home.” A sick feeling sank in my stomach as I said the words, which made absolutely zero sense.
“Now?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Are you going with Drake?”
I wasn’t sure why I felt defensive, but I did. “He has a plane.”
“Oh, he has a plane. How nice for him.” Gam was clearly not impressed.
“It’s not his plane, it’s Jan Henson’s. She’s the—”
“Did he apologize?” Gam interrupted, leaning on the countertop.
“Yes, but that has nothing to do with why I’m going back.”
“So, you’re not getting back together with him?”
“No. You remember I told you that I’ve been in contract negotiations? Well, they agreed to my terms.”
“So you’re just leaving?” She waved her hand.
“Gam, I was going to go back tomorrow, this is just one day earlier.”
“What about Beau?” she asked.
“What about Beau?!” I snapped back. I closed my eyes and blew out a breath. I was not going to take out my frustration on Gam. I just needed to calmly explain to her that this was the right thing to do. “I’m sorry, Gam, I was just…” I opened my eyes I and saw that Gam’s eyes looked glazed over and she was rocking backwards.
“Gam!” I dropped my purse and rushed to her as she collapsed onto the floor. “Gam! Gam!” I shouted but she wasn’t responding. Panic gripped me as I held her in my arms and fumbled for my phone to call 911. “Gam! Gam, wake up!”
She had to wake up. She had to.
Chapter 30
Beau
“Of course I talk to myself, sometimes I need expert advice.”
~ Barbara-Jean Nelson
When Rachel left, I sent Sasha a text asking if she was okay and when I did, I noticed the blisters forming on the pads of my fingers. From the time I’d gotten my first guitar at age eight, I’d had callouses from playing. But over the years they’d faded, healed. Now, I brushed my thumbs over my fingertips. It was so strange to feel the sensitivity from playing again. I knew that soon the skin would harden in a protective layer. It was sort of like a representation for my life.
“Hey.”
I looked up and saw my mom standing in the doorway.
“Hey.”
She walked in and lowered her voice. “I saw Rachel leave. She looked like she’d been crying. Are you okay?”
“If she was the one that was crying why are you asking if I’m okay?”
“Because she’s not my baby.”
I knew that it didn’t matter if I was in my thirties or my fifties, me and all my siblings would always be Dolly Briggs’ babies.
“We talked. It was good.”
Her brow arched. “Not too good I hope.”
I took a deep breath and looked down at the table. “I know you might not agree with this but we’re gonna give it another shot. I still have the ring but I’m not going to give it to her right away. I’m gonna wait at least a few months.”
She was silent, which was very unlike her. When I looked up I saw that all the color had drained from my mom’s face. Her lips were pursed, and her eyes looked like they were about to bug out of her head.
“Do you taste that?” I asked her sincerely.
“What?” Her brows furrowed.
“The blood from biting your tongue.” I smiled.
Her mouth dropped open and she threw a rolled-up napkin she’d had in her hand at my head. “You brat!”
I ducked before it beaned me in the forehead.
“You’re not funny.”
“I wish I would’ve recorded that. You should have seen your face.”
“So, you’re not getting back together, right?” I could tell that I’d actually shaken her a little bit, even joking about the subject.
“No, Mom.” I stood up and kissed her on the top of her head. “We’re not.”
She hugged me but then slapped my chest. “You think you’re funny, but you could have given me a heart attack.”
“We have a call!” Linc shouted into the break room. “Medical.”
He rushed out to the ambulance parked in the back of the station and I was right behind him. Wishing Well was a small town so all of the firefighters were also EMTs. When it was a non-fire call, we took the ambulance.
I jumped up and was in the passenger seat a moment before he pulled out. Instead of turning toward town, he made a left. The firehouse sat on the corner of a dead end with only a few houses on it. In all the years I’d worked for WWFD I’d never responded to a call in this direction.
“Mrs. Nelson collapsed. She’s down.” Linc sped the short distance