Lynnia (22 page)

Lynnia

Week three of vacation

When Sue walked in Lynnia’s hotel room, she didn’t say a word. They’d made the most of their time in Cancun and had been looking forward to the time they had remaining in California. Packages had already been sent to their respective homes and they had others set to go. None of it mattered as Lynnia packed her bags to leave California three days early. For a while, Sue quietly stood in the doorway. She would hand Lynnia an item or grab a stack of her things, placing them next to Lynnia as she frantically moved around the room. When Sue finally spoke, Lynnia wasn’t surprised that her friend easily deduced the reason for her cutting the last leg of the trip short.

“Something’s happened with him, hasn’t it?”

As Lynnia zipped her suitcase, she nodded her head then angrily swiped at the stray tear that fell. Speaking wasn’t something that she was going to be able to do, at least not a great deal of speaking could be done on her part. She’d already broken down crying when she called the airline to change her flight arrangements. Another round of tears happened when she called a taxicab to take her to the airport after finally getting all the information from the agent at the airline. The poor woman had to repeat herself three times before Lynnia could clearly hear her over her own tear-filled sobs.

“How?”

That was all she was going to be able to muster. Her friend sat down on the bed and handed her a tissue.

“If it was your mother or one of your sisters, even one of your nieces or nephews, then these things would’ve been long forgotten. I would’ve received an apology text or call as you prepared to board a flight. I figured whomever it was had to be important enough to you to make you upset, but not so much that you would drop everything and get there as fast as you could.”

All she did was nod her head. Dario was, is, and will probably always be important to her. She was trying not to go rushing out the door. Lynnia had walked away from the bone that he’d been offering and wanted to stand by that. She snorted at her own reference before remembering that she’d received a message from one of her sisters informing her that Dario was in the hospital.

Learning that he was rushed to the hospital and no one had any information for her regarding his status had put her on edge. She finally decided not to wait. The best thing for her was getting on a plane and making her way back home. She needed to see what was going on and have someone let her know what happened. The hospital had apparently called her to let her know he was in the hospital because she was one of his emergency contacts.

She was kicking herself for not having her phone with her at all times. Her not knowing what was going on was no one’s fault but her own. She was the one that suggested that she and Sue leave their cell phones in their bags. They weren’t allowed to have them on them while they were out and about during their vacation. After the first coupled days of not having it on her, she made herself refuse to check the thing. As she was sitting on the balcony, she heard someone’s phone that sounded like hers. It was close enough to have her wondering if it had been her own. It hadn’t been, of course, because hers was dead. When she plugged the thing up to charge and turned it on, it began buzzing like crazy. She couldn’t believe how many messages and calls she’d missed.

“Dario is in the hospital. No one is answering their phones.”

Sue nodded her head and grabbed some of Lynnia’s toiletries to place in it. Leaving the room for a moment, she returned with a shopping bag. Emptying the contents into the open bag, she moved on and began a walkthrough of the cozy little room to make sure there was nothing else that needed to be put in the bags.

“Okay. That’s everything. If I find anything else, I’ll send it to you. I want you to remain as calm as you possibly can. You don’t need to be hospitalized or imprisoned when you really want nothing more than to be right next to your guy.”

Lynnia tried to smile through the tears that were slowly creeping down her face, but it didn’t work. Her mind kept running through the crazy scenarios of what was going on back home. The worst case was having this man permanently gone from her life. That was never her intention. She didn’t want him completely gone. All she wanted … she wasn’t going to rehash that, even if it was with herself.

“Thank you, Sue. You understand?”

“Don’t be silly, honey. Of course, I understand. I wouldn’t even be here if it were my guy. I don’t even know if I would’ve remembered to call you and let you know. I love you, girly. Call me when you get there, if you remember. Update me when you get a chance.”

“Okay. I love you, too. Stay. It’s paid for. Bye. I’m so sorry.”

“Stop it. Go. You have a plane to catch and a car waiting. I’ll be fine. Just go see about your guy.”

Lynnia gave her friend a quick hug, grabbed her bags and darted out the door to the elevators. Her only thought was getting to where Dario was.

