Page 79 of Her Cadillac Cowboy
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Sara woke to the sight of hospital white walls and Millie weeping in Carl Carson’s arms.
“Dad?” She closed her eyes against the headache that was building a home in her head.
“Let go now, Millie, and go get Doc Biggers. My little girl’s awake.”
“Praise the lord. I’ll fetch him right away.”
Sara felt her father take her hand.
“’Bout time you woke up. You gave us a mighty big scare, young lady.”
She cracked an eyelid. Her father was smiling. She tried to smile back at him, but the movement hurt her head too much. What had happened? She’d forced Will away from the machine shop and into the car lot. Then a noise came, like three twisters dropping a million firecrackers.
“There, there.” He patted her hand. “You just rest. Doc said you’d have a powerful headache when you came round.”
“Well now, Miss Sara Anne Carson,” Doc Biggers’s hearty tones entered the room. “I’ll bet your head hurts.”
Where’s Josh?” She tried to ask, but only a croak emerged. She needed water.
“No, don’t you say anything. You just keep holding on to your daddy’s hand and squeeze. Once for yes, twice for no. Understand?”
Sara squeezed the hand holding hers.
“She’s got that clear, Doc.”
The doctor’s examination was short, but left Sara exhausted. “Rest now, Sara. The next time you wake up you’ll feel much better.”
Sara squeezed her father’s hand. Josh, she had to know about Josh. But exhaustion overtook her before she could ask.
The next time Sara woke up, her head didn’t hurt, but she was certain she was hallucinating. Her father sat in the only chair in the room. Josh stood next to him, and they were shaking hands. She groped for the call button. She needed a nurse before her hallucinations had a fistfight. The movement grabbed the attention of the two imaginary men; the one who looked like her father stood.
“So you’re awake again. Good.” He looked at the Josh vision. “I’ll be in the cafeteria.”
“Okay. I’ll page you there when we’re done.”
The father figment left, and the Josh fantasy sat on the side of her bed. She didn’t know any illusions that had enough weight to cause the bed to sink or that smelled just like Josh. “You’re real?”
He laughed. “Real as they come.”
“I saw you and Dad shake hands. I thought I was hallucinating.”
“A few weeks ago I would have thought so too. But your dad’s been coming around ever since he met Millie and started interacting with the daycare kids. I think the explosion just hurried things up a bit.”
“Is that what put us in the hospital, an explosion?”
“Yeah.”
“Will—is Will okay?”
“He’s in better shape than either of us. Evidently when the blast hit, you fell on top of him. Then a brick fell on top of you.”
“What caused it?”
“Miss Beadle.”
“Either my head is still scrambled, or you just said that Miss Beadle caused the explosion.”
