An Unexpected Vacancy by Eryn Scott

Author:Eryn Scott [Scott, Eryn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kristopherson Press
Published: 2024-06-14T00:00:00+00:00

7

My heart broke as I thought through my morning. I’d been wandering around an arcade, asking questions about a man I didn’t even know while the one I loved had been hurt. The thought made my stomach lurch with discomfort.

“He’s stable?” Stable. It was the only word I wanted to clutch to out of all the ones Raymond had said.

There was a pause. “He’s out of surgery, but they’re keeping him under for a while.”

“Where is he? Did they airlift him?”

Possibilities warred in my heart. On one hand, Portland had one of the best hospitals in the state. On the other hand, Portland would mean a two-hour, white-knuckled drive.

“No. He’s in Alderbrook. He wasn’t … They couldn’t…” Raymond couldn’t seem to force himself to say what he meant, but I got the gist.

Owen wouldn’t have made it that long.

“I’m at the hospital, in the waiting room,” Raymond added.

I swallowed the bile that rose in my throat. Focusing on that one word, “stable,” I said, “We’ll be right there.”

I didn’t even need to look at Rosemary to ask if she could drive me. Her keys were already in her hand and she was walking me toward the car.

There weren’t very many people on the street, but my terrified state had caught the attention of the few who walked by. Rosemary’s complexion was ghostly, and I was sure I looked worse. At my mind’s use of the idiom, I scanned the street for the ghost who’d been with us, but she was nowhere to be seen. I didn’t have the energy to search for her more than that, however, and I let my focus slip back to the phone in my hand.

Raymond had hung up. Had I said goodbye? Was I still walking? Rosemary guided me into her car, rushing around to the other side. I noticed she lingered outside for just a moment to send a text, likely to Asher to fill him in, before climbing behind the driver’s seat and setting us on a course for the hospital.

“The Coastal Medical Center has a great reputation. Especially being close to the college, and now that they have the linked medical program, it attracts some amazing doctors.” Rosemary chattered nervously.

The part of my brain that needed a distraction concentrated on the change in my sister, even in the two years I’d known her. When I’d first met her, Rosemary’s default had been to hide, to stay silent, and to disappear into the background as much as possible so she wouldn’t be noticed.

Now, she was so much more self-assured and didn’t worry constantly if she was the center of attention. And when she was stressed, she was more likely to jabber instead of clam up like she used to.

I nodded along as she listed off facts about the hospital. Running out of those quickly, she moved on to state everything she knew about Alderbrook College as we drove over the river and into the town namesake of the very educational institution she was extolling.

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