Whitney in Charge (10 page)

* * *

Starbucks’ cups littered the various side tables in the waiting room. Regan sat in one chair, cell phone to her ear, beside her husband Casey. Shannon sat in an adjacent chair, her hands clenched in her lap with her husband Tim close by. Regan had introduced Shannon and Tim to him upon their arrival. He’d been surprised to see Shannon with yet a different color of hair and she was several inches shorter than Whitney and Regan. Ben guessed Tim was in his early forties. He had sandy blond hair and a pleasant smile.

Regan groaned out, “You’re kidding. How in the world did Channel Five get it on tape?”

Ben realized that if someone taped the rescue that meant they may have been close enough to help. Instead, they decided to just stand by and do nothing.

Regan closed her phone. “A guy had his camcorder because he’s going around the area filming neat waterfalls. He was on the trail opposite you and got Whit’s fall on tape. He saw you calling for help. I guess he came to the hospital and got more information. Then he called the news station about the accident. Myra, my mother-in-law, said they mentioned it will be on the eleven o’clock news.”

Ben shook his head. “Unbelievable.”

Casey turned to Regan. “I hope you three won’t want to buy this resort. More injuries might occur. I hate to think how much you’d have to pay for liability insurance.”

“Nothing like this has ever happened at the resort.” Ben looked Casey directly in the eye. “I hate it Whitney was hurt. You can’t imagine what it was like seeing her fall and hit the rocks. I won’t get this image out of my mind for a long time.”

Tim said, “I think we’re all on edge here, but hopefully we’ll know something about her condition soon.”

Shannon nodded. “I keep thinking how when she was little, she used to love to climb trees and she fell once several feet. I saw her fall and it scared me a lot. She never climbed trees again.”

Dr. Frank Hillman, a man Ben had worked with more than once, came through the swinging doors from the treatment area. He introduced himself to the others and paused when he saw Ben. “I’m surprised to see you here, Ben. I guess you know the patient.”

“He’s the reason she’s here,” Casey said, the scorn obvious in his voice. “He caused her to fall and get hurt.”

Ben clenched his teeth, feeling in some degree that he deserved her family’s anger.

Regan glared at Casey. “It was an accident. Ben couldn’t help it he slipped.”

“How was her CAT scan?” Ben asked.

“It looked okay but I want her to spend the night here due to her concussion.”

“Will she be able to go home tomorrow?” Shannon asked.

Dr. Hillman nodded. “I think so. Usually with a concussion just a short hospitalization is needed. I did put twenty-five stitches where the rock pierced her forehead.”

“Oh no, that’s a lot of stitches,” Regan frowned. “She’ll have a big scar.”

“I don’t think the scar will be noticeable,” Dr. Hillman said. “S
he can wear bangs over it. If it bothers her, she can certainly discuss options with one of our plastic surgeons.”

“Could her sisters go see her now?” Tim glanced at Regan and Shannon. “I’m sure they’re anxious to see her.”

“Actually all of you can see her for a few minutes except Ben. She wants to see him last by himself,” Dr. Hillman said.

Casey sneered, “I wonder why. Could it be she wants to tell you your hiking days with her are over?”

“Casey, lay off Ben,” Tim warned. “Look at him. He’s sick over what happened.” Tim gave Casey a slight push. “Come on, let’s go see Whitney.”

After they left, Dr. Hillman turned to Ben. “That guy sure has it in for you. Is he her brother or something?”

He shrugged. “He’s a brother-in-law. I just met Whitney and her one sister when I moved in. I met Casey at the zoo when I took Adam. He wasn’t too friendly. I’m not sure why he’s taken such a strong dislike to me.”

“I’m sorry your new friend got hurt.”

Ben nodded. “Me too. So what did you want to talk to me about? I’m sure it’s not about hiking with me sometime.”

