Out Of Love Part 38

"I will be. I've just had a lot of headaches at work and I let them get to me."

"That's what Cathy said . . . something about somebody trying to take all of your business."

"That's right. I thought we had it all worked out, but this morning we got a call from our biggest time-share client, the one in Philadelphia whose a.s.s we all kiss on a regular basis." She felt the tightening return to her chest as she related Bill Hinkle's call telling them he couldn't commit to their new service for more than a year or two. Art Conover had come to him with ideas for a new service.

"You need to calm down, Carmen."

"I know."

"You need to quit worrying about all this work s.h.i.t and con-260 centrate on the happy things, like your new girlfriend."

Brooke didn't understand that a company head couldn't just step back and let the chips fall. "I had no idea how hard this long-distance thing would be."

"Is that worrying you too?"

"Some." Quite a bit. A great deal. "She'll be here in a few minutes, by the way."

"I know. Cathy was at the airport when I talked to her. I'll get out of here before she gets here."

"You don't have to." Despite her words, Carmen didn't want another awkward meeting between her lover and best friend.

There would be another time, preferably one that didn't include heart monitors.

"Yes, I do. If she's got this as bad as you do, she's going to want you all to herself."

"I'm glad you came. I've been worried about us and I feel a lot better now."

"Don't ever worry about us, sweetie. I love you, and nothing will ever change that."

Judith gave up on getting her bearings in the city as Cathy spun through the surface streets on their way to the hospital.

"I'll drop your bag off at Carmen's. It's not far from here. You can just get a cab. Now are you sure you want to deal with Prissy? I can always take her home with me."

"No, you don't need to do that. She'll be good company . . .

unless you think it's too much for Carmen to have her there when she gets home."

"It should be fine if you can handle taking her out. Carmen's supposed to take it easy for a couple of days, but other than that, she'll be fine."

"This was just a scare then."

"A big one, especially for Lenore. She didn't know what was 261 going on. Carmen just collapsed all of a sudden and pa.s.sed out."

"I'm just glad it happened when she was with people who knew what to do."

"No kidding. If she had been by herself, she probably wouldn't have done anything at all. And she wouldn't have told anybody either."

Cathy pulled into the circle at the hospital's entrance and stopped.

"Thank you for everything, Cathy."

"I'm glad you were able to get here so fast. It'll make a big difference to her to see you."

"I hope so."

"You have the key?"

She slapped her pocket as she got out. "Right here."

"Call me if you need anything."

As Cathy pulled away, Judith walked anxiously through the double doors, bypa.s.sing the information kiosk when she spotted the visitor elevators. She knew the room number already, and wanted to get there as soon as she could. What she hadn't planned was coming face to face with Brooke Nance when the elevator door opened on the fifth floor.

For a moment, they simply stared, both too shocked to speak.

Then Brooke broke into a broad smile and extended her hand.

"Hi, Judith. I'm Brooke."

"I know." This wasn't at all the reception she had expected, given what Carmen had said about Brooke avoiding her. "I'm . . .

I'm sorry about before."

"It's okay. I probably would have done the same thing, except I doubt I would have been able to think that fast."

Judith welcomed the gracious overture, but this wasn't the time for making new friends. "Is Carmen okay? Have you seen her?"

"She's fine, and she's going to be very happy to see you." She turned and faced down the hall. "Next to last door on your left."

262.

"Thank you. I-I want to talk to you later, but . . ."

"We will. Go."

Judith gave what she hoped looked like a genuine smile and started down the hall.

"Judith?"

She turned back.

"One more thing." Brooke walked closer and lowered her voice. "This isn't any of my business, but I'm going to say it anyway because Carmen is very dear to me, and I care about what happens to her."

Judith expected a friendly warning to treat Carmen well or else.

"She's worrying about a lot of things right now, including how hard it is on her for you to be in New York."

"It's hard on both of us."

"Well, if you really care about her, you need to do something about it." Brooke gave her an earnest look, one that drove home the gravity of what she was saying-that the stress of being in different cities was causing Carmen physical pain. "And don't tell her I told you that or she'll kick my a.s.s."

