Page 38 of No Place Like Home (Orlinda Valley #3)

Summer

I followed Rowan into the salon and froze at the sight before me.

Tonya sat in a chair, her eyes were closed, and she looked bad.

Real bad. Her breathing seemed shallow, and her skin looked gray and ashy.

Everyone’s attention was on Tonya, and the paramedics were asking all types of questions. The bell over the door rang and Trevor walked in. Our eyes met and he came toward me. “I heard the call. You okay?”

I nodded. “I don’t know what’s going on.”

He squeezed my arm and walked to the paramedics. I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I went to Kaye and placed my hand on her back. Her face was a mixture of worry and fear. I’m sure mine looked the same.

“Ms. Tonya,” Trevor said, “you need to go to the hospital, and the ambulance would be the safest way. They could keep an eye on you.”

“Not doing it. I’m fine. All this fuss is ridiculous for some heartburn. Y’all can just pack up and get the hell out of here. Go find someone else to bother.” Her voice sounded tired, a little weaker than normal, though her attitude was still all Tonya.

Rowan stood over her, his face pale and etched with a combination of worry and concern. “Momma, come on. Don’t be so stubborn.”

As Tonya continued to object, Kaye squeezed my hand, let it go, then strode over to her friend.

“T,” she barked, “get your ass in that ambulance and let them do their job. You’re white as a ghost, you sound like shit, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to get yelled at by all your sons for not making you go with the professionals.

You’re going with them. Now. They will make sure you’re okay and not having a damn heart attack in my salon. ”

Tonya, opened her mouth to protest further, but Diane jumped in. “No arguing, T. Just shut your mouth and listen.”

“They’re right, Ms. Tonya,” Trevor said. “Symptoms of heart attacks are different for women. It would be best if we get you to the hospital as soon as possible.”

Rowan nodded and squeezed his mother’s hand. “Mom, I’ll follow behind so I can take you home after they’re done and say it’s safe.”

“Fine. Do whatever.” Tonya leaned back in the chair and was soon bundled into the ambulance. Trevor left with Rowan, and Diane, Kaye, and I closed up the salon and followed behind, because no way were we staying here.

I talked with Darlene on the phone while Diane drove us to the hospital. Darlene and Leila were staying home with the kids. I promised I’d keep them informed of everything.

When we arrived at the hospital, Ruth was already waiting outside the Emergency Room entrance. We headed in together, finding Jamison, Bryson, and Rowan deep in conversation, huddled close. Ruth, Diane, and Kaye stepped in to join them, but I hung back, feeling like an outsider.

I wrung my hands together. How was Tonya doing? How were the guys? My eyes were glued to Rowan, but his back was to me. If his face looked anything like Jamison and Bryson’s though . . .

Finally, a doctor appeared. With a few hushed words, he led the boys through the double doors. Kaye and Diane found seats nearby, and I quietly sat beside them.

I grabbed Kaye’s hand. “What did the doctor say?”

Diane shook her head. “Not much. They’re still doing tests, but she’s awake and alert.”

“Poor doctors and nurses,” I said.

Ruth laughed. “No kidding. It would be easier for them if she wasn’t awake. T is an awful patient.”

They told stories while we waited of when she was in the hospital after the birth of each of the boys. Taking orders from people wasn’t a strength of hers on a good day.

The double doors opened, and the guys walked through. They were laughing about something, so that was a good sign.

The four of us stood, and Kaye, whose face was covered with worry asked, “So, how is she?”

Jamison hugged her. “She seems to be okay. They are keeping her here overnight for observation and will let us know more in the morning.”

I was listening to Jamison, but I turned my gaze to Rowan.

Our eyes locked for a brief second before he turned to his phone.

He held it in the air. “It’s Texas. I’m going to take this out in my Jeep.

” His eyes stalled on mine briefly, and he gave a small smile before he walked away and answered his phone.

I watched as the automatic doors slid closed behind him, and couldn’t help but wonder if this would be it. If he might accept the job in Texas.

