Six Miles From Nashville (14 page)

“I need to go to the cafe.”

“No. Your employees can take care of things there.”

“They have been swamped. Seems everyone wants to pay their respects. I have to show up for a bit.”

The old doctor bustled
into the room and pushed past them to Betty. He shined a light into her eyes and grunted. “She’s comin’ around. Shouldn’t be long. Then again, comas are tricky. I’ve seen people linger in them for years.” He placed his flashlight in the pocket of his lab coat. “There definitely is a change.”

The door burst open and Mrs. Barnes made her presence known in grand fashion. “Where is my baby? And, doctor, what are you doing to help her?” She brushed Dr. Marsh aside and grabbed Betty’s hand. “You wake up! Don’t be so mean to Mama. You are gonna
cause me to have a heart attack if you don’t snap out of it.”

“Mother, Betty is in critical condition,” Mr. Barnes placed his hands on his wife’s shoulders and pulled her away from the helpless girl. “Doctor, is there anything you can tell us?”

“I was telling her brother that she is coming around. We don’t know when she will come out of it, but she has a good chance of coming to herself soon.”

“Brother? Who is this ‘brother’?”

“I am ma’am. I... ah mean, I told them I was her brother so I could be with her,” Johnny said.

Phyllis Barnes stepped across the room and slapped him across the face. “You nasty man!
I know you! You came over looking for Betty. I think you are taking advantage of my girl while she can’t defend herself. You should be arrested.”

“Ma’am...I never..”

“Likely story!”

“Phyllis, that is enough!” Mr. Barnes mustered up more authority than he had ever shown in his life
, and his voice boomed in the small room.

Phyllis narrowed her brown eyes and put her hands on her hips. “How dare you? How dare you speak to me in that tone? I am suffering here. My baby girl is dying and you are being mean to me.”

He growled, “This is not about you. This is about our girl over there. I dare say it wouldn’t matter what happened to the people in your world, you would survive just fine!” He turned his attention to Johnny. “Boy, why would you tell a lie like that?”

“The nurses couldn’t be with her as much as I thought she needed. I didn’t want her to wake up and be all alone.”

Phyllis stood in front of Bill. “And who are you?”

“She works for us...me...at the cafe.”

“This room is crowded, I think you both need to go,” Phyllis said.

“I disagree, Mrs. Barnes,” Doctor Marsh said. “You are like a bottle of poison to this girl. The last person she needs in here when she wakes up is someone like you. Sir, Mr. Barnes, you may sit with Betty. The rest of you should go right now.”

Phyllis crossed her arms in front of her. “Make me.”

Dr. Ma
rsh touched the large red call button. “This is Dr. Marsh. Get security. We need help escorting a woman out of this room.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

He snapped around and glared at the stunned woman. “You will need to clear it with me before you are allowed in this room.”

“You are a vile man! Tell him he can’t talk to me like that.”

“Phyllis, I suggest you go before you are thrown out of here. Take the keys to the car and get a motel. I am staying here with Betty.”

She ran to the bed of the invalid and snarled, “This is all your fault, you lazy girl. Wake up! Your mama is telling you to wake up.”

The small frown returned to the placid face. “See, she hears me. She is just being stubborn!”

The door opened silently on its hinges. Two large men stepped inside. Dr. Marsh tilted his head toward Phyllis Barnes, “This is the woman who requires your escort.”

“Come along Ma’am,” one of the men said.

Phyllis opened her mouth to spew a stream of hateful language, but at the sight of them decided not to. “Humph!’ She marched quickly out of the room.

Bill walked slowly behind them. He turned before he exited the room. “Good to meet you Mr. Barnes. Betty has been like a daughter to us. I need to check on the cafe.”

Johnny asked,
“Can I stay with you, Mr. Barnes? I need to be here when she wakes up.”

Mr. Barnes put his arm around Johnny. “Thank you for
watching out for her. You are the one that made the call to us telling us about the wreck, aren’t you?”

“I knew you would want to know. I didn’t know what else to do for her. You are her family and I knew she needed you.
”

Mr. Barnes raked his fingers through his tangled red hair. “Her mother isn’t really bad. She seems worse when you don’t know her.”

“She is worried over Betty.”

“It
is really my fault that she gets like that. I spoiled her and let her go on like that when she got mad. Somehow, it got away from me. She doesn’t respect me much.”

Johnny tried to think of something to say. There were no words to fix things for him.

Susan
and  Daisy were busy taking care of the packed cafe. Gus had his hands full in the kitchen, but he had his son, Carl, come in to help him. People stopped mid-sentence when they saw Bill. There was an awkward pause until he greeted the people at each table.

“Are you gonna keep the cafe since Miss Sweetie is...ah...gone?” the mayor asked.

“I don’t know. It was her dream. I just came along for the ride,” Bill said. “Everything is moving too fast.”

“We will miss her.”

“She was so good hearted.”

“Her smile lit up the room.”

The comments came fast. Bill had thought the same things many times since the crash.

Sonny
sat at the back of the room. He motioned Bill to join him at his table. Bill was surprised no one recognized the Country star.

