Barefoot at Moonrise (Barefoot Bay Timeless Book 2) (28 page)

“Yeah, he wants me to come in on Monday for another test.” He sounded disgusted. “I’m
fine
.”

“He’s not fine,” Josie said, leaning into their conversation. “He’s tired, cranky, and I think he has a fever.”

Dad skewered her with a dirty look. “I took a nap—that makes me tired. I couldn’t go golfing—that makes me cranky.” He dabbed at his glistening forehead with a handkerchief. “And it’s humid out here, which makes me warm.”

But Beth thought he looked pale, not flushed from humidity. The sea breeze lifted her hair and seemed to be keeping everyone else cool. She didn’t argue with her father, though, turning to let the conversation drift to the other end of the table, her eye catching the empty seat next to her.

What would this have been like if Ken had come? Awkward? Uncomfortable? Or would they be holding hands under the table, silently giving each other glances of support? Not after today. Not after he called her father a liar.

Her heart squeezed at the memory. Surely by now he’d calmed down. And maybe he’d changed his mind. And maybe…she looked over Landon’s shoulder toward the restaurant, imagining how she’d feel to see him walk up with that half smile she loved and a whispered apology.

Would she accept it?

“May I propose a toast?” Landon said, standing up after the waiter had poured and delivered the next round of drinks.

Landon raised his champagne glass. “To change,” he said. “To new families and new businesses.”

Dad cleared his throat with some effort. “Yes. Drink to that, and then I have an announcement to make about the family business.”

Plenty of glasses froze midway to their destinations, including Beth’s. “You made a decision?”

“I have.”

“But we have news first,” RJ said, shifting the attention to the other side of the table like a tennis match.

Dad nodded, giving over to RJ.

“Selina and I are getting married next month right here at Casa Blanca. We hope you’ll all be there.”

The reaction was strong enough to make other diners turn to their table, especially since Rebecca squealed the loudest. Beth glanced across the table to see Dad’s reaction, but he was looking down, quiet.

Please don’t ruin this for RJ
, Beth thought.

“And there’s more,” Selina said, her soft voice quieting them all as they leaned in. She tapped her stomach. “It should be a very exciting Thanksgiving for RJ and me…and our baby.”

Another cheer went up from Rebecca, and Josie let her jaw drop open. Dad leaned back as if the whole idea gave him heartburn.

“Sorry to interrupt your big announcement, Dad,” RJ said quickly.

“No, no, this is big news. Big news, son. No need to even talk business tonight.”

Beth eyed him, wondering if RJ’s news would give him a change of heart. But there was too much animated discussion to draw him into a conversation about that now.

Rebecca peppered the couple with questions, regardless of the fact that she obviously knew all the answers already, and Beth sipped her water as RJ and Selina answered excitedly.

That should be Ken and me
, Beth thought glumly, keeping a smile planted on her face as she listened to them talk about names and dates and morning sickness and wedding plans.

That should be us. Us.
Great, now she was madly in love with the
we
and
us
idea…and now she was all alone.

“You okay?” Dad’s question was quiet, and accompanied by his hand over hers.

“Yeah. You?”

He shrugged and threw a glance down the table, the lightest sheen of sweat on his upper lip. “He doesn’t know it yet, but I’m going to give RJ another surprise.”

Beth’s eyes widened. “You are?”

He smiled, but it was shaky. “I’m going to teach him the commercial end of the business, even if it kills me.”

Josie shot a look at her husband, clearly listening to both conversations at the table. “I’ll kill him if it kills you.”

Dad rolled his eyes but flinched a little. Knowing Beth saw it, he narrowed his eyes in a silent plea to not alert Josie.

She shifted her attention back to Selina and RJ, trying to concentrate on how happy she was for them. This was a new phase in her brother’s life, and he wasn’t going to blow it. Selina seemed steady and strong and, man, were they going to have a beautiful baby.

