Spring River Valley: The Spring Collection (Boxed Set) (29 page)

“I can be at the park in five minutes. Wait there, and I’ll pick Barkley up and take him home with me.”

“Okay.” That would give him five minutes to compose himself. She was going to be fine. She’d asked Tanner to call him, so she was going to be fine. He wouldn’t believe it until he saw her for himself, though. He could see the hospital across the river from the park. If it hadn’t been for Barkley, resting quietly in the back seat, he’d probably have jumped into the water and swam across.

“I’m on my way.” Bailey hung up, and Aiden got out of the car. He opened the back door for Barkley and put his leash on so he’d be ready to get into Bailey’s car the moment she arrived. Why had he decided to meet Sam at the park and bring the dog along? If he’d picked her up, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. Maybe he’d have been at the Clinic waiting for her when the dangerous dog arrived and he could have protected her.

He paced until Bailey’s car pulled into the lot. She parked quickly and jumped out. Aiden tossed Barkley’s leash to her.

“Do you want me to meet you at the hospital?”

“No, I’ll call you. I don’t even know if they’ll let me see her. I’m not family.”

“I’ll call Audrey. Maybe she can tell me something.”

One of Bailey’s best friends was a nurse, and she might have known something about Samantha, but Aiden didn’t have time to wait. He jumped back into his car and took off, determined now to let Sam know that he had no intentions of ever letting her go.

Sam tried very hard to focus her bleary gaze on the name tag of the nurse who’d just walked into her room in the ER. All she really wanted to do was sleep, but every time she’d closed her eyes, someone poked or prodded her and told her to stay awake.

She mumbled something to that effect as the nurse took her pulse. “Are you here to wake me up again?”

“No, Samantha. I’m here to see how you’re feeling. My name is Audrey, and I just want to make sure that shot we gave you is helping with the pain.”

“Hmm.” Sam nodded. It seemed the whole right side of her body was numb, though she could certainly recall the agony she’d been in not too long ago. Over the years working at the clinic, she’d been nipped and scratched a number of times, but she’d never had an animal attack her like this. The poor stray had been brought in by a couple who’d found him wandering by the side of the highway. He looked tired and dirty, but not necessarily injured, and they’d told her he seemed very docile and friendly, but the moment she’d knelt down in front of him and offered her hand, palm down, for him to sniff, he’d lunged at her and taken her arm in his jaw.

All she remembered after that was chaos.

Now, her head was spinning from pain killers and the bumpy ride in the ambulance. Her right arm had been wrapped in layers of bandages, so thickly it looked like it belonged to someone else. The warm blankets the ER staff had piled onto her to help ward off symptoms of shock felt like lead weights holding her immobile.

“I guess that’s a yes. If you’re up to it, there are people in the waiting room who are anxious to see you, but since they’re not family members I can’t let them in without your permission.”

“Who’s out there?” She recalled asking Taylor or his brother to call Aiden and cancel their date, and Gillian had said she would call Brenda who was her emergency contact since her parents lived on the Gulf Coast.

“Your friend Brenda, Dr. Croft, and someone else from the clinic.”

No Aiden.

“You can send them in. Thank you. Do you know when I can go home?”

The nurse adjusted the curtains around Sam’s bed and straightened the blankets. “Not quite yet. As soon as your IV antibiotics are finished and the resident signs your discharge orders you can go home, as long as you have someone to drive you. Right now, just relax and let the painkillers do their job, okay?”

Sam nodded, which caused a wave of dizziness to wash over her. As much as she wanted to go home, maybe staying put for a while wasn’t such a bad idea.

The nurse left the room, and not long after the door opened again. Sam roused herself, hoping to see Aiden. She tried to hide her disappointment when Brenda pulled aside the curtain surrounding her bed.

“Oh, my God, look at your arm!”

Sam stifled a derisive laugh. “I’ve seen it. I really don’t need to look again.”

“Dr. Croft said a dog bit you.”

“One did. How is the dog? Did you talk to Taylor?”