Frank smiled. “I see you haven’t lost your sense of humor.” He sat in a chair next to Ben. “I’d like you to be the anesthesiologist for my sister’s surgery this week. Cora needs a second open-heart operation to install a new valve to replace a ruptured one.”

Ben had heard how Cora didn’t know she had a serious heart problem until age thirty-seven. Cora and her husband had two healthy girls. One day, while driving to pick up one of her daughters from soccer practice, Cora lost consciousness. She was diagnosed with a congenital atrial septal defect and had surgery. “I’m sorry she has to have heart surgery again. Let me know the time and if I’m scheduled for another one, I’ll switch so I can be in on hers.”

“Thanks, Ben. I was hoping I could count on you. I know it’ll be in a couple of days but not sure of the exact time.”

“What is she going to do about her television show?” He never watched Cora’s cooking program, but his sister Pam had mentioned it to him.

“They’ll show some repeat segments and a few times they’ll have guest chefs from area restaurants to help out.”

After they talked for a few more minutes, Ben went to see Whitney. He was glad her sisters and husbands were leaving. Regan squeezed his shoulder as she past him. She whispered, “She’s going to be fine. Don’t look so worried.”

“I hope so.”

Tim said, “This is why I always go golfing instead of hiking.” He patted Ben on the back. “I’m kidding. Whitney’s a tough woman.”

Shannon kissed Whitney on the cheek. “Either Regan or I’ll be here tomorrow to take you home. I love you, little sis.”

“I love you too,” Whitney replied. “And Casey, you better get back to the firehouse. I don’t want to be responsible for one of Cornett’s finest firefighters to be absent if duty calls.”

“I’ll visit you tomorrow when you get home and bring Lily. She’ll want to see you.” Casey waved to Whitney before following Regan out of the room.

Ben stood at the foot of her bed. She looked so pale except where she had some nasty looking bruises.

“Hey, I’m not contagious,” Whitney said. “You can move a little closer to me.”

He walked to the head of her bed and said, “I’m sorry you needed so many stitches on your forehead.”

“Well, it could’ve been worse and been a cheek or something.”

“I bet this was the worst date you ever had.”

With a straight face, she said, “Our relationship did get off to a rocky start.”

“I deserve that pun.”

She smiled at him. “So do I get dinner on the second date?”

In the living room Whitney smelled the heady scent of Ben’s pink roses. Shannon had moved the vase of flowers from the table in the foyer to set then on the end table next to her.
Whitney appreciated Ben’s thoughtfulness in having the flowers delivered so quickly after she’d arrived home from the hospital. She intended to tell him so when she spoke to him.

While relaxing on the dark blue leather couch, she said to Shannon, “I love getting flowers, but wish I’d gotten them without having to first fall off a mountain.”

Shannon grinned at Whitney. “Oh now, it’s a
mountain
you fell from. On future climbing trips, you better have a secure rope around your waist so you don’t fall.”

The phone rang before Whitney could tell Shannon what Gary had found after he investigated the trail. Shannon ordered, “Don’t move. I’ll get it for you.”

Shannon hurried back from the kitchen with the cordless phone. As Shannon handed it to her, Whitney said, “This is nice getting waited on. I should fall more often.”

“Hey, don’t get used to it. My service is for a short duration.”

She laughed as she took the phone, and glanced at the caller ID. “It’s Molly.”

Shannon frowned. “Great. She’s probably going to offer you more money to return to New York. We better get busy on our business.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not going back.” That part of her life was over, and she had no desire to return to New York to live. “Hi, Molly.”

“Hi, I saw what happened on our
competitor’s
late night news. How are you after being air lifted to the hospital?” Molly asked.

“I have twenty-five stitches, a few bruises but at least nothing’s broken.” She leaned against the back of the couch. She felt a bit dizzy. “I saw it on our local news, but never expected you’d see it in New York. And how did you know I’d be home?”

“I called the hospital first and they said you were released this morning.” Molly cleared her throat. “I have a favor.”

