The Big 5-Oh! (20 page)

“Becky, I’ve been thinking about it, and I’m going to see if I can change my plane reservation to come back this weekend. I’ll be back at work on Monday.”

“You will?”

“Yes. I appreciate your patience with me.”

“I’ll let Valerie know you’ll be back, Olivia. I think she’ll be very happy.”

“Becky, can you tell me something?” Liv began, and then she paused to pull the words together in her head. “You mentioned staffing problems in one of your messages, and I was wondering if you could tell me … how widespread are the shortages?”

“Oh, we’re down an employee or two in virtually every department at the moment, Olivia.”

“What about the pediatric clinic? Are you short there too?”

“Let me check,” Becky said, and Liv could hear the turning of pages through her cell phone. “Yes, we’re down two nurses and one doctor.”

“Do you think there would be any chance that I could transfer to the clinic?”

“Well … I don’t know. I’d have to look into that.”

“I’ll be back on Monday morning at 7 a.m. Maybe I could come and sit down with you on my lunch break, and we could have a chat about what I’d need to do to make that happen?”

“I’m writing you on my calendar right now.”

“Thank you so much.”

A little surge of excitement coursed through her as Liv made her way back toward the lobby. It was a relief to find that Sarah
and her mom were no longer seated there, but she stopped at the desk just to make sure.

“The little girl and her mother,” she said to the nurse behind the desk. “Are they being seen?”

“About ten minutes ago, yes.”

“Great. Thank you very much.”

Liv dialed her phone and folded into one of the leather chairs in the lobby.

“Yes, I have a flight from Fort Myers to Cincinnati on Tuesday. But I need to change that to tomorrow. Can you help me with that?”

“I’m so sorry, Liv. I just can’t leave him right now.”

“I understand, I really do,” Liv said, and then she moved in closer to Jared. On a whisper, she added, “But please don’t make me go with Georgia. I can call a taxi.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he replied. “She lives five miles from our neighborhood.”

“You don’t understand, Jared. She hates me.”

“Hates you! She doesn’t hate you.”

“Are you really that dense?” she asked, wringing her hands.

“Olivia. It's a ride home. That's all.”

Liv imagined a dozen different terrors in the space of those next ten seconds.

Georgia laughed maniacally as she sped the wrong way down a one-way street at more than a hundred miles per hour. Sprouting horns through her platinum blonde hair, she clenched the steering wheel and turned toward Liv with narrowed, glowing red eyes.

“Did you really think I was going to let you take him from me? Did you? DID YOU??”

“Please, Jared. I’d much rather call a taxi.”

“A taxi!” Georgia exclaimed, as she walked over to them. “Don’t be silly.” Turning to Jared, she smiled like the cat thanking her host for the luscious canary appetizer. “I’ll see her safely home. Are you ready, Olivia?”

Liv's heart bounced against her chest, and she turned to Jared, wide-eyed and hopeful that he would read the horror there.

Jared stepped forward, put a hand on each of her shoulders, and looked down into her eyes. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am about this. But I just can’t leave him until Dr. Morgan arrives to consult. I’m guessing Clayton will need surgery sooner rather than later.”

Liv sighed. “I understand.”

“Don’t be that way,” he replied with a grin. “Don’t understand. It's your birthday, and all of our plans—”

“Jared, as you know, I’ve had far worse things happen to me on my birthday than spending it alone with a flatulent dog.”

He laughed out loud and pulled her into an embrace. Liv didn’t care if Georgia was watching—and oh, she was watching all right! Liv slipped her arms around Jared's neck and returned the hug.

“Call me when you’re through?” she murmured into his ear. “No matter when it is. Okay?”

“I promise. If you’ll do something for me.”

Liv stepped back and looked at him. “All right. What?”

“Put the candles on that cake and make a wish before the day ends.”

“Oh, I’d rather wait.”

“It has to be on your birthday, Liv. Promise.”

“I promise.”

“And I’ll still try and make it there before the day fades completely away.”

“I hope so,” she said. “My flight home is tomorrow at noon.”

“Ah,” he groaned. “Really?”

“I had to.”

“Liv, I’m so sorry.”

“Ready then?” Georgia asked her, and Liv nodded.

Jared squeezed her elbow, and his hand brushed all the way down her arm and to her fingertips as Liv turned and followed Georgia toward the door. She grieved the sparks of their lost touch as their fingers parted, and she looked back only once and only long enough to return Jared's smile.

“So, did I hear Jared say this is your birthday?” Georgia asked as they pulled out to the main road.

“Yes.”

“Well, happy birthday.”

Liv almost burst out laughing but refrained at the last moment. “Thank you,” she managed instead.

“I guess you two had plans.”

“Snorkeling.”

“At least that explains what you’re wearing.”

Liv couldn’t help herself, and she let out a chuckle. “What? You don’t like it? I thought it was what all the nurses were wearing.”

Georgia glanced over at her, curiosity crackling.