Under the table, she slyly put her hand on her stomach, sending love to her baby.
Just like I am
, she thought. The best
we
in the world would be Mommy and Baby, the only
we
she’d ever need or have.

She felt tears threaten and blinked them back, looking at Selina, glowing in the early evening light, laughing as she leaned into RJ.

The ache for Ken was so strong it took Beth’s breath away. She looked down, then back up again, and noticed someone was walking toward their table behind Selina. With the sun behind him, she could make out only his silhouette, but it was…familiar. So, so familiar.

“Oh my God,” she whispered, loud enough for everyone at the table to turn and follow her gaze.

Ken approached the table, his dark eyes locked on Beth.

She couldn’t breathe for a moment, feeling her hands grip the armrests of her chair.

He’s here.
He’s here!

There was no doubt she’d accept that apology. She was so damn happy. She pushed herself up to greet him, and as she did, his gaze shifted from her to her father. And narrowed.

What did that expression say? Anger? Shame? Had he come to apologize…or accuse?

“You made it,” she said, her breath tight in her throat.

He nodded, serious. “I want to talk to your dad.”

Her heart literally slammed against her ribs, the rapid beat audible in her ears.
Talk
? Did that mean he wanted to thank him for what he’d done to protect Ken…or accuse him of doctoring an autopsy?

She swallowed, aware of every eye on her. “Um, everyone, this is Ken Cavanaugh.” She turned to the others to start what would be an awkward round of introductions, since they all, of course, knew him, but her attention stopped at Dad.

He wasn’t looking up at Ken. His head was down, as if he looked at something in his lap. “Dad?”

“Ray?” Josie touched his shoulder. “Ray?” She pushed a little harder. “Ray?” Her voice rose to freak-out level, and everyone jumped up at once, exactly as Dad slumped forward, his head hitting the table with a thump.

“Oh my God, he’s dead!” Josie screamed.

Chaos erupted like a volcano, with Rebecca yelling and Landon swearing, and all the patrons at the other tables standing up to see, but it all seemed to happen in slow motion. Beth felt her own cry well up in her throat as she launched toward Dad. She turned to give Ken a pleading look, and he stood stone still for one fraction of a millisecond. Then, as if he’d been shocked, he vaulted into action.

“Everyone back,” he said with loud authority, coming around the table in one easy move. With one hand, he moved Beth away to get closer to Dad.

“Is he breathing? Is he alive? Oh my God, I knew—”

“Josie, hush,” Rebecca said, pulling the other woman back.

“I’m a paramedic,” Ken told everyone calmly, lifting Dad’s head and hovering one hand over his mouth, the other supporting his neck.

“Wake him up!” Josie insisted in a shrill voice.

Ken looked up at Beth, not saying a word. He didn’t have to.

“Is he breathing?” she barely whispered. “Heart beat?”

“Everyone needs to clear out!” Ken commanded, his voice loud and totally in control. “I need space and a defibrillator.” He looked at the others, his face stern, his voice unwavering. “Someone call 911. Tell them we have a possible SCA on a nonresponsive sixty-nine-year-old male. I need everyone to be quiet and stand back. And I need a defibrillator, stat!”

That second, Landon pushed the table away, making space for Ken to lay Dad down. RJ shot off with Selina, cell phone out, and Rebecca kept pulling Josie farther away. The staff moved into action as well, but Beth’s attention was riveted on her father’s ashen face.

As Ken laid Dad gently on the ground, easing the older man’s tie off, checking him again for air and a pulse, Beth got down on her knees on the other side of his still body.

“He has a stent,” she told Ken. “And heart issues.”

He nodded, still checking his breath and pulse as he unbuttoned the top button of Dad’s shirt. “Pacemaker?”

“No.”

“On any meds?” He inserted his finger into her father’s slackened mouth to check for anything blocking the airway, moving with the precision of a machine.