Brenda pulled up a plastic chair next to Sam’s bed. “He’s out in the waiting room. He almost looks worse than you do. There’s blood all over him.”

“He pulled the dog away from me and bandaged my arm. How is Gillian? Is she okay?”

“She’s a wreck. She feels terrible for telling you to meet the people with the dog. She blames herself.”

Sam sighed. “That’s just silly. If it hadn’t been me, it would have been her. The poor dog was terrified of having so many unfamiliar people around him. It didn’t matter who was there, someone was going to get bitten.”

“Do you want to me send her in so you can talk to her? I think she’ll feel better if she knows you’re not mad at her.”

Sam nodded, braving the dizziness that accompanied any movement of her head. “Yeah. Please.”

Brenda stood. “I’m going to find out when you can go home. The doctor said someone should stay with you tonight, so I’m going to run home and grab a couple of things in an overnight bag to bring to your place.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Of course I do. And it’s not a problem. Just rest, and I’ll be back. I’ll send Gillian in.” Brenda headed for the door, but Sam raised her good arm to stop her.

“Is Aiden out there?”

Brenda hesitated as if she didn’t quite want to answer. “Not yet. Maybe Tanner couldn’t get in touch with him.”

Sam absorbed that. She would have called him herself but at the moment she had no idea where her cell phone was, and she wasn’t even sure if she was allowed to use it in the room anyway. Talking to Aiden would have to wait. She just hoped Tanner had gotten a hold of him, and he didn’t think she’d just blown off their date. “If you see him…”

“I’ll send him in.”

Sam lay back and tried to relax. The more she thought about Aiden, the more worried she became. He’d sounded so strange on the phone when he’d called to make plans. She’d wanted to ask him what was wrong, but Gillian had interrupted her, and he’d seemed anxious to get off the phone. In her groggy state, she found it increasingly hard to concentrate, but she did manage to figure out one thing. It seemed clear now that Aiden wanted out of their arrangement. How hadn’t she seen that before?

*

The blood on Taylor Croft’s shirt was the first thing Aiden saw when he arrived in the ER waiting area. Aiden had never been squeamish at the sight of blood, but the condition of the veterinarian’s shirt made his pulse race. That was Samantha’s blood.

Gillian, Taylor’s other receptionist, sat in one of the visitor chairs, her face in her hands. Taylor seemed to be trying to comfort her.

Aiden didn’t like the look of this at all. Tanner had said Sam would be fine. Why did everyone look so awful? “Doc, how is she?” he demanded when he reached the two. He tried to avoid looking at the dark red smears on Taylor’s shirt, but he couldn’t help staring.

“Aiden, I’m glad Tanner got in touch with you. Sam was worried you’d think she stood you up.” Taylor took a seat next to Gillian and let out a weary sigh. “It’s been a rough day.”

“Is she going to be okay? What happened? All Tanner said was a dog bit her pretty badly.”

“Someone brought in a stray. She met them at the back entrance. The dog seemed friendly, but something must have spooked him, and when she got near him, he lunged for her. He got her arm and shook it a few times. She and Gillian screamed, which seemed to scare the dog even more. The man who brought him in tried to pull him away, but that made things worse. I finally got something into the dog’s jaws to get him to let go, and I was able to wrap Sam’s arm, but the bite was pretty bad. I’ve never had an incident that bad in my clinic before, even with injured animals.”

Anger stirred in Aiden, but he wasn’t sure why. He wanted to blame Taylor for this. Someone had to be at fault for Sam getting hurt. He swallowed back a growl of annoyance. “Can I see her? Where is she?”

“She was getting stitches. Her friend Brenda went in to see her, so we have to wait. Here she comes now.”

Aiden turned to see a pretty brunette coming down the hallway. She was talking with a doctor and directed him to the group in the waiting room. The Indian man offered his hand to Taylor as the two approached.

“I’m Dr. Chomandra. Ms. Samms tells me you are Dr. Croft from the animal clinic.”

Taylor rose and shook the resident’s hand. “Yes, sir. Ms. Wilton is my employee. Can you tell me how she is?”