My heart thumped wildly. It would have been easier if he’d never known my big secret. I could go on thinking I’d done the right thing, made the right choice. But now that he knew, and said it didn’t matter, I had to admit I might have been wrong.

Shit. Why did Darlene talk to him? I wanted to go give her a piece of my mind. Tell her to stay out of my business. This secret was for me to tell, if I chose to, and she had no right to tell him anything.

Now, though, nothing mattered but Tonya. Yes, she might have been a royal pain in the ass, but she was still Tonya. She had so much energy and was the life of every picnic and get-together.

“Summer, she wants to see you too.” Jamison’s hand was on my arm, but I hadn’t heard a word he said.

“Excuse me?” I asked.

“My mom wants to see you too.” He gestured toward the door.

Diane grabbed my arm. “Come on in with us.”

The smell of the ER as we went through the doors hit me like a punch in the face. This was the reason I avoided hospitals at all costs. The smell—a combination of antiseptic, a shit ton of disinfectant, and sickness—always gave me nightmares.

I followed Ruth, Kaye, and Diane into a room as a nurse held the door open for us on her way out. “Ms. McKendry’s a pistol,” the nurse said.

They laughed heartily, and Diane said, “You’re not telling us anything we don’t already know. ”

I nodded at the nurse, and she shut the door behind us.

Tonya had an IV in her arm and an oxygen probe on her finger. A machine beeped nearby, lines flashing across the screen.

“You look much better already,” Kaye said.

“Yeah, you looked like death at the salon,” Diane said.

Tonya huffed, irritated. “Well, I feel just fine, but they won’t let me leave. Thanks to you two bitches and insisting on calling an ambulance, I’m a prisoner for the next twenty-four hours.” She air-quoted “twenty-four hours” and rolled her eyes.

“Oh, you’ll get over it,” Ruth told her. “Maybe you’ll have a hot doctor and can drive him crazy.”

Diane chuckled. “Oh, she’ll drive him crazy all right. That’s one of her many talents.”

They laughed and Tonya’s gaze narrowed. “See, y’all are bitches.”

That made me laugh.

Tonya’s narrowed eyes turned to me. “Is something funny, Summer?”

“Listening to y’all bicker reminds me of how Kora, Darlene, and I argue. I swear we’ve said the same exact words sitting at Jerry’s Pub. I know I’ve called them bitches at least a dozen times over the years.”

“Wait till your friendship hits more than thirty years. A dozen will seem like a drop in a bucket,” Tonya said, giving a weak smile.

“All joking aside, T,” Diane said, her smile fading a bit, “you do look better. You scared us.”

“Hell yeah, you did,” Kaye agreed.

Ruth stepped forward and squeezed Tonya’s hand. “You need to suck it up and be ready to do whatever they tell you to, and if it’s staying overnight, then you stay overnight. We need you around a bunch more years. ”

Tonya let out a breath. “Fine, Ruthie. I’ll try my best to be good. But it won’t be fun.”

“Of course it won’t,” Ruth agreed. “But do it, anyway.”

Just then a nurse came in. “Gotta check your vitals.”

“Didn’t you just do that?” Tonya asked with an eyeroll.

Kaye, Diane, and Ruth laughed. Kaye patted Tonya’s shoulder. “We’ll let you be. We have phone calls to make.”

“Yep,” Ruth said. “We need to get the Orlinda Valley message line going with an update.”

“They will all be happy to know you’re here to annoy everyone for a while more,” Diane added with a laugh.

I started to follow the other women out of the room, but Tonya said, “Summer, can you hang out a bit? I want to talk with you.”

I raised a brow and waited against the wall while the nurse did whatever she was doing and typed notes into a computer. The nurse nodded and said, “I’ll let you two be, and I’ll see you again in a bit, Mrs. McKendry. Everything looks good, and they’re waiting to get you a bed.”

“Great. Just what I need.”

“She means ‘thank you’,” I said to the nurse, since Tonya wasn’t being cordial. As soon as the nurse was gone and the door had closed, Tonya gestured me closer.

