Bobby Jo, the deli manager, and Lee, the assistant manager, were there. She heard Lee say, “I’ll go fetch his mother. Where are you taking him?”
“We’ll go to Sutter, but no guarantee he’ll stay there. He might need a specialist in the Bay Area.”
“Jake!” she cried, rushing to the gurney. “Jake!”
“Please stand back, ma’am,” a firefighter said. “Are you family?”
“No,” she said. “I mean yes, yes. I’m his best friend! What happened?”
Lee interceded, grasping her elbow to keep her from clambering into the ambulance just behind the gurney.
“Hang on, Addie,” Lee said. “Let them get him to the hospital.”
“What happened?”
“A whole wall of boxes crashed down on him. I don’t know how. Nothing like that has ever happened before. Knocked him out cold,” Lee said. “I wonder if he had a heart attack or something and ran the forklift right into the boxes? They were mostly canned goods. His head is bleeding. You can’t go with him. I’ll give you a ride after I pick up Beverly if you want—”
Addie took off at a dead run back to her house, back home where she could grab her car. Without a thought of anyone else, she rushed to get to Jake. She paused in her panic only for a second to remind herself that Lee would make sure Beverly got to the hospital. But at the moment all she could think about was making sure Jake knew she was there, knew she loved him, knew that the greatest loss of her life would be if she lost him.
How could I have wondered for a second? she thought miserably.
* * *
By the time she got to Sutter Hospital, he had been seen by a doctor and was having tests—a head CT, an EKG, a few other things, and they were considering sending him to UCSF.
“For surgery?” she asked the nurse. “Heart surgery?”
“Are you aware of some heart condition we should know about?” the nurse asked.
“No, only that his father died of a heart attack, and he wasn’t very old. Did you ask him about that?”
“He’s talking to the nurses and they’ll get a medical history. I’m afraid that’s all I can tell you,” the admissions nurse said. “He hasn’t named you as a family member.”
“Is he conscious?” she asked.
“He was fully conscious when he came in and was talking.”
“Can I see him? For just a second?”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry. This isn’t a good time for visitors. I’ll check with the doctor, but I’m sure the answer will be no. At least until they can figure out his injuries.”
“Please check, will you? And if I can’t see him, can you give him a message from me, from Addie?”
“I can try, but understand, he’s been medicated and they don’t want to get him excited.”
“Just tell him Addie is here and that I love him. That’s all. But that’s important, okay?”
“I’ll see what I can do. You can sit in this waiting room.”
“His mother,” Addie said. “Someone is bringing his mother...”
“Yes, there was a call. She’s on her way. This would be the best place to wait for her.”
“I’ll wait.”
It seemed a long wait, with Addie looking at her watch constantly. Every five minutes it seemed like twenty had passed. Then Beverly rushed into the ER and Addie embraced her. “Is he all right?” Beverly asked.
“I haven’t been able to see him. They’re running tests of some kind. On his head, I think.”
“Lee said heavy boxes fell on him and the forklift tilted onto its side. Let me see what the nurse will tell me.”
But aside from saying Jake seemed to be doing fine, the nurse didn’t have anything to report. Finally, after a half hour, Beverly was allowed to see her son. When she came out, she was smiling. “He has a big bandage on his noggin, and he said while he waits for test results, he’d like to see you. If you’re