Page 80 of The Art of Loving Lacy
Lacy shook her head. “It’s for the best. He could die doing what he does. Why go through that?” She shook her head again. “I just need to live my life, do my job, and move on.”
“Oh, Lacy.” Danica hugged her again. “What can we do?”
“Take me to see Sheila. She needs me,” Lacy said.
“Can we clean you up first?” Kaylie asked.
Danica shot a look at her.
“What?” Kaylie asked. “If she weren’t so upset, she wouldn’t want to go to the hospital looking like she does. I’ll help you get ready.” She took Lacy’s hand and pulled her to her feet. “Come on. We’ll just fix your hair, put on a little makeup, clean clothes. It’ll only take a minute.”
Danica appeared in the bathroom doorway. “Your phone rang, and I found it behind the couch pillows. You have twenty-seven missed calls. Twenty are from us, three are from Max, and two are from a number without an ID. Two are from your boss. Do you want me to call your boss back?”
Kaylie had washed Lacy’s face and fixed her hair. Now she was busy putting concealer on the bags under Lacy’s puffy eyes. Lacy shrugged.Dane didn’t call.His words flew back at her, causing a pain so great in the pit of her stomach that she moaned.Please, just go.
Danica crouched beside her again. “Lacy, what is it?”
She shook her head, tears streaking the newly applied concealer.
“Let me get that.” Kaylie took a washcloth and wiped the makeup from her face. “You know what, Lace? You don’t need makeup. Let’s just get…” She looked at Danica, and Lacy watched as Danica shook her head, silently telling Kaylie to stop trying.
“Come here.” Danica pulled Lacy to her feet and hugged her again. “We can do this, Lacy. Together we can make it through anything. You tell me what you need.”
“Sheila. I need to see her,” Lacy managed.
“Okay, then let’s get you dressed and we’ll go see her.” Danica took her hand and led her into the bedroom.
Kaylie grabbed a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and helped Lacy dress.
Lacy followed the commands of her sisters—Slip your feet into these sandals. Let’s go out to the car.The ride to the hospital was a blur of landscape.Let’s go inside. He’s in the ICU.The elevator hummed beneath her feet. The doors slid open.
Her sisters’ hands found hers. They were warm and small. Safe. They were safe. The antiseptic smell of the ICU made Lacy’s pulse race. The memory of Rob lying in bed with a tube in his mouth, things strapped to his chest and more tubes running from his arm stopped her cold.
“Lacy?” Danica squeezed her hand. “It’s okay, honey. We can wait. When you’re ready, you let me know.”
Ready?
“I texted Max, and Treat arranged for them to let you into the ICU, so take your time. There’s no pressure,” Danica said.
“That’s his room.” Lacy clenched Danica’s and Kaylie’s hands, staring at the entrance to Rob’s room, three doors away from where they stood. A nurse and two people in scrubs rushed past them and flew through Rob’s door.
Kaylie and Danica exchanged a worried glance.
“Kaylie, why don’t you take Lacy to sit down in the waiting room and I’ll go talk to the nurse,” Danica urged.
“Did he die? Oh, no. Did hedie?” Lacy’s voice rose. “Is he dead?”
Kaylie stared down the hall with wide eyes.
“Kaylie,” Danica snapped. “Take her to the waiting room.”
“No,” Lacy said. She bolted toward Rob’s room. “No. No. He can’t die. I have to help Sheila. No.” She ran toward the door with Danica and Kaylie on her heels, tears streaming down her cheeks, thoughts of Charlie’s and Katie’s sad faces whirling in her mind like a tornado.
Sheila and a nurse came out of the doorway as Lacy arrived.
“We’ll know soon. Give the doctor space. He’s very good. Let him do his thing,” the nurse said.
Sheila noticed Lacy. “Lacy. Oh my—”
