Cowboy Crazy

chapter 31



Sarah and Lane squared off a mere half second before a jaunty tune cut through the air. Sarah slapped at the pockets of her jeans until she found her cell phone in her back pocket. Jerking it out, she cut off Blondie’s “Call Me” mid-song.

“Kelsey.” She stepped away from Lane. “What? No! Where is she?”

Lane frowned. Even the newest rookie trainer knew you didn’t bring a cell phone into the round pen. Maybe she wasn’t such a natural after all. Anyone could make a mistake, but she was carrying on a conversation instead of flicking the phone off and taking care of the horse. And she wasn’t even trying to project a calm demeanor. She was damn near as tense as the horse, snapping out her words, stamping a foot hard on the ground.

He was getting madder by the minute until he noticed that her face was growing paler each time she paused to listen to the caller. Finally, she shoved the phone back in her pocket and strode to the gate, opening it and sliding through. She tried to latch it behind her, fumbled with the mechanism, tried again, and failed. Lane reached over and fixed it.

“My sister’s sick,” she said. “Unconscious. She gets migraines, and Mike thinks—he thinks she’s having a stroke.”

“I’ll drive you over.”

“I’ve got it.”

She ran to the Malibu and flung open the door. With all the clothes heaped in the backseat it looked like the cars parked on the street in city alleys, the ones homeless people crammed all their belongings into. Smushed up against the window he could see a shoe, a purse, and a pack of pink girlie razors.

It took her three tries to get the keys in the ignition, and then she shoved the car in reverse and backed over a grocery bag. She shifted, lurched forward a few feet, stalled the engine, then flailed at the shift knob and backed over the bag again. She swiped away a tear while she struggled to get the car back in first and Lane tapped on the window.

“Slide over.”

She shook her head, still struggling with the transmission while he opened the door.

“I mean it. Slide over. You’re in no shape to drive.”

“She has headaches,” she said, sliding into the passenger seat. “I thought they were migraines. But what if…”

“Don’t think about it.”

He got behind the wheel and gunned the Malibu down the driveway. Sarah leaned forward, as if she could urge the car on like a racehorse.

“Drive faster,” she said. “It’s on County Road Six. You know that blue single-wide on the edge of town? That’s Kelsey’s.” She clenched her fists and pounded her thighs. “I need to be there now. Please, Lane. Faster.”

***

For once, Lane obeyed an order. He drove like he rode, careening around corners and skidding at stop signs with no regard for safety, but the ambulance still beat them to Kelsey’s. It was parked in the yard when they drove in, a boxy, decrepit vehicle with old-fashioned bug-eyed headlights and red faded paint on the side spelling out “Two Shot Emergency” arched above a first aid cross.

Sarah spilled out of the passenger seat while he threw the shifter into park. A pair of good ol’ boys in jeans and snap-button shirts had Kelsey strapped to a gurney. They were trying to load her in the back of the vehicle, one struggling to collapse the folding legs of the gurney while the other pumped up a blood pressure cuff. Mike was across from the technician, balancing Katie on one arm. The child’s sleep-flushed cheek was pressed into his shoulder, but her eyes were open, watching as Sarah ran to them. Sarah felt a squeeze in her heart at the sight of her niece limp in Mike’s arms.

Katie had been young when Mike and Kelsey had broken up, but she seemed to be wasting no time turning into a daddy’s girl—which was bad news for everyone if he left again. Sarah reached for the child, but Mike spun slightly away and pretended to be involved in stroking down her hair.

His own shaggy locks were spiked up from his forehead. Sarah knew he ran his fingers through it, front to back, when he was nervous. She knew because he was always nervous when he talked to her. Which was as it should be; after what he’d done to her sister, he should be nervous.

“One thirty over eighty,” said the EMT.

“Is that good?” Mike asked.

“It’s okay.” Sarah stepped up beside him. “Kelsey? How are you?”

“She’s not conscious, ma’am,” the EMT said.

“What’s wrong?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”

She turned to Mike. “What happened?”

“Nothing, really. She just passed out. She had one of her headaches. She said it really hurt, and then she passed out. I called 911, and then I called you.” He kicked at the dirt with the toe of his boot.

“Where are they taking her?” Lane asked. Sarah had almost forgotten he was there.

“Casper,” said the driver.

“Isn’t there a doctor closer to here?”

The driver shook his head.

“Damn, Casper’s an hour away.”

“Forty-two minutes is the record,” the driver said.

