Page 29 of Love Me Sweet

“I know where it is. I’ll send help.” Without another word, the man jumped back on his bike and sped off.

Sylvie watched him disappear from sight before she turned to the woman, still staring wide-eyed at Andrew, as he continued to perform CPR on her unresponsive husband.

“My name is Sylvie.” She moved to the woman, using what she hoped was a soothing tone. “That’s Dr. O’Shea.”

The woman reached out and clasped Sylvie’s hands, hope in her eyes. “A medical doctor?”

“An internist.” Sylvie gave the ice-cold fingers a squeeze. “Your husband couldn’t be in better hands.”

“I’m Barbara Williams.” The woman’s lips trembled. “I’m so glad you stopped. I didn’t know what to do when I couldn’t get a signal. I couldn’t leave George but I knew he needed help.”

“If I was hurt or injured, Dr. O’Shea is the one I’d want tending to me.” Sylvie maneuvered the woman over to a bench at the side of the trail. The two women sat; their hands still clasped.

Wondering where in the heck the EMT’s were, Sylvie continued to speak to the woman, finding out they were tourists from Wisconsin and that George had a family history of heart disease.

She relayed the information to Andrew.

“He’s breathing. His heartbeat is strong.” Andrew sat back on his haunches, then restrained George as he attempted to sit up. “Easy now.”

“What, what happened?” George asked in a raspy voice.

Barbara pushed to her feet and stumbled to his side, the tears beginning anew. “Oh, honey, I was so worried.”

There wasn’t time to say more as the EMT’s were suddenly coming down the trail in a vehicle that reminded Sylvie of a toy ambulance. Andrew gave his report as two others transferred the man to a gurney. In a matter of minutes, they were gone.

“Good work,” Sylvie told Andrew when they disappeared from sight.

“I heard you comforting his wife. You did good work, too.” He raked a hand through his hair. “I’d say we made a good team.”

Sylvie only smiled and turned to retrieve her bike. When she’d seen Andrew stop to come to the aid of a stranger and watched him continue to do CPR even after the minutes dragged on, she realized she’d been fooling herself all these months.

Sylvie had convinced herself she was over him, what she’d felt for him had been merely lust mixed with infatuation. Now, she had to admit she’d been only fooling herself.

When she looked back at him, she didn’t see the rich scion of a Sporting Goods empire that spanned the world, or doctor who tended to the rich, she saw a caring, compassionate man.

She saw the man she’d never stopped loving.

* * *

Andrew left it up to Sylvie whether they continued to Jenny Lake or returned to Jackson. She’d been unusually quiet since the techs had taken George away. The entire episode had been surreal, but he was glad he’d been here. Without intervention, the man would not have survived.

“Let’s head back,” Sylvie said. “I feel this urge to work off some of this tension. I’m not sure a walk around a lake and a picnic is going to do it for me.”

He understood. The adrenalin high he was experiencing would eventually dissipate, but for now he too was revved.

They rode fast and hard, covering the distance back to town in half the time of their earlier, more leisurely ride. By the time they hit the parking lot at the Visitors Center, the high had dissipated.

“Let’s go to the house,” Andrew told Sylvie. “We can put our feet up, eat the sandwiches and plan our next adventure.”

“Today was quite the adventure. It’ll be difficult to top.” Sylvie hopped off the bicycle to do a couple of stretches. “That was a fast ride back.”

Concern filled his eyes. “You should have told me if you needed to slow the pace.”

“I didn’t want slow. I wanted hard and fast.” She paused then grinned. “Riding, that is.”

He laughed. A sudden surge of wind slapped his face. It was refreshingly cool. The air here was different, with a clean freshness that was impossible to describe.

Just like the sky. He knew Montana was billed as the ‘big sky’ state, but he swore the sky in Wyoming went on forever. Andrew knew, even if he tried to explain the difference to his friends back home, they’d never understand. He’d been the same way. After all, how could a sky be ‘bigger?’

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