out to be the gift that kept giving. First, it broke her heart and gave her a healthy dose of hurt and humiliation. Now, she was having painful panic attacks from all the stress. What is next?
On hearing she was not having a heart attack, Taylor was equal parts embarrassed and relieved.
She certainly didn’t want to have a heart attack, but it was beyond embarrassing to have been brought to the ER for a panic attack.
Bennett and Joules were going to have a fit; so much for her keeping a low profile and not attracting attention.
Trying to sound in control, Taylor said, “I don’t know what to say. I have never had a panic attack before. Is there anything I can do to keep it from happening again?”
Suddenly realizing she was not going to die, Taylor became very aware of her state of undress. Her breasts were displayed for all to see. She tried to pull the bra back up as much as possible, but the wires still left gaping holes.
Seeing her discomfort with the wires, the handsome doctor walked over and began to undo them.
None of which did anything to reduce Taylor’s stress level regarding her boobs hanging out.
Having the hunky doctor’s hands all over her chest, she was worried she might have another panic attack at any moment.
It had been a long time since any man put his hands on her breasts.
Just because he was a doctor didn’t make it any less uncomfortable.
The doctor was very professional; it was just Taylor’s sense of modesty kicking in and stressing her out.
Speaking in a smooth and easy manner, the doctor said, “If you have been under a lot of stress lately, that is probably what is causing it.
I have some patients that I need to see about, but before I go, I will leave you some scripts for anxiety and pain should you have another one.
“ He continued to remove the leads and wires and straighten her clothes.
“You will probably be quite sore for a few days. That is normal. Just take it easy.”
Handing Taylor her T-shirt that had been removed earlier, he added, “Running is a great way to reduce stress. I think with the anti-anxiety meds, you will have yourself running again in no time. But, you might want to start by just walking at first, though, to see how you feel. If you are doing okay, I see no reason for you not to resume your normal running routine. I will get those prescriptions for you. If you have any questions, the nurse will be happy to answer them.”
“No, I am good. I think I got it,” said Taylor as she continued to struggle to get her modest C-cup boobs back into her suddenly very tiny sports bra.
“Good, the nurse will come back in and get some information from you since you didn’t have any ID when you arrived. Good luck…um, I didn’t get your name earlier,” the doctor walked over to the door and stood.
Not wanting to use her real name, Taylor smiled and said, “TJ.” It wasn’t a lie. Tatum had always called her that, and so did Joules.
Nodding, the gorgeous doctor said, “Good luck, TJ, and let us know if you need anything else,” as he walked out the door.
Taylor quickly put the T-shirt back on. A nurse wearing a nametag that said Beth appeared almost instantly. The nurse explained that the doctor had been called away but that he had communicated all the necessary information to another doctor on staff who was currently writing her prescriptions.
The nurse gave Taylor several forms to complete.
Not wanting this incident to be fodder for the press, either now or later, Taylor decided to use only her maiden name and not to give her insurance information.
She would pay for everything herself. She kept a credit card in her maiden name for when she wanted to fly under the radar.
She promised to come by the next day and pay the bill in full.
Hopefully, that would keep the press from being able to find her if the story broke.
Once all the necessary forms were completed, the nurse took them and went to get Taylor’s prescriptions.
Within thirty minutes, Taylor was in the back of a taxi headed to the cottage.
Once she was home, she considered filling her prescriptions, but she decided to wait to see if she had another panic attack before doing so.
She hated taking medicine of any kind. With that decision made, she fixed herself some dinner and spent the rest of the evening resting and watching reruns of seventy and eighties television shows.
She decided not to tell Bennett or Joules about her embarrassing adventure.
It was bad enough to be rushed to the hospital with a panic attack, but she didn’t need those two freaking out about it.
She was definitely not up to listening to Bennett acting all concerned when he was the one who had started this whole mess in the first place.
So, instead, she just took care of herself.
And it felt good to know she was capable of doing that.