Washed Away (17 page)

“Will someone let him know?” Cheryl asked. “Noah, I mean.” A germ of an idea sparked in her mind. “I could call him….”

“The trauma surgeon in Houston is doing it now. He wanted to congratulate him himself. So you’ve got nothing to worry about except yourself. Can I go and arrange your admission?”

As if in answer, a violent spasm of coughing racked Cheryl’s tired, aching body and she clutched her sore ribs. The tears she’d held in check had no option but to fall, and thankfully Rachel seemed to realize that she wanted to be left alone. Placing a box of tissues in her lap the doctor slipped out of the cubicle.

B
ECAUSE THE STAFF
looked after their own, Cheryl was admitted to a pretty sideroom on the top floor of the hospital. From her bed she could glimpse the endless white sandy beach of Courage Bay, the pounding sapphire of the Pacific Ocean as deep and hypnotic as Noah’s eyes. As she slipped between the cool sheets, an orderly placed a tray of food in front of her and a young nurse came and introduced herself as Angeline as she hooked Cheryl up to her IV antibiotics.

“I don’t need to tell you how this works,” she said with a smile, placing the call bell on the table beside Cheryl. “But according to the notes in Admitting, I do need to remind you that you’re to use it! Apart from bathroom privileges, you’re not to get out of bed, so don’t think twice about pressing the call bell if you need anything.” She went through the admission list effi
ciently, only stalling when she saw the next-of-kin Cheryl had listed. “Your mom’s in New York? Is there anyone closer we can contact if we need to?”

Cheryl shook her head. “No relatives. But the staff downstairs in Emergency know I’m here, and I’ve already called my neighbor to let her know I’ll be away for a couple more days.”

“Anyone else you need to call?”

For a second Cheryl’s mind drifted to Noah. She needed to talk to him, to hear his voice, to tell him where she was, but she didn’t even know his number. She’d have to go through the operator just to get it, and that realization spoke volumes for Cheryl.

Noah might as well be on the other side of the world.

So instead she shook her head at Angeline’s offer, managing a weak smile as the nurse headed out of the room.

Lying in the pretty pastel-painted room, Cheryl watched the antibiotics dripping in. For the first time in a long while, she had nothing to do. No trips to the gym to pound the treadmill, or a yoga session to supposedly relax. No combing the shops for organic strawberries to add to her morning smoothie, no trips to the salon for her hair, or maybe a facial or manicure if she could find the time.

And if those rituals sounded vain, Cheryl knew they weren’t. They had more to do with order than vanity.

A semblance of control in the chaos her life had become.

R
ACHEL, DAMN HER
, was right, Cheryl mused as the days dragged by, her temperature still spiking in the
early hours just to thwart her hopes of being discharged. Noah was right—Cheryl didn’t let anyone close. Sure, she had friends, acquaintances, but since her parents’ marriage had ended, since Joe had cheated on her, since she’d lost her husband, her lover and her childhood memories in one fell swoop, there hadn’t really seemed much point in letting people in, only to have them leave.

“Hey.” Angeline was back; bright and breezy, makeup immaculate as she placed a thermometer in Cheryl’s ear. “Normal.” She smiled. “If you can just keep that temperature of yours down tonight, you could be home tomorrow.”

“Sounds good.” Cheryl smiled back, and Angeline noticed.

“You look better, and I’m not just talking about your observations being normal now, you really do look better.”

“I feel better,” Cheryl admitted. “As much as it galled me at the time, Rachel was right to admit me. You know, I think I’ve been running on empty for the past six months. I’ve forgotten how good it feels to be rested.”

“Your bruises are all gone, too,” Angeline commented, listening to Cheryl’s chest, then settling her back on the pillows. “Maybe I should check myself in for a few nights. I could use a bit of downtime.”

“There are better ways.” Cheryl grinned, but then her voice grew more serious. “Take time off if you need it, Angeline. I’ve been watching everyone while I’m here and I’ve decided that medical staff are so busy rushing around worrying about other people, they for
get about themselves. We’re very good at giving advice, but not so good at taking it.”

“Don’t do as I do, do as I say?” Angeline laughed. “That’s what my father used to tell me.”

“Mine, too.” Cheryl smiled, and it hit her then how she never really spoke about him. Despite his faults, despite the sham of his marriage, when all was said and done, her father had been a good dad. By shutting out the pain, Cheryl realized she’d also wiped out a lot of love.

