Playing for Keeps by Taryn Leigh Taylor

Author:Taryn Leigh Taylor [Taylor, Taryn Leigh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taryn Leigh Taylor
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

It was eight thirty-three p.m. on the second longest day of his life when Eric finally burst through the door of the hospital and headed for the elevator. The familiar sterile smell of antiseptic reminded him forcefully of the longest—the day his grandmother had suffered a heart attack.

But at least that day he was with her, holding her hand in the ambulance, waiting at the hospital when the doctor came out to tell him exactly what had happened.

He hit the button for the fifth floor several times in rapid succession before the door finally lumbered closed behind him.

Today he’d been in Calgary by the time Rebecca had called him with the news that his grandmother had fallen in the shower and broken her wrist. She’d insisted that Grams was doing fine, and there was no need for him to hurry back, but there was zero chance he was going to be able to rest until he’d seen his grandmother with his own eyes.

The coaching staff had been very understanding when he told them the news, and Eric had headed straight from the Saddledome to the airport and booked himself on the first flight back to Portland he could find.

When the elevator door finally slid open, he turned to the right in search of room 522. Before he had a chance to check numbers, he caught sight of Rebecca sitting in a chair in the hallway. The fact that she’d stayed, that she hadn’t left his grandmother alone, meant everything. He hurried toward her. “How is she?”

Rebecca got to her feet as he approached. “She’s good. Tired, but good. They’re going to keep her for a couple of days because of the swelling and her medical history, but she’ll be fine.”

It was nothing she hadn’t told him over the phone, but seeing her, hearing it from her in person, it finally sank in. His grams was going to be okay.

Eric pulled Rebecca into his arms, burying his face in her neck and just let himself wallow in the moment of relief as she hugged him back. He’d been a mess since the phone call, but now, in her arms, he felt solid again.

“Thank you for being here.” He pulled back, held her face in his hands. Kissed her. Wished he could keep kissing her. Things felt alright when he was kissing her. It took a lot to pull away.

He gestured to the door. “She’s in here? Can I see her?”

“Of course, but Eric, there’s something you should probably know…”

He was already through the door by the time Rebecca got to his name, and the sight of his grandmother in the hospital bed brought back awful memories of a time when he’d thought he was going to lose her.

She’s fine, he reminded himself, chanting it in his brain like a mantra, desperate to believe it. This wasn’t like the last time.

Gone was the incessant beeping of the heart monitor, the Vader-esque rush of the oxygen tank, and the IV pole standing sentinel beside her bed.

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