“Summer.” She pushed herself higher in the bed and patted the mattress next to her for me to sit—so I sat.

“I know you and I don’t always see eye-to-eye, but we’ve known each other a long time.

You’ve always been important in the lives of Rowan and Kora, and it seems like you’ve become more important to Rowan than I realized. ”

I had no clue where she was going with this talk, but when she got to the part about me and Rowan, I stood. I didn’t like her tone, which sounded increasingly rude and abrasive the more she spoke.

“Summer, stop. I’m sorry. My tone sounded harsh. Look, I know your mother wasn’t worth a penny, and your dad was worth even less, so I tried to be there for you. I opened our door and invited you in as a part of my family. Hell, you even spent the night in Rowan’s room on occasion.”

I raised my brow.

“I’ve ignored his feelings for you over the years, and hoped he would find someone else eventually and move on.”

“Where the hell is this going, Tonya?”

She put her hand up. “No, Summer, I’m sorry. It’s coming out all wrong. Please hear me out.”

I puffed out a breath and cocked my head to listen. I didn’t know why the hell I gave her the time.

“I know he has feelings for you, and I don’t know where you fall in a relationship, but I want you to know that I would love for you both to be together.

It was a bit of a shock at first when I saw you at the wedding, but I also saw a light in Rowan that’s been missing for so long.

You make him happy, and that’s all a mother wants for her sons—women who make them happy.

Whatever’s going on now, please figure it out.

He’s not going to stay here if he doesn’t have you. ”

I sat straight. “What are you talking about?”

“That job in Texas. He might take it. He’s not going to stay in Orlinda Valley, or even Tennessee, if you aren’t in his life.”

“How do you know that?” I asked.

She shrugged. “I just know my son. ”

My eyes roamed the room. Rowan might leave? Again? I shook my head. “If he leaves, then . . . But, I can’t promise . . .” I sighed. My insides were knotted up. I stood and chewed my bottom lip.

“I know,” Tonya said.

I looked at her, confused. “You know? What exactly do you know?” What was she talking about? My feelings for Rowan? Or had Kaye and Diane talked with her—told her about me?

“Summer, your grandmother talked to me years ago. I know about the endometriosis. I know you may not be able to have children. She told me how upset that made you.”

My grandmother told Tonya? Meaning, someone other than my grandmother and I had known all this time?

I sat heavily on the edge of her bed again.

Emotions I didn’t want to deal with here and now came to the surface, and the room blurred as tears welled in my eyes.

“You’ve known all these years?” My voice was a whisper.

She nodded.

“Then you, of all people, know why I can’t be with Rowan. He needs to be a dad. He’d be such an amazing father, and the world needs more amazing fathers. There aren’t enough—I should know.”

Tonya sighed, reached toward me, and grabbed my hands.

She had only touched me like this one other time, in my junior year of high school.

I’d showed up at their house, late at night, with tears and a small suitcase.

My mother had been drinking and kicked me out, and I didn’t want to pull my grandmother into it, so I went to Rowan’s.

Rowan was out with his girlfriend, and I only had Tonya to talk to.

“You’re right,” she said. “The world does need amazing fathers, and Rowan would be just that—but don’t keep happiness from your life because of the cards you’ve been dealt. ”

I held her gaze for a beat. She squeezed my hands, then continued in a soft voice, “Rowan would be lucky to have you, and I would love for you to be with him.” She shrugged.

“You’re strong, witty, hard-headed, and keep him in his place.

People like that are pretty amazing individuals. ” She smiled and wagged her eyebrows.

I smiled back. “They are pretty amazing,” I said with a soft laugh. I leaned in and gave her a hug. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders.

I pulled back and smiled. “Thanks, Tonya.”

“You bet. Now, get your ass out of here and hunt down my son.”

Tonya pushed the button as I stood, and the last thing I heard her say was, “What’s it take to get a Diet Coke in this damn place?”