Noah had been right again.

Lying back on the pillow, she stared out the window. The waves drifted in, high tide drawing near as again her mind drifted to Noah.

“Oh, I nearly forgot.” Fishing in her pocket, Angeline pulled out a piece of paper. “Dr. Sherwood, one of the first-year residents from Emergency, dropped by but you were asleep.”

“Amy? Is she back at work?”

“No, she’s here visiting her aunt. Apparently she’s not well at all. She thought you might want to catch up. That’s her cell number. She went to Turning Town as well, didn’t she?”

“Turning Point,” Cheryl corrected without thinking, staring at the phone number Angeline had pushed into her hand. Normally she’d have slipped it into her locker, assuming it was a duty call, but she held on to it, and when Angeline slipped out, after only a couple of moments’ hesitation, Cheryl picked up the phone and decided to finally let someone in.

N
EVER HAD IT HIT HIM
like this before. Not since he was ten years old and his Labrador had died had the death of an animal affected him like this. And even though she’d been old and ready, even though he’d known it was coming, waking up and finding Georgina still and cold on the floor beside the couch had had him crying like a child. Holding the stiff body, he had wept into her chestnut-colored fur.

Another part of Cheryl was gone, too, another part of the dream lost forever.

But even though she’d left them, still he was aware of her presence. She’d brought nothing but a pile of damp muddy clothes into the house, and yet she was everywhere. He could feel her in every room, remember with exquisite, painful detail the soft contours of her skin, those guarded velvet eyes that had finally warmed him.

She was everywhere.

Long dark hairs in a comb he couldn’t contemplate cleaning. The new toothbrush he had found for her still in the glass beside his. The blender still out in the clinic. Painful but blissful reminders of her.

The living room was the worst place, though—or the best, depending on how he felt.

The sofa was too big and lonely without her beside him, but sometimes in the day he’d lie there for a while. He could still smell the lingering traces of her feminine scent, imagine that proud face on the cushion beside him, the dark tumble of hair cascading around her.

And now Georgina was dead.

Another creature Cheryl had loved and left behind, gone forever now.

And somehow the incinerator didn’t seem right for a lady. Noah felt Georgina deserved more. So he drove over to Mary’s with Buster and Madge, and picked a few flowers from the old lady’s lovingly tended garden before driving back and digging the soil, still damp from the storm, while Buster and Madge stared on forlornly.

Placing the flowers on the soft mound should have brought some closure, but instead it hurt more, allowed in more pain, more grief than Noah had thought he was capable of feeling.

He missed Cheryl.

Missed his Chocolate Girl with every fiber of his being.

“T
HANKS FOR COMING
.”

Smiling, Amy slipped into the seat opposite Cheryl, who felt more than a little uneasy. Amy returned the smile with a slightly curious one of her own. She had every right to be confused at Cheryl’s rather out-of-the-blue offer to get together for dinner once she was discharged from the hospital. They’d worked together for
the better part of a year, since Amy had started her residency, but despite a mutual professional respect, the odd coffee in the staff room or an occasional moan in the change room, they weren’t exactly buddies.

“So how are you doing?” Amy asked. “You look a whole lot better than when I came to see you. So when did they finally let you out?”

“Yesterday,” Cheryl answered. “And yes, I do feel a whole lot better. I’ll never admit it to Rachel, but a few days in bed with nothing to do except stare at the beach was exactly the right thing for the doctor to order. It was weird coming home, though.” Cheryl shrugged. Her honest admission didn’t come close to describing just how strange it had felt as she’d let herself in her front door. Her apartment was just as she’d left it, the answering machine half out of its box waiting to be installed, a pile of letters awaiting her attention. One in particular had made her hand shake as she read it. One more thing to deal with when she’d already been through so much. “I felt as if I’d been away for a month instead of just a few days.”

“I know what you mean,” Amy admitted, her voice trailing off, lost in her own world for a moment.

Cheryl fiddled with a place mat, wondering what on earth had possessed her to ask Amy to come, but she knew the answer. Even though they’d barely seen each other in Turning Point, just the simple fact that Amy had been there, could picture it in her head, somehow made Noah seem closer. It was enough for Cheryl right now.

