| Chapter 53 Lyn opened the door, Ted was standing there with an IV machine in his hands. "There's more in the car," he said heading through the door. Lyn ran out and grabbed the rest and followed him in the house. Ted started setting up the IV. "What kind does he have?" she asked. "He's got viral pneumonia, that's the hardest kind to treat," Ted said. "Can I help?" she asked. "Yeah, take his shirt off and put the hospital gown on him," he said pointing at one of the bags she had brought in. Lyn grabbed the gown out of the bag and walked over to the bed. She pulled Nick up into a sitting position and pulled the shirt he had on off. Then she slipped the gown on, and laid him back down. Ted took his hand and inserted the IV needle. "Uncle Ted, I'm gonna run over and get some of his stuff and bring it over here, I'll be back in a minute," she said and left the room. It was still raining, so she ran as fast as she could to the house. The back door, leading down to the beach was unlocked, so she let herself in. She flipped the lights on and looked around. She found his bag in the bedroom, and his wallet and cell were on the kitchen counter. She threw his wallet in the bag and picked up his cell. "Holy cow, 87 missed calls? Good grief," she said. Just then it rang in her hand, the caller ID said Brian Littrell. Lyn stared at it, not knowing if she should answer it or not. Finally she hit the button, "Hello?" Brian was startled by the female voice on the other end, "Um is Nick there?" "Um well, he umm......can't come to the phone," Lyn said. She was nervous, and really didn't know what to tell him. "Who is this?" Brian asked, Tara looked at him confused. Brian put his hand over the phone, "Some girl answered, and she says Nick can't come to the phone." Tara reached for the phone, "Let me talk to her." Brian handed the phone to Tara, "Hello, this is Tara, who am I talking to?" Lyn's heart was in her throat, "My name is T.. Tara Lyn Jackson, I'm kinda Nick's neighbor." Tara smiled, "Hi Tara." Brian's mouth dropped to the floor. "You can call me Lyn, I really don't go by Tara," Lyn said. "Oh, OK. Lyn can we talk to Nick?" Tara asked. "Um well, he's not really able to talk right now," Lyn said. "How come?" Tara asked. Lyn was silent, she knew Nick was there to get away, and if she told them, they'd be on the next plane out. "Lyn, please, I know something's wrong," Tara said. Lyn took a deep breath, "He's sick." "Sick? What's wrong with him?" Tara asked, holding the phone so Brian could hear too. "He's um got pneumonia, and I really should be getting back to him," she said. "Lyn wait, is he in the hospital?" Tara asked. "No, he's being treated at my house, my uncle's a doctor, and he's taking care of him," she said. "Where are you?" Brian asked. Lyn paused. "Lyn, please, we're worried about him," Tara said. "I'm not sure he wants you to know, but I'll keep in contact with you and let you know how he's doing. I've gotta go, bye," Lyn said and hung up. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tara hung the phone up and looked at Brian. "Her name was Tara too?" Brian asked. "Yeah, she said she was his neighbor," Tara said. "So what do you think?" Brian asked. Tara looked him in the eyes, "I don't think she's telling us everything, but I do think she's genuinely concerned about him." "I just wish she would've told us where they were," Brian said. "Yeah, me too, but we at least know he's being taken care of, and we'll just have to trust that she'll do what she promised and call us and let us know how he's doing," Tara said handing the phone to Brian. "Do you really think he's OK?" Brian asked. Tara thought for a moment, "I think he will be." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lyn turned off Nick's phone and threw it in the bag, and ran back over to her house. She set the bag on the couch and went in to see if Ted needed any help. "I thought you were just gonna grab some of his stuff, what took you so long?" Ted asked. "His cell rang just as I picked it up, and for some reason I answered it," she said. "Who was it?" he asked. "It was Brian and Tara," Lyn said. Ted looked at her confused. "His ex-girlfriend and his best friend, the other guy in the group that she's with now," Lyn explained. "Oh, so what'd you tell them?" Ted asked. "I told them my name, and that Nick was sick and being taken care of," she answered. "Are they coming?" he asked. "No, cause I didn't tell them where we were," she said. "Lyn, why didn't you tell them?" Ted asked. "Cause they are the reason he's like this, and I wasn't sure if he would want them