She figures since I flew on a helicopter, I can now fly on a regular plane to visit and
maybe end up staying to work in New York.
“No, thank you.”

Molly laughed. “You said no before hearing the favor. It’s not what you think. I’d love for you to be on the show when you’re all recovered.
The Bold News
could do a segment on the worst first dates. I thought we could lead off with you and have others on. What do you think?”

She couldn’t do that to Ben. “It’s a great idea but you don’t need me and can still find plenty of people with horrible first dates.”

“Not as unique as yours.”

“Ben already feels terrible about what happened. It’d be mean to go on TV to chat about how I got hurt on the first date with him.” Should she tell Molly about Jack? Sure, that was one way to get off the topic of humiliating Ben. “Something interesting came out of it, though.”

“Oh? What is it?”

“The paramedic was a guy I’ve been talking to on the phone, but we hadn’t met in person. His name’s Jack and he works with Casey. He actually asked me to dinner last night, but I already had the date with Ben.”

Molly squealed. “That makes the story even
better
. You had a chance to go out with the paramedic but didn’t. Then you two hooked up anyhow. You were meant to meet him last night. You have to say yes and be on the show.”

Her phone beeped signaling someone else wanted to talk to her. She was thankful for the excuse to get off the line and away from her friend’s crazy story ideas. “Molly, I have another call but thank you for calling. I’ll talk to you soon. I promise. Bye.”

Before Molly could argue, she hung up and picked up the waiting line. “Hello.”

“Hey, Whitney.”

She smiled and a warmth spread over her limbs at the deep quality of Jack’s voice. “Hi, Jack. Your ears must be burning because I was just talking about you.”

“Good stuff, I hope.”

“Yes, it was all good. Thanks for taking care of me before I got to the hospital.”

“You’re welcome. It was my pleasure rescuing such a beautiful woman. How are you feeling this morning?”

What a sweet man to call her. Of course, she’d label any guy sweet if he called her beautiful. Jack was so thoughtful to call her. “I have a headache and my body is sore, but it could’ve been worse so I’m not complaining.”

“We made the news but I’m guessing you heard about it.”

“I watched it last night in my hospital room. I can’t believe it was on the news. Is that really the most exciting bit of news they’ve got to air around here?” If she’d been the producer, an Air Care story would have made her news too, but she preferred to pass off her own story as nothing worth reporting.

“I know you can’t go out right now and need to rest, but I’d like to come over. We can watch a movie or something. I’ll bring dinner.”

Immediate panic hit her. The idea of dating was all well and good until she came face to face with it. Getting up the nerve to go with Ben to the resort had been hard, and that hadn’t turned out so great. Now she had to make a decision whether to see Jack. She’d thought about it a little after she had talked to him several times on the phone. Okay, maybe more than a little, but now she hesitated in answering. Just because she’d gone out with Ben, she didn’t know if she was ready to date another guy.
Oh Rob, why did you die? I want you here.

“I don’t know, Jack.”

“No need to say anything more,” he said quickly, but she heard the regret in his voice. “I guess I better let you get some rest.”

“Wait,” she said
quickly. “I need to explain. Last night was the first time I’d gone out with anyone for a long time.”

“That didn’t turn out so well,” he said with a sarcastic chuckle. “If you go out with me, I’ll make sure you don’t get hurt.”

She took a deep breath. Poor Ben. He wasn’t likely to live this down for a long time. “It’s like this…you know my husband died in Iraq. Right after he died, my mother became ill so I left New York to take care of her. She just passed away a few weeks ago.”

“You’ve been through a lot. I’m so sorry for your losses.”

“Thank you,” she said to the standard condolence. “I asked Rob not to go to Iraq, but he was determined to cover the news there.”

“I assumed your husband was a soldier,” Jack said slowly, his voice sounded distant like he was lost in thought. “Casey ne
ver said he was a reporter. Was... was your husband Rob Benson?”