Thankfully the rather strained silence that followed
didn’t last too long. Larry, the owner of the popular diner, was always on the lookout for his regular Emergency personnel. He came over now, waving menus under their noses and chatting in his usual laid-back manner.

“How about a drink while you make your minds up, ladies,” he suggested.

“A beer, thanks, Larry,” Amy responded as her eyes scanned the menu. “Believe me, I’ve earned it.”

“Sure, Amy, and how about you, Cheryl? Sparkling mineral water?”

She was about to agree to her usual, but instead she ran her eyes down the menu. “A Touch of Courage for me, thanks, Larry.” Looking up, she saw Amy’s slightly incredulous look. “And please don’t be a doctor here and remind me that I’m on antibiotics.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Amy answered. “Actually, forget the beer, Larry. I could use a Touch of Courage myself.”

“You too, huh?” Cheryl asked as Larry ambled off. “I heard your aunt is very sick. I’m sorry….”

“Thanks. But it’s not just that, Cheryl….” Amy put up a hand to halt her, and Cheryl realized it was shaking.

Cheryl picked up a serviette, handed it over and sat quietly as Amy blew her nose and tried to regain control.

“They offered me a counselor at the hospital, you know,” Cheryl said finally with just enough irony to bring a wobbly smile to Amy’s lips.

“What did you say?”

“That they couldn’t afford it. That by the time I
would have finished talking, the poor counselor would be in therapy herself.”

“Hell, wasn’t it?” Amy said, finally looking up. “Do you know, when I came to visit you in the hospital, I kidded myself it was a duty visit, that I’d check you were okay and that would be it. But when the nurse told me you were asleep, I realized then that I really needed to see you, to talk to someone who’d been there. You know, in the year we’ve worked alongside each other, we’ve never really talked, have we. I mean, we’re about the same age and everything, but we’ve never really sat down and gotten to know each other. It’s a shame.”

“It’s my fault,” Cheryl admitted. “I sort of signed myself off the social roster when I first arrived in Courage Bay. I had too much going on at the time to deal with.” She gave a helpless shrug, realizing how inadequate her excuse was. Everyone needed friends.

“What is it you want to talk about, Cheryl?”

Amy’s directness actually helped. And even though she might regret it later, tonight Cheryl really needed to share.

“I met someone there,” she said finally, struggling to condense the tumultuous events into a few words. “We spent maybe thirty-six hours together, and suddenly I’m thinking of throwing everything over and heading back to Turning Point.”

She waited for a reaction, an incredulous snort perhaps, but instead Amy sat there, waiting for her to go on.

“He’s a vet.”

“Noah Arkin.” Amy nodded, smiling at Cheryl’s
frown. “His name’s on the tip of everyone’s tongue at the moment,” she explained. “In fact, in case it escaped your notice, the two of you are the talk of Courage Bay. How you donated blood, then went on to scrub in on an operation to repair that woman’s arm….”

“Beth,” Cheryl said. “Her name’s Beth.”

Amy nodded. “You two made quite a team, by the sound of things. He fished you out of the river, right?”

“Right,” Cheryl agreed, almost reluctantly. Noah was being painted as someone who could do no wrong. Well, it was time to set the record straight.

“He won’t leave Turning Point.” Cheryl took a long sip of her drink. “He’s built this image of the ideal woman to step into his ideal world.”

“And you’re it?”

Cheryl nodded. “But it isn’t ideal,” she protested. “You’ve seen Turning Point, Amy. It’s in the middle of nowhere, with no hospital, no job prospects.”

“So there are no sick people in Turning Point,” Amy said in a dry tone. “Are you telling me that because there’s no doctor and no hospital, people don’t need medical help?”

“Of course not,” Cheryl answered. “Beth, the woman Noah operated on…her second child died of crib death, and she’s diving headfirst into postpartum depression, literally crying out for help. I’m sure she’s not the only one.” When Amy didn’t say anything, Cheryl ran a hand through her hair. “But without a doctor, what good can I do?”

Still Amy said nothing, leaving Cheryl to fill in the
gaps, to voice the tiny dreams that had sparked as she’d lain in her hospital room.

“I could do my nurse practitioner’s certificate, I guess. And maybe somewhere down the road they’ll get a replacement for Dr. Holland, someone with passion who wants to widen the facilities. I could…” Her voice trailed off and she smiled sheepishly. “You probably think I’m crazy to even consider it.”