“I know you’re not ready to make any big decisions, but this is a life changin’ thing that happened to you.”

Bill nodded.

“Might I suggest that you sell this place, maybe to one of the waitresses or the cook over there. You need to start that singing career.”

“I can’t do that.”

“You know that the executives at the
label have been wanting to sign you for years.”

He glanced around to be sure no one heard their conversation. “This was all Sweetie ever wanted. I don’t think she could have enjoyed the limelight.”

“She was proud of you. She told me that you should have a spot on a stage and she loved your song writing.”

“My singing was only for her.”

“I really am sorry for your loss.”

“Thanks
Sonny.” Bill leaned his head back on the booth seat. “I still can’t believe it.”

“How are you feeling? You were in critical condition.”

He took a drink of water and looked his friend in the eye. “They stitched me up. There wasn’t much they could do with the broken ribs. I guess I was just knocked out cold.”

“You better eat something. Here comes Susan. She has a plate for you.”

“Ugh.”

“It can’t be that bad. “

Susan stuck her lip out in a pout. “Come on, Bill, you got to eat something.”

“Thanks Susan. It looks good.”

Sonny laughed at the look on Bill’s face. The waitress left to tend to other customers. She spotted Gage as he walked through the door.

“Where’s Betty?” he asked.

Susan put her hand on his arm. “Oh, you didn’t know? She is in the hospital. Pretty messed up from a car accident. It killed Miss Sweetie.”

He scanned the crowd and met Bill’s bloodshot eyes. Soon he stood before him. “Miss Sweetie? Is she really...gone?”

“Drunk driver did it.”

“How about Betty?”

“She is in a coma. She is responding a little. Not sure when she will be awake.”

“Can I see her?”

“I guess. Her dad is with her.”

Gage
shrugged into his coat and ducked out the door to go to the hospital.

Chapter 17

Mr. Barnes didn’t know what to say when
Gage appeared in Betty’s hospital room. He could see that Johnny had his back up. Apparently, neither of them knew a thing about the other. They sat in the room listening to the loud ticking of the clock on the wall.

Betty moaned and all three shot to their feet. Her hand raised and brushed her forehead. It plopped down suddenly. Mr. Barnes pushed the call button.

“Can I help you?”

“She is moving some.”

“Be right there.”

The nurse hurried into the room and observed Betty. “Miss, can you open your eyes yet? Come on, Hun, you can do it.”

She blinked her eyes open and searched the nurse’s face. Her eyes darted around the room.
This is a dream! There is Gage and Johnny. Even Daddy is here! Please, oh please God, let me wake up! My head hurts. It hurts to breathe.

“Miss Barnes, can you speak?” the nurse asked.

“I...ah...Daddy?”

Mr. Barnes rushed to her side. “Yes, baby girl. I’m here.”

“What...what am I? Where am I?”

“You are in the hospital, precious.”

She wagged her head back and forth. “Why?”

She looked past him and saw Johnny standing close by. “Johnny? Am I dead?”

“No, sweetheart. You were in a car crash.”

A spark of memory fired in her eyes. “Miss Sweetie...Bill...where are they?”

“Bill is fine,” Gage said as he took her hand.

“Good.” She rested against the pillows. “I’m so tired.”

Her dad kissed her forehead. “Rest, dear.”

“You guys need to get out so this little girl can sleep,” the nurse ordered.

They walked down the hall to the waiting room. Gage was the first to speak, “ So, you are the guy she met at college.”

“Yes, I’m Johnny
Davis. I didn’t get your name.”

“
Gage Marrow. We have gone out some. If you could call it going out. We always double dated. I took her back early, Mr. Barnes.” He continued, “She is going to take Miss Sweetie’s death hard. She loves her a lot.”

Johnny paced the room and spoke nervously, “We need to ask the doctor what to do before we tell her. It could set her back.”

They sat in silence as the night hours passed. Gage had to get on the road early and looked in on Betty. She was still asleep. “Mr. Barnes, will you tell her I’m sorry, but I have to go. I can’t get a hold of my boss to get permission to take off.”

“She will understand
. She has always been understanding,” Johnny said.

Johnny stood at the window and watched
Gage as he walked down the sidewalk and to his truck. This was the man Betty had dated since they were apart. Her letter said that she still wore his ring. Of course, her body was devoid of jewelry in the hospital. Her small hands were swollen. She had been broken to pieces.

As the first rays of sun streamed into her room, Johnny slipped beside her and kissed her hand. Her eyes fluttered open easily. “Hi, Bet. You feelin’ better today?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you remember writing that second letter to me?”

She closed her eyes and color stole to her cheeks. “Mum.”

“The day I got that letter I heard that you were in the car accident. I came to you that day.”

“You did?”

He didn’t know what to say to her. “I didn’t answer your other letter because things got crazy when I got
home. My dad had a heart attack and my brothers and I had the harvest to bring in. After that, it had been so long that I thought it was too late to write or call.”

She watched him with wide eyes.

He continued, “When you said that you are still wearing the ring, I knew you still cared.”

She searched her left hand. The ring was gone.

“Your ring was probably cut off after the accident. What matters is that you still care for me...us.”