They arrived at Mateo’s room. It was filled with the joyful noise of family. A nurse emerged, shaking her head at the crowd inside. “Go on in. What’s one more?”
As soon as they crossed into the room, both Megan and Lucy were immediately embraced, working their way through a sea of smiling faces until they reached Mateo’s bedside. His color was back to normal already, thanks to the IV in his arm, Lucy guessed.
“Lucy! Megan!” His grin was wide and Lucy wondered if he was still feeling the effects of the ketamine. “I’m so glad you’re here. My heroes.”
Megan laughed, grabbing onto his arm, blushing. “All in a day’s work for my mom.”
Pride burned through Lucy at Megan’s praise. It had been so very long since Megan had anything nice to say about Lucy or her job she’d almost forgotten how good it felt.
“They say I can go home tomorrow. Can I still give you surfing lessons? It’s the least I can do—and I promise, no more standing you up.”
They both looked at Lucy, waiting for her answer. As if there were any way she could say no. “Sure.”
Megan grabbed Lucy’s free arm. “Thanks, Mom!” Then she sobered. “Are you sure you’re going to be all right?” she asked Mateo. “We don’t have to surf. We can just walk on the beach and you can teach me more about the architecture and history.”
Lucy blinked. When had her daughter learned how to flirt so effortlessly?
“Do you remember anything?” she asked Mateo.
“No.” He frowned. “Just blood. All that blood. Where did it come from?”
“My guess is Pastor Fleming. Wouldn’t be hard for him or his wife to get a hold of some medical supplies,” she eyed Mateo’s IV tubing, “take a little every week or so, then when they’re ready, spray it around to fake their crime scene.”
Jorge winced while Mateo’s mother and aunt made small noises of dismay. Megan frowned at Lucy for ruining the moment—back to being the mom who couldn’t get anything right.
Megan’s phone rang. Nick. A little silt and mud clung to the phone’s waterproof case, but otherwise, it was fine. Lucy edged her way out of the crowded room to answer it.
“We’re both good,” she told Nick. She glanced back into the room at Megan’s beaming face, curls bouncing and hands gesturing as she told the story of her adventures that evening to Mateo and his family. Probably not for the first time. “But you should see your daughter flirting. It’s shameless. We are so in trouble. I think we should rethink that whole convent thing. At least until she’s thirty. Seriously.”
Nick’s laughter was a sound so pure and beautiful she fell in love with him every time she heard it. She turned to the tile wall, hiding her smile from everyone passing through the busy hospital corridor, cherishing this private moment in the midst of the chaos this day had delivered. No need to travel to the beach for sunshine; Nick was all the light she needed in this world.
“Well, she is her mother’s daughter,” he finally said. “And I wouldn’t change that for anything.”
Dear Reader,
Your support of Diabetes Research is very much appreciated! I hope you’ve enjoyed this box set.
(Want more Lucy? Keep reading for a chance to get a FREE e-book!)
As a pediatric ER physician, I’ve had to diagnose and treat countless cases of diabetes in children. While I wish the state-of-the-art insulin pump described in BAD BREAK existed today, it still is in the research stage of development.
But, with your generous support, hopefully, someday soon, patients with diabetes will no longer need to worry about shots and pumps but will have a lasting cure.
Thanks for joining in on Lucy’s adventure in BAD BREAK! She’ll be back in LAST LIGHT.
For readers new to Lucy, you can get a FREE copy of the first Lucy Guardino FBI Thriller, SNAKE SKIN, by joining my Thrillers with Heart newsletter at http://cjlyons.net/signup
If you’d like to catch up with her other adventures, you can find more Lucy Guardino FBI Thrillers at: www.CJLyons.net
About CJ
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of twenty-seven novels, former pediatric ER doctor CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about in her cutting edge Thrillers with Heart.
CJ has been called a “master within the genre” (Pittsburgh Magazine) and her work has been praised as “breathtakingly fast-paced” and “riveting” (Publishers Weekly) with “characters with beating hearts and three dimensions” (Newsday).
Her novels have won the International Thriller Writers’ prestigious Thriller Award, the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Readers’ Choice Award, the RT Seal of Excellence, and the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery and Suspense.
Learn more about CJ’s Thrillers with Heart at www.CJLyons.net
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