Page 6 of Dear Henry, Love Edith
Before Henry could protest, two beefy arms wrapped around his torso and yanked him out of his chair. His sore knee banged against the table and an explosion of stars flooded his vision. When a scream sounded, Henry could only pray it hadn’t erupted from his own lips.
“Did anything come out?” the chef demanded, hoisting Henry up and down. With each thump to the floor, searing white pain shot through his leg.Lift, thump. Lift, thump.
“Stop,” Henry gasped. “Stop!” As soon as the chef let go, Henry’s bad knee buckled and his body slammed to the floor. A lightning storm flashed in front of his eyes. The whimper that slipped past his throat, sounding more pathetic than the mew of a kitten, only added to the pain.
“Oh, my.” The woman knelt to the ground. “I’m not surewhether to call for an ambulance or the police. That was... Oh, my. Are you okay?”
Was he okay? He wished he was dead. Henry gritted his teeth and growled when she tried to assist him. “Get back.”
“What can I do to help?” The Goldie Hawn look-alike leaned farther over him.
“I said get back.” With a great deal of effort, Henry managed to roll onto his side and use his good leg to climb back onto his chair. Sweating with the exertion, and at the same time wanting to scream at the setback this might have cost him in his therapy sessions, Henry worked hard to control his breathing.
“I called 911,” the waitress shouted as she raced back from the kitchen. “And I also grabbed this.” She cocked her arm back, then stabbed a syringe into Goldie’s thigh.
“What was that?” The blonde beauty’s voice rose two octaves.
“An Epi shot. My little brother has a peanut allergy. I know what anaphylactic shock looks like. And don’t worry. I’ve got another one in my purse if we need it.”
Goldie scowled as she rubbed her thigh with one hand and scratched her neck with the other. “I’m not going into anaphylactic shock. It’s just a few hives.”
While she was distracted, Henry worked up the courage to stand. He wouldn’t be able to put much weight on his leg without bawling like a baby. But he sure as shooting wasn’t getting carried out like a baby.
“That’s more than a few hives,” the waitress said.
“She’s right,” the chef said. “That’s like a whole constellation of hives.” He motioned with his thumb toward the kitchen. “Better grab the other shot.”
“Don’t you dare!” The woman picked up a spoon and peered at her image. “This is pretty much how I always look.”
“That’s too bad,” the chef mumbled.
Henry dropped some cash on his table and limped away while the three of them argued about the state of her face. Welts or no welts, her face was gorgeous. And the last thing he wanted was that gorgeous face to see him crumple again.
Not that it should matter. It wasn’t as if he knew this woman. She was probably only passing through. Why should it matter if she saw him fall flat on his face?
Maybe because she was the only person in this town who wasn’t so used to seeing it.
“If you’re not going to let us take you to the hospital, will you at least sign this waiver?” A stocky EMT wearing a navy T-shirt with the wordVolunteeron the back handed Edith a napkin covered in ketchup stains. “Oh, whoops.” He switched the napkin with a piece of paper covered in ketchup stains.
“You know what?” He crumpled the paper and returned to eating the plate of french fries abandoned by the handsome man who had started to choke. “I’ll track you down later. You sure you’re okay?”
Edith couldn’t believe someone had called for an ambulance. “I’m fine.” Other than her pounding heart and jittery nerves. But what did she expect after getting stabbed with adose of adrenaline? It certainly had nothing to do with the Paul Newman look-alike. Nope.
“Mack the Knife” sounded from the jukebox as the EMT headed outside. Edith eyed the waitress, prepared to fend off any further attacks. But this time the young woman came bearing a fountain glass piled high with a chocolate shake, whipped cream, and a cherry.
“The rest of your order should be ready soon. Still think you should go to the hospital,” the waitress murmured on her way to the kitchen.
Please. If anybody had needed to go to the hospital, it was the guy choking, not her. And good night, he hadn’t even been choking. Edith tried shaking the image of his face from her mind. Especially his expression when she’d first entered the diner. Something about the way he had looked at her, almost like he recognized her. But it was most likely just the hives that had caught his attention. That or the bangs.
No way had they met before today. She never would have forgotten a pair of blue eyes like that. Heat blossomed in her cheeks, remembering the way those eyes had followed her across the room. It had been a long time since she’d felt such an instant attraction.
Stop it.Edith dug her spoon into her shake. What was wrong with her? She was here to kill time until South Africa. Lie low. Avoid Steve. Not make moon eyes over some handsome stranger. A handsome stranger who not only had a girlfriend but was just humiliated in front of half a dozen burger-eating patrons and probably preferred to never see Edith or her hive-covered face again.
Especially since you had him raise his arms in the air like a toddler. Really, Edith, is that your idea offlirting?
“You okay?”
“Oh!” Edith flinched, dropping her spoon.
