Page 70 of Too Far To Sea
“Mom is in Lutheran.”
“The hospital? But her surgery isn’t until Tuesday.”
“They got her in on late Thursday.”
“Wait. When you encouraged me to stay, she was in surgery?” His mom could have passed and he wouldn’t haveknown. He had been blissfully playing in Lyme Regis while his mother was in recovery.
“Don’t be mad. You know Mom wouldn’t want you to pass on love so you could sit in a plastic waiting room chair.”
“I would have been better off to come home,” he grumbled. “I thought from the text you sent from Heathrow that things were going well.”
“Everything fell apart on the plane. She realized we used her skills without her knowledge to catch our person of interest.”
“And she didn’t listen to your explanation?”
“Legally, I can’t explain much. Then we ran into the woman who was a target of the sting and Dana stopped talking to me.” He stifled a yawn. “I’m so frustrated that I couldn’t explain. I know whatever she heard was just a half truth.”
Jen flipped on her blinker. “You didn’t tell me much about Dana. Is she the type of person to jump to conclusions?”
“I guess she is.” He hadn’t thought so before, but on the plane she—well it was obvious that she didn’t care to get all the facts. He yawned again.
“Didn’t you sleep on the flight?”
“I couldn’t. And we stayed up the night before walking around Bath.”
“So, neither of you had much sleep?”
“No. She was pretending to sleep and I didn’t want to sleep in case she woke up and I missed my chance to explain.” He looked up at the large hospital wondering which room his mother was in. “Enough about me. What happened with mom?”
His sister found a parking space in the visitors’ lot. “They had a cancellation, and the surgeon moved up her surgery.”
“And?”
Jen exited the car without answering.
McKay fumbled with his seatbelt. By the time he exited the car, his sister was several paces ahead of him. “Jen?”
She shook her head and walked faster. McKay ran a hand over his short hair. He could grow it out now and maybe add a beard. Why was he thinking that when his mother was in the hospital? “Jen, wait up.”
The hospital doors swooshed open. McKay finally caught up with his sister at the elevator bank. “Tell me what is going on.”
“I don’t know completely. Mom wanted to tell us what they found when we were together.” She pushed the numbered button for their mom’s floor.
They rode the elevator in silence. His sister had to know more than she was telling. Jen wouldn’t look at him. How bad was it? McKay followed his sister to the room, relieved to find his mother was not in ICU.
Still, her face was pale and pinched. She held out her hand to McKay as he entered the room. “There you are. How was your flight?”
“A bit bumpy.” Metaphorically speaking. Mom would get the details out of him at some point. “How are you?”
“If I told you ‘great,’ would you believe me?” Mother’s words came out slow and measured, negating any humor she infused into her question.
“No.”
“What if I tell you I am doing better than expected.”
“Also not reassuring.”
Mom looked at Jen. “Hard to get something past him.”
