Page 118 of Catch and Release

“Hanna,” Shawn said as he caught up to her. “That’s her name. She married my best friend, Tucker, a couple years back.”

Willa turned around, her face wet with tears.

“She’s not… She’s just a friend,” Shawn said, approaching her slowly. “A good friend. Basically a sister. That’s it. I promise.”

Willa took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and tipped her head back.

“You can talk to her, look at my phone, whatever you need to believe me,” he said. “I promise, she’s just a friend.”

She opened her eyes, a hint of shame and sorrow radiating from her.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “For thinking you’d…”

“It’s okay,” Shawn said, wiping her tears away and tugging her into a hug. “It’s okay.”

She wrapped her arms around him and he laid his cheek on top of her head.

This was what he wanted all night—to hold her, feel her in his arms, to sit with her while he waited for an update on Grams.

“Shawn,” Hanna’s voice pierced through the silence. “The doctor says you can see Ida now.”

He pulled back and laid his forehead against Willa’s. “Come with me?”

She nodded.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward where Hanna was standing, waiting for them.

“Hanna, this is Willa,” Shawn said. “Willa, this is Hanna. One of my best friends.”

Hanna beamed at Willa. “It’s so nice to meet you. I mean, shitty circumstances. But he won’t shut up about you. We’ve been begging him to bring you over for dinner.”

“Her husband, Tucker, was the one who made our dinner tonight,” Shawn said. “He owns the restaurant I told you about.”

“Well, then count me in for dinner anytime,” Willa said. “Nice to meet you, Hanna.”

“Let’s chat more later. I want to know all the things. But first, let’s get back to Ida.”

Hanna led the way, and Shawn and Willa followed, hand-in-hand, until they were back in the room where the doctor was waiting for them.

“Wyatt?” Willa asked as they approached.

Shawn grinned, realizing it was Mary’s grandson, from Ida’s Bingo group. “I think it’s Dr. Wetherington around here.”

“Y’all can call me Wyatt,” he grinned. “Nice to see you again, Willa. How’s your friend, Charlie?”

“Why don’t we start with you telling us how Ida’s doing?” Willa responded.

“Fair enough,” Wyatt said. “All things considered, she’ll be alright. She has a broken wrist—probably from trying to catch herself when she fell. I won’t lie: that’ll be a bit of a tough recovery for someone her age. But we’ve put her in a cast, and we can explore rehab, if needed, once we take it off in about eight weeks. And she has a couple of bruised ribs, which should be fine in a few weeks. She was also pretty dehydrated when she came in. She’s not drinking nearly enough water, and my guess is, she’d been down for a while by the time you brought her in. I’d like to keep her overnight to monitor her, but she’ll be discharged in the morning.”

Shawn breathed a sigh of relief. “She’s okay?”

“She’s okay,” Wyatt said. “But it might be time to talk to her about using a walker.”

“She’ll never do it,” Shawn said immediately.

“It’ll help her get around. She doesn’t have to have it all the time. But it might be helpful for those moments when you’re not there.”

Shawn sighed. “I’ll try to talk her into it.”

---