Lane started to respond, but just then the second EMT managed to get the legs on the gurney to collapse and they slid Kelsey into the ambulance.

“Ready to go,” he said.

Mike turned and tipped Katie toward Sarah. The little girl stirred, blinked sleepily, and held out her arms.

“I thought you could take Katie over to the hospital, meet ’em there,” Mike said.

“You’re staying here?” Sarah knew he was a bastard, but she didn’t know he was that much of a bastard.

“Course not. I’m riding in the ambulance.”

Sarah was about to argue when the EMT crouching beside Kelsey lifted a cautionary hand. “Ma’am?” he said to Kelsey. “Ma’am? Can you hear me?”

Kelsey’s eyes fluttered open. “Uh?” She tried to talk, but all that came out was gibberish.

“Speech ataxia,” said the EMT. “Probably a vascular constriction.”

Sarah swallowed, feeling an ache in her throat as Kelsey’s eyes widened. Vascular whatever. It was a stroke. Kelsey couldn’t talk. How would things be if she didn’t recover? She and Mike would be all Katie had left.

They’d better start getting along.

“Wha…” Kelsey looked from side to side, panicked.

“It’s okay. I’m here, Sis,” Sarah said.

Kelsey moved her mouth, obviously trying to speak, but nothing came out. Finally, she closed her eyes again and clenched her fists.

“She’s trying,” said the EMT.

Kelsey opened her eyes again, and this time looking past Sarah. “Mike?” she said. “Mike?”

The exhale of Sarah’s relief that her sister could speak whooshed out, and she wished all her jealousy and misgivings could go with it. But her heart felt heavy as she took Katie from Mike and watched him slip into the ambulance and take Kelsey’s hand.

“Momma?” Katie rubbed her eyes and looked up at Sarah, puzzled.

“Momma’s resting.” Sarah patted the child’s head. “You’ve got the car seat, Mike. Come on. I’ll ride with Kelsey.”

Mike tossed a set of keys at her. They fell to the ground at her feet. “Take Kelsey’s car,” he said. “The seat’s in it.”

“But…”

“I’m not leaving her.”

Now he wasn’t leaving her. Sarah was tempted to say something snarky, but the EMT crouching on the other side of the gurney leaned out and pulled one of the doors closed. “We’re wasting time here,” he said.

“Come on.” Lane picked the keys up and tossed them in the air, nodding toward Kelsey’s gray-primered Camry. “Let’s go.”

“Let’s?”

“You’re in no shape to drive. Besides, my truck’s at the ranch, remember?”

Sarah sighed and headed for the car. She bent and slid the sleepy Katie into the car seat, struggling to fasten the belt and shoulder straps as the child slumped like a sack of potatoes. She was used to taking care of Katie, but since they never left the yard she wasn’t well versed in car seat technique. As she tried to fasten the shoulder straps into the buckle, Katie woke and widened her eyes.

“Momma?”

“Momma’s going on a ride in the big truck,” Sarah said. “We’ll go meet her, okay?”

“Momma!” It wasn’t a question now, it was a demand. “Want Momma!”

“Honey, we’re going to get her, okay? Just hang on.” Sarah tried to shove the buckle closed, but Katie struggled and set up a wail. “Hurting me, Aunt Sarah! Hurting meeee!”

Sarah felt the hot pressure of tears behind her eyes. Tucking her hands under her niece’s armpits she hoisted her a little higher in the seat and slid the buckle home. She muttered some comforting nonsense Katie usually loved, but the child screwed up her face and let out a wail that rose in deafening concert with the ambulance siren as the vehicle pulled away from the curb.

“Mommaaaaaaaa!” She flapped her arms like a helpless baby bird. “Aunt Sarah is hurting meeeee!”

Sarah unhooked the buckles and sat back, feeling as helpless as a three-year-old herself. There was no other way the buckle could go, was there? She bent down and picked up her niece, cradling the child against her chest. Katie calmed almost immediately, lapsing into heartbroken hiccups.

Sarah bounced the child gently. This she could handle, but how the hell was she going to get to the hospital?

“Here.” Lane had scooted into the backseat and was holding the straps on either side of the car seat apart. “Put her in. I’ll help.”

Katie held out her arms to Lane, grunting in protest when Sarah tightened her grip.

“Ride,” she said. “Want ride.”

“Oh, fine.” Sarah set her in the seat and watched in wonder as Lane slid buckles and tightened belts like a pro. Katie smiled at him the whole time.

“Like tacking up a horse,” he said, grinning up at Sarah. “Nothing to it.”