Judith sighed and looked away as a ma.s.sive wave of guilt enveloped her. If any of this was her fault, she would have to fix it, no matter what it took.

Carmen felt a flood of relief the moment Judith walked through the door. In that instant, she recognized the strain this had put on everyone who cared about her, and the extraordinary effort Judith had exerted on short notice to be at her side. She also saw a look of panic.

"It's not as bad as it looks. These are all just monitors."

Judith hurried over and took her face between her hands, kissing her solidly on the forehead. "You scared me half to death."

263.

"I'm okay, really. This was just one of those freaky things."

"I want to hear everything, and you'd better not leave anything out."

"I was just-"

"Not yet, though. Right now I just want you to be quiet and let me tell you how much I love you." Judith's hands caressed her, wandering up and down her arms and across the top of her chest, careful to avoid the IV and electronic leads.

"I love you too. I'm so glad you came."

"I thought I'd never get here."

"I bet your boss had a fit."

"I didn't stick around long enough to hear it. Getting here was all that mattered."

"Your timing was perfect. Everyone else just left."

"Yeah, I just saw Brooke in the hall. We actually said hi this time. She was glad you were feeling better."

Carmen shook her head at the weirdness. "One of these days, maybe we'll all sit down together and talk like civilized people."

"I'm sure we will." Her warm hand brushed Carmen's hair off her forehead and she perched on the side of the bed. "Now tell me what happened."

Relishing the physical closeness, Carmen related the tale of her sudden chest pain, blackout and collapse, all capped off by a dramatic trip to the hospital in the back of an ambulance. "I almost told them to do the bypa.s.s surgery so I wouldn't have to face everybody in the building when I walk in next week."

"What do you mean bypa.s.s surgery? Do you have a problem or don't you?"

"I have a trouble spot. It's a narrowed artery, but it isn't blocked. Dr. Marshall suggested a stent, but first, she'll put me on medication to dilate the blood vessels, and something else to get my cholesterol and blood pressure down. We're hoping that takes care of it."

"And if it doesn't?"

264.

"Then we consider bypa.s.s."

"How will we know? Do we have to wait for you to collapse again?"

She could sense Judith's anxiety. It was the same as her father's and brother's, both of whom wanted her to fix it once and for all.

"No, I promise to have frequent checkups and follow all of the doctor's orders-exercise, diet, everything. I'd like to stay away from the knife if I can."

"But you'll do it if you need to?"

She nodded once. The people around her needed a.s.surances that she wouldn't be reckless or stubborn. "This was all just a ploy to get you to come to Chicago."

"That was the first thing I thought when Lenore called me."

"And since I knew you were coming, I asked my doctor if I had any s.e.xual restrictions and she said no."

"You did not!"

Carmen was relieved to finally see a smile. "In fact, she said I could have s.e.x right here in this bed if I wanted to."

Judith sighed and shook her head. "Do you ever not think about s.e.x?"

"It's the only thing that doesn't make my chest hurt."

"In that case"-Judith kissed her again, this time on the mouth-"you should think about it all the time."

265.

Chapter 21.

Judith paced the guest room, trying to sound more encouraging than exasperated. "It'll be easy, Mom. All you have to do is call ahead of time and tell them to have Victor ready to go. Then just ring the doorbell when you get there and they'll bring him out."

Her mother was adamant she couldn't manage the simple handover on her own. She wanted Judith to come home early in the morning as she had done before.

"No. I need to be here. Carmen's family is coming tomorrow after church, and I need to take care of things."

Next, her mother tried the guilt trip, reminding her how the change in routine would upset Victor.

"That won't happen if you go get him and take him home . . .

I can't do it, Mom. I won't. Carmen needs me here."

So much for her mother's grand show of going back to 266 Wyckoff with her last week. If she wouldn't do it on her own, what difference did it make?

"Then that's how it has to be. I'll just have to deal with it when I get back." She wanted to turn the tables and lay on the guilt, but that wouldn't help anything. Her mother wasn't being stubborn. She was genuinely afraid, not only of seeing how Victor lived, but of the possibility he would act out in a way she couldn't handle on her own.