Page 86 of Thick & Thin

Her eyes remained closed as they put her on the gurney and transported her from her house to the back of the ambulance. It was then I heard Josh’s truck pull up. His loud engine ripped through the afternoon, rumbling behind the ambulance, before he shut it off.

The driver’s side door flew open, and he jumped down without using the sidestep.

“Mom!” he called out, running toward the back of the ambulance just before they closed the doors. “What’s happening?”

He was panicked. His eyes wide, and his face pale. He ran his fingers through his hair, tugging on the ends while he waited for someone to tell him what was going on.

“Who are you?” the EMT asked.

“I’m her son! Someone tell me what’s happening!”

And then he disappeared into the back of the ambulance just before the door slammed, and they pulled away with the sirens blaring.

I stood there, staring into the direction they had just went. I covered my face, capturing my tears as I tried to think of what do to next. My heart was screaming for me to follow them, but I knew Mrs. Black would want me to stay and take care of things at her house.

I went back inside and turned off any lights she had on before I locked up. Then I searched my contacts for Genie’s number and called her.

Her husband, Jimmy, answered so I quickly filled him in, in hopes that he would tell her what was going on. Once I was in my car, I started in the direction of the hospital, but when I was halfway there, I decided to pick up Caleb and just go home.Something told me Josh wouldn’t want me there, and if by some chance something happened to Mrs. Black, I didn’t want to be there around all those people when I broke down.

I was the stone maiden, and stone maidens never cried.

At least that was what everyone thought.

28

Josh

I had only been gone an hour,having to run to the local tractor supply store for a few things. I was just getting the hang of Daddy’s way of doing things again at the farm, and honestly, it felt good to work for myself. I was checking out when I saw an ambulance go flying by on the main road just outside the store, but I didn’t think of anything of it.

It wasn’t until I was pulling in my driveway that I saw the ambulance had been headed to my house. I threw my truck into park and jumped out, running toward the back of the ambulance just as they were about to close the doors with who looked like my mother inside.

I climbed in and took a seat next to my mother, and as the EMT closed the back door, I saw Jenny standing outside with her hands covering her mouth and tears flowing down her face.

She had been there.

Had she been the one to call the ambulance?

“It looks like a massive heart attack, but we won’t know for sure until we get here to the hospital for tests. I know one thing, if it wasn’t for the girl back at your mom’s place, she would be long gone.”

“What do you mean?”

“She was doing CPR when we got there. She must have been doing it from the time she found her. It’s because of her that your mom is still with us, man. Trust me. It took us thirty minutes to get there. She would have been long gone.”

Jenny had saved my mom’s life.

That changed things.

The dynamic between us was shifting again.

They took Mom straight back for surgery, and I sat in the waiting room alone, biting my nails until Genie showed up crying.

Hours passed and we waited, until finally a doctor came out and told us Mom was in stable condition. They were keeping her in intensive care for a few days just to be cautious, and I was good with that. I wanted them to be overly cautious. Check everything. Monitor everything.

I couldn’t lose my mother.

When we could go in and see her, she was still sleeping. Instead of waking her, Genie and I sat quietly by her bed and hoped she would wake up. And that was where I stayed, only leaving her side to rinse my mouth with a bottle of mouthwash I got from the small hospital store and grabbing a bite to eat from the cafeteria.

It wasn’t until Genie forced me to go home and shower and sleep that I even considered it. Once I left the hospital, my first thought was to go to Jenny, but I didn’t think that was a great idea. I was too weak. With the loss of my father and with my mom hospitalized for the same thing that killed my dad, I wouldn’t be able to fight off my feelings for Jenny.

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