Incident at the Inn by J.C. Wing

Author:J.C. Wing [Wing, J.C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-03-12T00:00:00+00:00

11. BACK TO CHILDHOOD

Theo sipped at her coffee and watched Trix pick at the scrambled eggs Jordan had brought to her. He’d made a trip to the cafeteria and filled three Styrofoam containers with somewhat edible breakfast fare. In addition to the eggs, there were hash browns, strips of greasy bacon and stale chocolate doughnuts.

“Is this cheese?” Trix asked.

Jordan leaned forward to see what she was pointing at. “Could be,” he replied. “My advice to you is don’t think about it too hard.”

When Theo spotted Delaney at the end of the corridor, she put her coffee on top of an outdated Entertainment Weekly and stood up. Her boots were still resting by the couch, and she hadn’t thought to bring any other shoes, so her footsteps were silent as she walked toward her friend.

“Patty made it through surgery,” Delaney said, and Theo threw her arms around her.

“Thank you …” Theo breathed, another wave of emotion washing over her.

“Come on,” Delaney said, moving them back toward the waiting room.

Mamie was standing up, her eyes on Delaney.

“The surgeon is coming,” Delaney told her. “The only news I have is that she’s critical but stable right now.”

The two of them sat down in the same place Theo had just vacated.

“Have you eaten anything?” Jordan asked Delaney.

“A granola bar. Way too much coffee.”

“Here,” he said holding his breakfast out to her.

“It’s probably best to stay away from the eggs. I think that’s cheese mixed in, but I can’t be sure,” Trix warned her.

Delaney gave her a tired smile. “I appreciate the warning.” She took a slice of bacon and eyed the doughnut. “This hardly stands up to Theo’s cooking.”

“Just think of it as fuel,” Jordan told her. “Take some more bacon. You need the protein. You can’t keep going if all you’ve eaten is a granola bar.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Delaney joked, taking a second slice.

“Mamie Murphy?”

“That’s me,” Mamie said standing up.

“I’m Doctor Thornton.” He offered his hand and Mamie took it. He looked to be in his late forties, possibly early fifties, and he had dark hair and wore black rimmed glasses. “Your daughter has been through a lot,” he said. “Come sit and I’ll take you through what happened during surgery.”

For the next ten minutes, the doctor talked about both a ruptured spleen and lung, damaged liver and kidneys and the need to collect Patty’s vaccination records. Theo thought she heard something about Patty’s risk of serious infection, antibiotics and facial lacerations. Patty had suffered twenty-six broken bones, including her cheek bone, lower jaw, a collar bone and her pelvis.

Theo heard Trix gasp, and she blinked, trying hard to concentrate on everything the doctor was saying, but a buzzing had started in the back of her head as soon as they’d all sat down, and the longer the man talked, the louder the buzzing got. She heard the words femur, tibia and fibula, and sweat began to pop along her hairline. There was more buzzing, and Theo’s head began to pound.

When she heard Dr.

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