Tara knew that look, recognized the tilt of his head, the parting of his lips. The next move was obvious: his lips hot on hers, his hands searing her through her clothes. All she had to do was shift slightly forward, offer herself, and they would surrender to each other, to the yearning they’d felt since they had seen each other again.
Her cell phone buzzed. Just like the day of the funeral on the hummingbird terrace, she took out her phone and saw Rita’s cell number on the display. She almost laughed. “You won’t believe this, but it’s Rita again. She’s got a sixth sense for keeping me out of trouble with you.”
Dylan fell back, away from her. Smiling, she said, “Hi, Rita! What’s up?”
“You’ll want to get here as quick as you can,” Rita said flatly. “Faye went into cardiac arrest. They revived her, but she’s not stable. Her husband and your mother are on their way.”
Tara’s entire body went electric. “Is she dying?” Her voice cracked.
“Just get here. Are you safe to drive?”
“Am I safe to drive...?” She caught Dylan’s gaze.
“I’ll take you,” he said.
Ice cold, her head buzzing, she told Rita she’d be there and hung up. “Faye’s heart stopped,” she said, her tongue thick in her mouth. “They brought her back, but they don’t know if she’ll live.”
“Let’s go,” he said, standing, giving her a hand to help her up. He gave her her purse, then guided her into his garage and held the door for her to climb up into his SUV. She was glad he was with her. Faye and Dylan had been heart and home to her. Tonight she might lose one of them forever.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
DYLAN PUSHED THE SUV above the speed limit, but Tara leaned forward, silently urging him to go faster. He roared through yellow lights and took turns so fast his tires squealed. It was warm in the car, but Tara was shaking with chills, gulping big breaths, her vision edged with gray. Every muscle was tight, as if her body believed that as long as she held on, Faye would, too. Don’t die, Faye. Don’t die. Please don’t leave me. The words were a mantra, a prayer in her head.
“If I lose her, I don’t know what I’ll do,” she said, staring straight ahead.
“She’s getting the best care there is. They’ll save her if they can.”
Tara hung on to his words, needing them to be true. Hurry! Hurry! She twisted her fingers in her lap as if that would make the wheels turn faster. Dizzy from lack of oxygen, she gulped more air, but it didn’t seem to help. She felt like she was breathing for Faye.
Dylan parked near the emergency entrance and they dashed inside, then had to wait for the elevator. She kept jabbing the call button as if that would make the slowest elevator on the planet get there sooner.
Dylan took her hand and squeezed it. “Whatever you need from me, you’ve got it. Anything.” His eyes brimmed with worry...and love.
Throat too tight to speak, she nodded. She felt abruptly steadier, stronger somehow, and her breathing evened out. She wasn’t alone. Dylan was with her.
In the ICU waiting room, Joseph and Rachel rose from their chairs to greet them, both ghostly pale.
“They found an aneurysm,” Joseph said. “She’s in surgery now.”
“How long?” Tara’s voice cracked.
Dylan put his arm around her shoulder and squeezed.
“No idea. We’re waiting for the surgeon to come out,” Joseph said.
Dylan walked Tara to a chair and they sat together. There were a half-dozen people in the waiting area, talking, reading or looking dazed. Dylan still held her hand. He rubbed slow circles on her back. That contact seemed to be the only thing that kept her sane.
They waited, the minutes ticking by like hours. Tara’s mother stared stonily ahead, her hair trembling from the tension in her thin body. Joseph fidgeted and paced, arms and legs disjointed as if he couldn’t feel them.
Finally a man in green scrubs stepped into the waiting area. “Joseph Banes?” He spoke to the room. Joseph stopped in his tracks. “That’s me.”
The rest of them jumped to their feet.
“It went as well as we could expect,” the doctor said. “She’s stable for now.”
“Is she still in danger?” Tara asked, her voice a thin thread of sound.
“Not immediately, no.” That was as encouraging as the man was going to get, Tara realized. Faye was alive. Tara had to hang on to that. As