Eight hours later

Why in the hell did it take her eight hours to get to the damn hospital? She hated that she had to stop at her place to drop off her bags, but it was necessary. There was nothing else to be done. Lynnia had been glad she did because her packages were piled up outside of her door in the hall. She dragged those in as quickly as she possibly could. While there, she let out the frustrated scream she’d been holding on to ever since she’d arrived at the airport early that afternoon. The whole ordeal was much too much for her to have to contend with. She was pissed off and annoyed by the time she finally arrived at the hospital.

When she finally made it through the doors of the hospital, she almost broke down. For a little while there, she thought she wasn’t going to ever make it to the facility.

“Hi. My name is Lynnia Norton and I’m here because someone called me about a patient here, Mr. Dario Anderson.”

“Oh, yes. We’ve been trying to reach you for a few days now. Mr. Anderson is in room 459. His parents wanted us to let them know when you arrived. Um … oh, they’re in the building so they’ll see that you’re here. Sorry for holding you up. Here is your pass.”

Quickly signing the board, she tossed the lanyard over her neck and sprinted to the elevator. Seven hours was too long to know nothing more than he’d been rushed to the hospital. This was crazy. Where in the hell were her … as soon as the doors opened, her question was answered. Either they were worried about the man that her heart was tethered to or …

“That’s why none of you answered the phone. You were here.”

“Oh my goodness. I should kick your ass on principal. What in the hell is wrong with you? Why weren’t you answering any of our calls?”

Chyra’s words were like a balm to her spirit. As crazy as it sounded, it was true. All of her sisters and her mother converged on her.

“If and when you go out of town again, you are either
not
allowed to go alone or you will have a GPS chip inserted in your hip or something. You will not do this to this family again.”

Zoie’s words were muffled, but loud and clear. No one let her go and she took in every bit of their love. She didn’t know how much she needed it until they were surrounding her. This was what was necessary to prep her for whatever the news was with Dario.

“I don’t know how it’s possible that we were all more afraid of what was going on with Dario’s emergency contact than with the reason we were all here in the first place. Lynnie girl, you are not too old to be put over my knee. You gave us all quite a scare. I’ve never had it where you haven’t picked up the phone when I called you, especially when I leave you a message. Bad girl.”

Mrs. Anderson stood next to her husband. Her short, curly, white hair looked a little mussed. The clothes she wore looked freshly pressed but wrinkled. The lines next to her eyes along with her hair were the only real signs that she’d aged at all. Her honey brown skin held no blemishes except the occasional mole. Her husband’s fair skin showcased a sporadic freckle. He was light enough that most people mistook him for being white when he is, in fact, black. If they met his parents, then they would have all doubts dismissed.  They were both calm. The two were much too calm for her to assume that the reason for Dario being hospitalized was deadly. Lynnia took in the hug for a little longer before pulling away.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t think that it would be a big deal if I went radio silent for a little while. It’s been so long since I did something for myself that I figured I was long overdue for the peace and quiet. Leaving my cell in my bag seemed like the best way to make sure I didn’t retreat into the norm of my life just because it was easier. Of course, I’m taking the fact that we’re all in this waiting area to mean we’re waiting for an update and it must not be as bad as I was making it in my head because you’re all out here and not wherever he is.”

“Yes. He’s doing much better. The first day just about killed me. We were told he was on his way here and they had to check him out before they could provide any more information. We’d asked if you were called or not and they said they’d tried to make contact but hadn’t gotten through to you.”

Mr. Anderson stopped talking to take a breath and his wife picked up where he left off.

“We arrived five minutes after the ambulance. We tried to reach you on your cell then at the restaurant. That’s when we learned you were out of town. We called Ella then. It trickled down from there. After everyone called one another, the waiting began. The nurse came to let us know that they were prepping him for surgery. He had wood splinter removed from his leg and his hip. During surgery, one of the splinters broke and shifted. It was the most frightening moments I’ve ever experienced. Even with Darien detailing the possibilities, I … we felt helpless. Add to that factor, the fact that one of my son’s best friends decided to pull a disappearing act on everyone and you can see how one would be highly upset.”