here or not. I told them I would call and let them know how he is. He needs to be the one to tell them if it's OK or not to come, not me," she said. Ted just looked at her. Lyn noticed him staring, "What?" "I just don't want you getting caught up in the middle of some scandal and getting hurt, that's all," he said. "I won't," she said. "OK, come here and let me show you how to change these," he said. She walked over and he showed her how to change the IV and anti-viral medication. "You got it?" he asked. She nodded her head, "Yeah." "Oh, I almost forgot," Ted said heading out to the car. He came back in dragging an oxygen tank. "Just in case he needs this, here's how you turn it on," he said. She watched him show her how far to turn it. He placed the tank next to the bed and looked around, "OK, you have enough supplies to last for a day or so. I'll came back by tonight after I'm finished at the hospital and check on him. If his fever goes up any, or something doesn't seem right, first call an ambulance, then call me, OK?" "OK, I promise," she said. The sun was just coming up over the horizon. "Well, I better get going, have to be at the office soon," he said. He checked on Nick one last time, then headed for the door. Lyn followed him, "I'm sorry I kept you up all night." "It's OK, just keep and eye on him, and I'll be back soon," Ted said. "K," she said and closed the door. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Leighanne woke up to the sound of her alarm blaring in her ear. She got up, took a quick shower, got dressed and grabbed her bag. A car was coming to pick her up and take her to the airport. She and Gary were to be in New York that afternoon, to do some promotion. She heard the car pull up, and walked outside. The driver got out and grabbed her bag while she got in the back seat. "Morning Anne," Gary said. Leighanne jumped, "You scared me." "Sorry, I guess the company thought we could share a car," he said. "Oh," Leighanne said. There was an awkward silence between them. "Anne, I think we need to clear the air before we get to New York," Gary said. She looked at him, "What do you mean?" "Well, it's just that we're gonna be spending a lot of time with each other for the next couple of weeks, and I think we need to work something out so that we can both feel comfortable around each other," Gary said. Leighanne looked down at her hands, "Gary, I told you how I felt when you showed up at the house, nothing's changed." "I know, but I'm not buying it," he said. She looked up at him, "Not buying what?" "I'm not buying that you can just shut off your feelings like that. I know that before everything happened that you cared for me, enough to leave your husband. Anne, you can't just turn that off," Gary said. She looked into his eyes, those mesmerizing gray eyes, and she saw nothing but love and compassion. "Gary, things have changed since then. I can't trust you now," she said. "Anne, please just give me a chance to earn your trust again," he pleaded. "I don't know...," she said. Gary smiled. "What are you smiling about?" Leighanne asked. "Well, you didn't say no, that's a start," he said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kira woke up and rolled over. Howie was still asleep. She looked at her finger, the ring was still there, it hadn't been a dream. She lay there and watched him sleep. He looked so content, and happy, and she wondered where he was in his dreams. How did I ever get so lucky? she asked herself. This was the man she was going to spend the rest of her life with, and she couldn't be any happier. He brought something to her life that she never knew was missing. "I love you so much," she whispered. Howie smiled in his sleep, which caused her to smile too. She nestled closer to him, and put her arm around him. Howie opened his eyes and looked at her, "Morning." "Oh, I didn't want to wake you," she said. "It's OK, nothing I'd rather wake me more than you," he said. She smiled at him. "What do you want to do today?" Howie asked. Kira thought for a minute, "Nothing, I want to stay just like this all day." Howie laughed, "OK, we can do that, but we might get hungry." "Is there any left overs from last night?" Kira asked. "Yeah, some," he answered. "Then we're set," she said with a smile. Just then the phone rang. Howie looked over at the caller ID and saw that it was Kevin. "He probably wants to know what the surprise was," Howie said. Kira reached over and unplugged the phone from the wall, "He'll find out later." Howie laughed and pulled her into his arms, never wanting to let her go. Chapter 54 |