“Is that what you want me to say, Cheryl? That you’re crazy…that it would never work?”

“It
can’t
work,” Cheryl said forcefully. “If he really loved me, really understood me, then he’d be here now.”

“Meeting all your family and friends?”

Suddenly Cheryl was doubting the wisdom of asking Amy’s opinion. She wasn’t sure she was ready for such a stark dose of reality.

“Cheryl, like I said, I’m glad to be here tonight, but it took a full year of working alongside each other and a near-death experience for you to think of asking me out, and from what I know of you, your family’s on the other side of the country. So tell me again, what exactly are you giving up if you go back to Turning Point? From where I’m sitting, it doesn’t look like much.”

“I was married. When I say
was
…” She took a sip of her drink, and there was another long pause. “When I got back from the hospital, I opened my mailbox and my divorce papers were in there.”

“Ouch.” Amy winced, but Cheryl shook her head.

“At first it was a big ouch, but I knew they were due. In some ways it was actually a relief, like waiting for a
dentist appointment or a Pap smear. You know it’s coming, know it has to be done, and that ultimately it’s for your own good….”

“Just not very pleasant at the time,” Amy agreed. “Maybe it’s a sign,” she said thoughtfully. “Maybe it’s a sign that it’s time to move on.”

“Maybe it’s a warning,” Cheryl said dryly. “To remind me what a gullible idiot I’ve been in the past and where it got me. I invested a lot in my marriage, and not just monetary things. I carried Joe for four years so he could get his law degree, and then he had an affair.”

“That was Joe,” Amy pointed out.

“But I promised myself that I’d never be so gullible again, that if someone wanted me, then this time it would be the other way around. I wasn’t going to bend over backward for any man.”

“Fair enough.”

“He won’t give up his work, Amy. Says he can’t leave his business, so if I want him, I’m the one who has to make all the sacrifices. I’m the one who has to give up everything and move to Turning Point.”

“No restaurants, no theater, no gym.” Amy smiled.

“I could live with that. I’d have done it in a flash for Joe. Would have stopped work to have his babies, been the stay-at-home mom, but I’ve grown up since then,” Cheryl said fiercely. “Fallen in love with nursing all over again. And as much as I want to believe him that it really is that easy, what if it goes wrong? I don’t think I can go through that again, Amy. How can I pick myself up again if I fall?”

“You did fall.” Draining her drink, Amy smiled at Cheryl’s perplexed expression. “From what I heard, you fell bumper first into a river—and who was there for you, Cheryl? Who put his life on the line for you?”

“Noah.” Cheryl’s mind was reeling as she looked at Amy.

“Just because he won’t move away doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love you, Cheryl. And just because you give in on this doesn’t mean you’re going to bend on everything. So go ahead, girl. Hell, you can do anything. You’re a sassy, bossy trauma nurse.”

“You can take the nurse out of the trauma room but you can’t take the trauma room out of the nurse.” Cheryl grinned. It was an old nursing joke about the confidence that came from dealing with life and death every day. Even new doctors blinked in horror as the emergency nurses barked their orders.

“Something tells me there’s someplace else you’d rather be,” Amy said with a smile. “Go. We can do dinner another time.”

“You ladies ready to order?” Larry was back, note-pad poised, and as Cheryl shot him an anguished look, it was Amy who spoke.

“Not tonight, Larry. I think your Touch of Courage might have hit its mark.”

Larry winked. “It always does. I’m thinking of taking it off the menu, it’s lost me so many customers.”

Cheryl was fumbling in her purse, pulling out a note and slamming it on the table, but Amy shook her head and handed it straight back.

“This is my treat.”

“But I asked you,” Cheryl protested. “We haven’t even eaten.”

“You can get it the next time.”

“Next time?”

“Who knows what’s around the corner?” Amy smiled, and if Cheryl’s heart hadn’t been pounding at a hundred beats a minute, if her mind hadn’t been so full of Noah and the road that lay ahead, she might have lingered over Amy’s words a moment longer. But instead, she gave Amy a quick hug, then grabbed her bag and raced out of the diner. The warm evening air hit her like an oven door opening as she headed back to her apartment to pick up the telephone and tell Noah of her decision.

Alexis and Ewa were right.

She’d tasted the water and couldn’t stay away. Now she was going back to Turning Point.

Going home.