“Yes,” Liv said, “I’m a nurse too.”

“I had no idea.”

“I worked in the O.R. until I had some health problems. I start back on Monday, and I’m hoping to be transferred to the pediatric clinic when I get back. At least, I hope to have that chance if there's an opening for me.”

Why am I blathering my whole life story to this woman?

“You did have a way with that little girl in the waiting room.”

“I love kids.”

“Do you have any?”

“No. You?”

“Two daughters. They’re grown and living in Charlotte.”

The clackety-clack of tires against highway filled the space of the next couple of minutes while Liv tried to figure out what she was doing trapped in a car, sitting next to the one person who disliked her more than anyone else in the whole state of Florida.

“Looks like we’re gonna get some rain,” Georgia commented, and Liv glanced at the churning sky while Georgia clicked on the radio just as the weatherman said:

“… could turn out to be our first tropical storm of the season. I don’t see this turning into an actual hurricane, but I do feel pretty confident that we’re going to see some very serious storm activity within the next twenty-four hours.”

“Boy, oh, boy, oh, boy,” Georgia declared as she turned down the sound.

“The storms sure do kick up quick and out of nowhere down here.”

“That's the Florida motto,” she replied in her thick Southern drawl. “If you don’t like the weather, kindly wait an hour.”

As if on cue, huge droplets of rain began to pour from the turbulent gray sky, pelting the windshield with thunderous conviction. Georgia flipped on her headlights and turned the wipers to their full speed. “Oh, my!” she exclaimed as a sudden burst of wind pushed the car until it rocked.

“Do you think we should pull over until it calms down?” Liv asked.

“We’ll be at your house in just a few minutes. I think that's our best bet if we just take it slow and steady.”

Liv grasped her seatbelt and squinted to keep a closer lookout on the road ahead, and then she gasped as six feet of tree
branch bounced across the road in front of them. Georgia barely missed it as she swerved and navigated around it, and then she and Liv released harmonious sighs of relief.

When they finally pulled to a stop in Josie's driveway, Liv reached over and clutched Georgia by the wrist for a moment, out of instinct.

“Well, that was quite a ride, was it not?” Georgia breathed.

“Indeed!”

“I’ll wait here until you get safely inside.”

“Georgia, I’m thinking you should come in until the storm lets up.”

“You go ahead, Olivia. I live nearby.”

“Are you sure?”

Georgia nodded.

Liv hopped out of the car, grateful for the reprieve but still dreading sending someone back out into the storm, even if that someone was Georgia. She hadn’t yet reached the curve of the sidewalk when a strange hissing noise drew her attention back to the driveway. Before she could even turn around, a crash sounded, and then she heard a scream.

Liv stood there with both hands over her mouth, her heart pounding and her breath sputtering.

Georgia's eyes were as wide and round as plates. A large tree had crashed down on the back of her car, and caved-in the metal down to the backseat.

“Are you okay?” Liv yelled.

“Yeah,” Liv muttered as she ran toward the car and yanked at Georgia's door to open it. “This is more like it.”

“What? What did you say?”

“I was just thinking that this is much more like the birthday I was expecting.”

Prudence's donkey eyes were so wide that they ached! Despite the fact that the winds blew in great gusts, and every tree bent over beneath them, the creatures in the clearing stood shoulder to shoulder around her.

“What are they doing?” she brayed at Horatio. “What's happening?”

“You’re being protected from the winds of change,” her owl friend explained. “Your friends are shielding you.”

“But why?”

“Because they know it needs to be done.”

B
oofer stood before Georgia, snarling and barking like a machine gun.

Ratta-tat-tat-tat-tat.

“Boofer, please,” Liv snapped. “Be quiet. I’m sorry,” she told Georgia. “Just ignore her and come on in.”

Georgia slipped the door shut behind her and then leaned on it as she watched the dog with caution.

“Boofer! Enough!”

Liv figured she must have struck just the right tone when Boofer's change of heart was immediate.

“She's been in the house all day. I’m going to take her out for a quick second. Just relax on the sofa, and I’ll put some coffee on before we lose power.”

Liv clipped the leash into place on Boofer's collar and stood at the trunk of her car near the edge of the open garage while the dog sniffed at the nearby grass and considered doing her business despite the sideways spray of rain and wind working against her.

Georgia's mangled Camry was tucked up close enough to the back of Liv's rental that there was no possibility of getting it out to take the woman home. Wasn’t this just too perfect! She was trapped with Georgia Brown on her fiftieth birthday.

And the birthday curses blaze on.

I’m sure you think you’re hilarious, she told the Lord in silence. But this is so not funny.

Boofer led Liv back through the garage, and she flicked the button to close the door. As she entered the house, Liv freed the dog from her leash and headed into the kitchen to start the coffee, but she found Georgia there with a pot already brewing.

“I thought I’d lend a hand,” she said. “Coffee sounded pretty good.”