“She will be fine as far as the wound is concerned. The bite was quite deep and very ragged, but I’ve contacted a reconstructive surgeon to take a look. I believe scarring can be minimized and muscle damage is minor. My concern right now is the condition of the animal that bit her.”

Aiden couldn’t take anymore. This was ridiculous. “Why are you worried about the dog?”

Dr. Chomandra turned his benign gaze on Aiden. “Are you with Ms. Wilton?”

“I am…I’m…a friend. Why are you worried about the dog?”

Taylor made a calming gesture. “It’s okay, Aiden. These questions are necessary.” He turned to the resident. “The dog was a stray, so I have no vaccination records. I was able to do a quick examination, and there were no obvious signs of illness. I contacted a rescue house, and they can keep the dog quarantined for the next ten days.”

“Oh, man, you think it had rabies?” Aiden asked.

“No, I don’t. The dog bit her because he was scared. Dr. Chomandra, will you have to give Samantha the rabies vaccine?”

The resident shook his head. “Not unless the dog exhibits any symptoms. I will give you my card, and you can please call me if anything comes up during the quarantine period. I will give Ms. Wilton instructions to return if there are any problems.”

“Sam was worried about the dog. He’ll be taken care of? They’re not going to put him down, are they?” Brenda asked.

“No. He’ll be taken care of by people who specialize in handling traumatized animals. When I get back to the clinic I’m going to call around to surrounding towns and see if there are reports of missing dogs. We may still be able to find an owner and see if he has a vaccination record. Don’t worry. Sam isn’t going to get rabies.”

Aiden wanted to be relieved by the news, but the way the two doctors were talking didn’t seem very conclusive. “How is she?” he asked Brenda.

“She wants to see Gillian, but…Aiden, I think she’d like to see you first. Come on, I’ll take you to her.”

Finally. Aiden left the waiting area on Brenda’s heels. She showed him to a small room in the emergency department and told him to go in. “I have to go home for a bit, but Sam knows I’m coming back to take her home. Someone has to stay with her tonight.”

“I’ll do that,” Aiden said. “I can take care of her.”

Brenda’s expression morphed from worry to amusement. She eyed him up and down. “I’m sure you can. If it’s okay with her, it’s okay with me. Just tell her to call me, okay?”

“I will, thanks.”

Brenda left, and Aiden took a moment to compose himself. He didn’t want Samantha to see how worried he was, but he did want her to know he planned to be there for anything she needed.

*

Sam’s heart fluttered when she heard Aiden’s voice in her ear. She hadn’t realized she’d fallen asleep, and even now, she wasn’t quite sure she was awake. She forced her eyes open and met his startling green gaze. “You found me…”

He smiled and brushed one finger along her cheek. “Yes, I finally found you. And you’re finally awake.”

“How long was I sleeping?” Her grogginess seemed to be clearing. The room came into focus, and she realized she could move her head without feeling dizzy. Maybe all she’d needed was a quick nap.

“About an hour and a half.”

She bolted up. “That long? Gillian…and Dr. Croft…”

“They went home. I told them you would call them both later. Brenda went home too. I told her I’d take care of you. If you don’t object. I’m waiting for the nurse to come in with the discharge papers. She said it would be another twenty minutes or so. If you’re feeling up to it, you can sit up and get your shoes on.”

Sam’s thoughts spun, but at least her head didn’t anymore. The pain in her arm had subsided to a very dull ache which would probably get worse as the painkillers wore off. She eyed the bloodstains on her shirt and a wave of embarrassment swept over her. What must she look like? She tried to cover the stains with her good arm. “I look like something the cat dragged in.”

“Or the dog.” Aiden offered his hand to help her sit up. “Are you sure you’re okay? The nurse said you can stay a little longer if you still feel dizzy.”

“No, actually I’m much better.” She let her legs dangle over the side of the bed and looked up at Aiden. His skin looked a little pale. Clearly he didn’t care for hospitals. “Are you sure about this? Brenda was fine with taking me home.”