I’d tell him everything was going to be okay.
Even though it very well might not be.
Paramedics walked through the tunnel, and I stood to the side against the wall. The refs let them on the ice.
I had to talk myself down from wanting to barge right in.
I knew they’d grab me right away, and that wouldn’t help Trey at all.
Instead, I waited for them to lift my friend onto the stretcher and roll him across the ice toward me.
As soon as he was on the black floor, I rushed up and grabbed Trey’s hand.
He grabbed it right back.
I felt tears behind my eyes at the relief that gave me. “Looks like you took a bit of a tumble,” I said, looking into his eyes. His cheek was scratched and bleeding. So was his very swollen nose.
His hand pulsed on mine. “Yeah,” he breathed out, wincing, “just a scrape, kid.”
“Uh huh,” I said, squeezing his hand harder.
“Excuse me, miss? You’re not permitted to be here,” one of the paramedics said to me.
I blinked at him while still hurrying beside the stretcher. “I’m his wife.”
He looked at me with doubtful eyes. “Miss, I’m sorry, you can’t—” he started to say before Trey coughed up some blood.
“She’s my wife. What? Do you think I couldn’t land a babe like this?” he said, more blood dripping from his mouth.
Thankfully, the paramedics let it go.
They loaded him into the ambulance just as I heard Beau’s voice call my name. I turned around and said, “I’ve got him!”
Then I jumped inside.
As soon as the doors were shut, the driver took off, making me lurch down the bench. “I’d always wanted to ride in one of these,” I said to Trey, surprised at how calm my voice sounded. “And now I get two rides in one month.”
“Glad I could make your dreams come true,” Trey said, more blood coming out of his mouth as he spoke.
“You’re going to be fine. You know that, right?” I said, touching his cheek with the back of my hand.
“Liar.” He gurgled and coughed up even more blood this time.
One of the paramedics used his stethoscope and listened to Trey’s chest. “Decreased breath sounds on the left side,” he said and looked at his paramedic buddy and nodded. Then he bent over and spoke to Trey, “We’re going to have to insert a chest tube into your lung. It’s collapsed.”
Trey closed his eyes and nodded in the extremely limited way he could. Which was hardly at all.
“Cool, I’ve only seen this in textbooks,” I said to Trey. “It works right away to open your lung up. You must be feeling pretty crappy.”
“I’ve been better.”
“Well, this is likely going to sting. Feel free to scream like a little girl. I won’t tell a soul,” I said, smiling down at him.
The paramedic looked over at me and nodded. “On three?” he asked, making me take a deep breath.
I held Trey’s hand even harder as I counted. “Three, two, one.” More blood poured out of the tube, but Trey’s chest seemed to move more now as he breathed. Hopefully that was a good sign.
“G?” he said, his face looking so white it was nearly gray.