Page 13 of A Triple C Ranch Christmas Wedding
“Is it decorated now?”
“Now?” Cecelia repeated.
Lucy remembered the receptionist was blind. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I know you can’t see it.” She rushed her words out. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I just, well, can you ask someone if the tree is decorated yet? I need to make sure all the things on the wedding list get done in time.”
“Oh, yes,” Cecelia said. “No, you aren’t making me uncomfortable. We just had a scare.”
“A scare?” Alarm went off in Lucy’s head.
“Our ranch foreman has been airlifted to the hospital,” she said. “He’s had a stroke, and they’re going to admit him. So, it has shaken us all a bit today, I think. But, yes, the tree got lights put on and a star on top. Then I heard the ladies were decorating it with the decorations you had picked out.”
Lucy wasn’t quite sure what to say next. But she wasn’t going to ask any more about the tree right now, or anything else relating to the wedding. “I’m so sorry to hear that about your foreman. I hope he’s going to be okay.”
“Yes, thank you,” Cecelia said. “Luckily it was a TIA and not worse.”
“What’s a TIA?” Lucy asked.
“That’s short for Transitory Ischemic Stroke,” Cecelia said. “Most symptoms of a TIA disappear within an hour, though they may last for up to 24 hours. His lasted more than an hour.”
“Oh, that’s good then, that it wasn’t worse,” Lucy said. “I’m sure you’re all relieved.”
“Yes, we are,” Cecelia said. “He scared us all half to death. They’re keeping him for a while to watch him and make sure everything is okay, before they let him come home.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Lucy said.
Another call beeped in. “Just a minute please,” Cecelia said.
She spoke to the caller and then she was back. “Lucy,” Cecelia spoke briskly. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“Oh, no. I’m fine,” Lucy said. “It’s all good here. No worries. You have a good evening.”
“Thank you,” Cecelia said. “You, too.”
They both hung up, and Lucy sat staring at the phone. She wanted to check on Jack now. No, she needed to check on Jack. She needed to know that he was fine out in L.A., and there were no more bad surprises happening.
Picking up the phone again, she texted Jack.
Busy? Okay to call you?
He texted back.Yes.
She sat looking at his response. Did that mean yes, he was busy, or yes, she could call now? She wasn’t sure what to do.
Then he called her, and she picked up the phone.
“Hey, babe,” he spoke low. “What’s up?”
“I was just wondering how you are,” she said.
There was a pause, and then he said. “Why? What’s happened?”
“How do you know something happened?”
She swore he had such a sixth sense about her, and what she might be thinking. One day she must find out how he did that.
“Your tone of voice,” he said. “What’s going on?”
“The foreman at the Triple C had a heart attack today, and was airlifted to the hospital,” she said. “Oh, wait, no. It was a stroke. I said the wrong thing.”