“Um. Yes. I can’t remember what they are.” She turned to ask Josie, but she was completely useless.

“Doesn’t matter,” Ken said. He put one hand on Dad’s chest and flattened another on that and started pressing and releasing in a quick, steady rhythm.

“Is he going to die?” Beth whispered, aware of the tears pouring down her cheeks.

Ken looked up at her between the next two chest compressions, a flat expression in his eyes. “Not on my watch.”

Chapter Twenty-two

Live, damn it. Live.

Ken blocked out everything but that thought. Ray Endicott had to live. Not just for Beth and his grandbaby, but so Ken could look him in the eye and tell him he knew the whole story…and that he owed Ray a heartfelt apology.

But none of that mattered now, not one bit. Ray was dying, and quickly.

Ken mentally silenced the screaming wife and ignored the pushy onlookers and did his damnedest not to reach out to comfort the frightened daughter.

As he focused on Ray’s color and counted each compression, willing a heartbeat, willing some breath, Ken stole a glance at Beth and his own heart ached.

Crouched next to him, she had her fists balled against her mouth, silent but for a soft shuddering, her gaze locked in abject terror on her dad’s pallid face.

It’d been twenty-five years, but he still remembered that sickening, spiraling sensation of seeing the person who gave you life fade away before your eyes.

Push, wait, push, wait, push, wait. And breathe.

Sucking in his breath, Ken tilted Ray’s head back to clear his passageway. He waited one second, then put his mouth right over Ray’s and shared a breath.

Nothing.

He started the next set of compressions, willing that damn AED to show up.

Still no heartbeat. This was not a heart attack, Ken knew. This was sudden cardiac arrest, and the chances for survival were low. Very low.

“Damn it, Ray,” he ground out in a whisper.
Don’t die in front of Beth.
Don’t die in my arms, too.

“They have a defib!” A man’s voice broke through. Landon, he realized, with several resort staff members, hustled closer. Thank
God
.

“C’mere,” he ordered Beth. “This can’t stop. Do five or six compressions then breathe into his mouth. Just once.”

“Oh…okay.” She hesitated a moment as if the order didn’t compute. Or she was in shock at the situation.

“Use your weight, Beth. Push in about two inches on his sternum. Get a song in your head and follow the beat.”

“A song?”

He let go and took her hands. “
Stayin’ Alive
is what we use. Do this and he might.” But probably not. “I’ll start the AED.”

She let him put her hands right over Dad’s sternum and started to push. “Stayin’ alive,” she whispered, her face blank and almost as pale as the man’s on the ground.

Instantly, Ken turned and took the AED being held out to him, ignoring the avalanche of questions, even from the staff. The only thing he heard was that an ambulance was on the way. There was a station on Mimosa Key, so they just had to get up here and through the damn resort.

He flipped the lid of the plastic box and grabbed the electro pads, turning back to Ray. “I need to get his shirt off.”

“Should I stop?” she asked.

“Yes, you’re good. Help me, Beth.”

Together, they unbuttoned Ray’s white shirt, moving in perfect unison, silent as a team.

Spreading the material, Ken was grateful Ray wasn’t a hairy dude. He didn’t even glance at the instructions as he applied the electrode pads. He’d done this many times in medic training and plenty in real life. One pad over the right center, one over the left rib. He slipped in the plugs, and the machine immediately lit and started the heart-rate reading.

“Everyone clear away!” he hollered. “Even you,” he added to Beth. “Clear!”

The crowd backed away while the AED measured the heartbeat and flashed a warning, which meant there wasn’t one.

Ray Endicott was dying…and while at one time that might have given Ken a sick satisfaction, Ken’s heart hurt as much as Ray’s did right now.

“It’s going to shock him,” Ken announced. “Clear away and do not touch his body.” He backed up and counted to three, knowing when it would happen.

Ray jerked at the shock, and Josie shrieked.

Nothing
.
Damn it.
Come on, old man.