For the third day in a row, Paige made the trip to Nashville to see what she could learn about Ora. For the past two days, she’d gotten nothing but suspicious stares and warnings that information would only be passed on to family. Today, however, the nurses and doctors seemed surprised by her devotion. And obviously they knew no one else was looking after Ora, so when Paige saw Dr. Prince come through the double doors of the Cardiac Care Unit, she rushed to beat him to the elevator. “Dr. Prince, how is Ora Vaerge?”
He looked at her over the top of his glasses. “You don’t give up easily, do you, young lady?”
“I’m sorry, but please, I have to know something.”
He pressed the button for the elevator and turned to her. “I told you yesterday, for confidentiality reasons, I’m not allowed to give specific information.”
Paige looked again at the posted sign on the door. Visiting hours 10–10:15, 2–2:15, 4–4:15, immediate family only. Paige tried one more time. “I’m the closest thing to family she has anywhere near, and she’s the closest thing to family I have anywhere near. If you won’t discuss her case with me, at least let me see her during visiting hours.”
He folded his arms across his chest and looked hard at Paige.
She did not allow herself to look away, even when she felt the sting of tears in her eyes. “Please.”
He uncrossed his arms. “She’s not responding to external stimulus. Her heart has stabilized, but she was hypoxic for so long . . . I don’t know if she’ll ever regain consciousness.” The elevator doors slid open. He walked inside, then turned and blocked the doors open. “Go home, get some sleep. Tomorrow afternoon, if she’s still stable, I’ll arrange for you to come in during family visitation.”
“Thank you.” She choked back tears as the elevator doors closed. Would Ora still be stable tomorrow afternoon? Would she even be alive?
One day. Dawn knew Clarissa was nervous about the lawsuit, but she didn’t realize how nervous until she saw the white envelope in her purse as she left from work. One day later and she had three thousand dollars. Three thousand!
Freedom was just a few days away for her. She would spend the weekend looking for somewhere to live, a place she could afford, and with whatever was left she could maybe buy a piece of furniture or two.
She drove past a small apartment complex on the way home, and her heart raced with the knowledge that she would soon have her own place. Where no one took her paycheck or showed up drunk and mean. Or failed to show up altogether. It would be great to be on her own.
But somehow her joy didn’t soar like she had expected it would.
Paige could not possibly have filled that prescription for Mrs. Vaerge, but Clarissa had assured her it wouldn’t hurt Paige if they said maybe she did. All they were doing was casting a little doubt. Paige would never even know it. Maybe she didn’t deserve to have these lies told about her, but hey, she wasn’t the only one who’d been stomped on by this crummy little world. Dawn didn’t deserve her current situation, either. Life was stinking unfair sometimes.
She stopped at a four-way intersection. Loud voices filtered through the windows she had to keep open because her airconditioning didn’t work.
“I’m eighteen, I don’t have to listen to you anymore.” Dawn saw a girl wearing a frayed denim skirt and black tank top. Gigantic loop earrings bouncing against her neck as she yelled.
“As long as you live in my house, you’ll follow my rules.” The man wore a white T-shirt and shorts, grass-stained and wrinkled. He looked tired. She remembered her father looking the same way.
Before she could think about what she was doing, she pulled her car to the side of the road and walked toward the pair with more determination than she’d felt in a long time. She stopped just short of the front porch, arms stiff at her side. “You should listen to him.”
The daughter and father both turned at once. The girl crossed her arms and glared at Dawn. “What do you know about it?”
“I know that freedom looks great when you see it in the distance, from the security of your home. Let me tell you, in real life, freedom stinks.” She turned around, went back to the car, and pulled away from the curb. When she looked in her rearview mirror, the duo was still standing on the porch, both looking at her, mouths open.
This new release of power felt great. She knew she hadn’t made one bit of difference in the life of that girl or her father, but she’d made a stand that took courage. She actually possessed courage!
Maybe she could apply that at work. Maybe she wouldn’t lie. Not for Clarissa. Not about Paige. She would tell Clarissa to keep her dirty money, because now she had the courage to tell the truth even if it did cost her. Yeah, that’s what she’d do.
She picked up the cell phone in her purse and dialed Paige’s number. “It’s me.”
“Dawn?”
“Yeah, I have something I need to tell you.” Dawn felt her throat constrict around the words.
“Okay.”
“A board inspector has been at the pharmacy the last couple of days. That friend of yours, Mrs. Vaerge, do you remember her?”
“Yeah, I remember her. In fact, I’m just on my way home from visiting her at Mercy. She had a heart attack.” Paige trailed the word off at the end. “What about her?”
“From what I’ve been able to piece together, it seems that when the medics responded to her 9-1-1 call, they bagged up all her meds and took them to the hospital. It helps them to know what the patients are taking. Anyway, one of the bottles was Topamax.”
“Topamax? I never knew she had migraines. The only thing I’ve ever filled for her was Toprol XL.” There was a long pause at the other end of the line. “Oh, no!”
“It was filled the day you were fired, so she can’t blame it on you this time, but I think she’s still going to try.”
“Did the inspector see the prescription? Did it have Clarissa’s initials on it?”
“Yeah, he saw it and made a copy of it.”
“Dawn, you’ve got to tell him the truth. About everything.”
The truth about everything could land her in a whole heap of trouble. She knew that, but maybe Paige was right. Maybe it was time to come clean.
Dawn turned onto her street, looked down the block, and saw Renee’s green car in the driveway. The kids were out playing in the front yard; neither Jack nor Renee was anywhere to be seen.
Not again.
She pulled to the curb before the kids saw her and tried to decide what to do. There really was nowhere else for her. Even if her parents did forgive her—and that was a big if—she knew her father well enough to know that he would never let her move back home. This was all she had. There was no other choice. Unless . . .
Unless she took Clarissa’s money.
“I’ve got to go.” Dawn hung up the phone, regretting her impulsive decision to make the call.