Blue Sky Cowboy Christmas by Joanne Kennedy

Author:Joanne Kennedy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2020-07-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 30

Riley jammed the button that summoned the hospital elevator and shifted from foot to foot, watching the lighted numbers fall, one by one, to her floor. It opened to reveal an orderly guarding a gurney that carried a patient-shaped mound, a nurse guiding an IV stand, and another pushing a cart loaded with complicated tech equipment. The group stared at her as if daring her to try to squeeze inside.

“Never mind,” Riley said. “I’ll take the stairs.”

She’d had to park on Level 5, so by the time she bounced down the stairs and racewalked to the information station on the ground floor, she must have looked a sight. The elderly woman wearing a volunteer badge gave her a slit-eyed look that was anything but welcoming.

Maybe it was her tattoos or the single silver ring on the arch of one eyebrow. She’d always considered her body art a tasteful expression of who she was, but older folks didn’t see it that way. Even Ed had taken a while to come around, saying he’d always associated tattoos with sailors.

“I’m looking for Ed Boone,” she said. “He’s a patient here.”

The woman blinked slowly, like a lizard. “Relation?”

“He’s my… He’s my dad.” Riley had never said those words out loud to anyone before, but she knew them to be true. Ed was her real dad, not the stranger who’d played sperm donor at her conception, not the various stepdads and so-called uncles who’d made her childhood a misery.

So why couldn’t she say the words out loud with more conviction? The woman was giving her the side-eye. “Really?”

“He’s… We live together. I took care of his wife, and now we take care of each other.”

The woman’s side-eye turned into downright disapproval.

“Shoot,” Riley mumbled. “That didn’t come out right.”

She’d never had trouble saying it before. She and Ed agreed that was the way their relationship worked, and nobody in Wynott questioned it. But somehow, Carol and Diane’s suspicions had made it into something ugly.

“Patient information is strictly confidential,” the woman said.

“Oh, I know.” Riley bounced on her toes, pleased she and Ed had prepared for this very situation. “But we filled out a form—a living will. He named me as his power of attorney.”

The woman narrowed her eyes behind her wire-rimmed glasses. “I wouldn’t know about that. I suggest you speak to his physician.”

“I think it’s on file. If you just…”

The woman stared Riley down. “Speak to his physician. Or perhaps a family member.”

“All right. I’ll…I’ll just go.”

Riley strolled as casually as she could to the big hospital directory. It looked like a menu board, but instead of listing turkey sandwiches and the soup of the day, it listed medical specialties she hoped she’d never need.

Urology, proctology… There. Cardiology.

That was where Ed would be. Second floor.

This time, the elevator was empty and waiting. Stepping inside, Riley checked out her reflection in the stainless-steel walls, which were warped like a fun-house mirror. Raising her coat collar, she tugged down her sleeves to cover her tattoos so she’d look more…normal.

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