Lynnia (23 page)

Lynnia felt even worse now that she realized her not being available made an already stressful situation downright horrifying for one of the few women she truly cared about.  Looking around the room, she took a steadying breath.

“How long has Dario been in the hospital?”

At first, no one spoke. There was dead silence and nothing more.  They looked at one another as if they were deciding who should give her the news.

“Dario was admitted to the hospital five days ago.”

“Five DAYS! You have got to be kidding me. I figured two at the most from the massive amounts of messages that were showing up on my screen, but five days. That is absolutely ludicrous.”

Wynter continued as Lynnia tried to get her head on straight, “We started calling around then trying to get any information we could on your itinerary and location. When you said you were going off grid, you really meant it. We were only able to find out that you went to Cancun and how long you were planning on being there. Beyond that, no one knew.”

“We did learn something interesting while looking for our ‘lost’ sister.”

Rayna looked as if she was ready to read someone the riot act, but a look from Nyema had her tabling the subject.

“Not the right time, Nika,” were Nyema’s whispered words to Rayna.

“Okay. I worried the hell out of everyone. I wasn’t here for my friend and apparently my friend has had at least two surgeries. Is there anything else that I’m missing?”

“He’s been asking for you.”

Momma spoke for the first time since she’d arrived. Lynnia’s eyes watered so much that she had to turn away from them all in order to get them in check. Trust Chyra to be the one to not care what she was dealing with and give her the swift kick that she needed.

“Won’t do you any good right now. Those tears mean nothing if you’re here, but not going to be here for him. They just wheeled him back into his room for x-ray. I wouldn’t go in there if you’re not going to be who he needs you to be right now.”

Zoie shushed Chyra before walking near the place Lynnia had remained near the door. Her spoken words were low enough that only Lynnia would hear them.

“Five days is the longest I have ever heard you going without your phone. Your vacation must’ve been going really good. Chyra may be harsh with her wording, but she’s right. If you’re serious about this Travis person, then you need to clear up this face resembling a heartbroken girlfriend and be the friend that he is expecting. You should know that he’s been seeing someone and they looked cozy when they were seen together. There, you’ve been caught up. We can all go on home now.”

Momma smiled at Lynnia and provided the explanation she was looking for.

“We’re only here for two reasons. The first is we assumed as soon as you surfaced this would be the first place you would come. The second was to act as stand-ins for you. It’s you, the members of this family were waiting on . Even Darien is waiting to get word from you. He should be you first call after you go in and visit Dario, if you’re going.”

Each of her sisters and her mother said their goodbyes to the Andersons and she made her way out the door of the waiting area. Lynnia heard Mrs. Anderson tell them that they didn’t have to go just because Lynnia was there. Each had let her know that they needed to get home and check on things because it had been a few days. They all promised to check in and get updates on Dario’s condition.

Feeling like the worst person in the world, Lynnia almost didn’t make it to the room. She hadn’t meant to have any of her family members worried about her well-being. That was never her intent. It hurt her to think that she’d had them feeling an inkling of what she was feeling. Focusing her thoughts, she took a step toward his door then stopped. She had to catch herself. A sudden wave of dizziness hit her. Something in the room smelled good, but had her feeling sick at the same time. Taking a few deep breaths had her able to breathe without the added bonus of that funky feeling she had a moment ago.

The remainder of his dinner was sitting on the tray. Something in it didn’t smell right. She moved it and sat in a chair next to the bed. She smiled at Dario’s resting form. His rib cage was bandaged and his foot was wrapped in a cast while being elevated. He looked good in spite of the state and the place that he was in. She could see some of the bruising that was healing on his face.

“I’m so sorry, D’Ollie. I can’t believe you were injured and I didn’t know. How in the hell did you get yourself into this one?”

“I was thinking about your crazy ass and wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. It didn’t help that a couple of the crew members left a hole open. Stop giving me shit about it and tell me where in the hell you’ve been. Why did I not know about this trip before you ass took it? Who in the fuck is Travis? I’ve never even heard of this guy and you took a trip with him?”

Lynnia was taken by surprise. She almost asked “Travis who.” After blinking and quickly getting her bearings, she decided to ignore his questions and ask him things pertinent to his injuries.

“Let me get this straight. You were thinking about me and not focused on where you were going. Now, due to the fact that you were distracted, you injured yourself. How cute is it that you were quite literally falling for me?”

He barked out a laugh then groaned. Before he could respond a nurse and a woman walked in the room. The scents in the room were too much for her empty stomach. She wasn’t feeling good at all.

“I’m glad to see you’re okay. I’m going to let them give you a quick once over since the nurse with the tray looks like she has important things to do.” The nurse smiled and nodded her head. “I am an idiot for multiple reasons. The biggest one is the fact that I haven’t eaten anything all day and I think it’s starting to get to me big time. If I come back and you’re still busy with nurse, then I’ll check in on you tomorrow.”

“You better. There’s hell to pay whether I’m injured or not.”

He smiled at her and for a slight moment things felt like they used to, but his eyes darted somewhere else for a moment. When they returned to hers, the moment was lost. She needed to get some food in her. It was stupid of her not to have done so before. She was so worried about getting to him, she didn’t think about her body and what it needed. Fat lot of good she would be to anyone if she passed out on her way here because she forgot to do something as simple as eat.

Remembering the last time she’d been at the hospital, Ruthie should be preparing quite a meal with the chicken parmesan that was a weekly favorite. She was just making her way to one of the trays when her world shifted. Lynnia was on the ground with a number of hospital staff swarming around her. The last thing she thought was, “
It’s a good thing this happened during the hospital visit
.”

Chapter 12