“Yes, I do. Now?”
“Yes, now.”
She didn’t know why Michael was suddenly being accommodating, but she wasn’t going to question his motives if it meant he’d take her to Walsh.
“Give me five minutes. I’ll meet you downstairs.”
It took her fifteen minutes to change. At her request, the bell captain had put her suitcase for Scotland in storage, and most of the clothes she had brought in her backpack were meant for a casual visit to Nathan’s Bay, but thankfully she had thought to pack a couple of dresses. She quickly changed into a yellow cotton sundress and hurried downstairs.
Michael had changed, too. Instead of jeans he wore khaki pants and a button-down shirt with the cuffs turned back. Even when he didn’t try, he looked gorgeous.
When they reached the hospital, they cut through the emergency waiting room to get to the elevators. The ICU was quiet. A nurse wearing the name tag “Terry” was behind the desk. The second Isabel introduced herself, the nurse’s face lit up. As she led them down the hall to Walsh’s room, she gushed, “I took your advice, and you were right,” she said. “I did overreact. John and I had a long talk, and we’ve decided to keep the dog, slobber and all.”
“I’m glad you worked it out,” Isabel said.
A uniformed policeman stood by Walsh’s door. When they identified themselves, he told them Samuel had authorized their visit, and he let them pass.
A multitude of tubes and wires were hooked up to the poor man. The nurse explained that the breathing apparatus had been removed, and he was breathing on his own now. There were other improvements as well, but he was still unconscious, and everyone was anxious for him to open his eyes.
Isabel thought he looked peaceful in sleep, and yet she still wanted to shake him to help him wake up. She didn’t give in to the temptation, thank goodness, not only because it would be wrong to manhandle a patient, but also because the guard was giving her suspicious looks. Later that same guard was telling her how he was drowning in debt. All she had done to elicit such a lengthy declaration was to thank him for watching out for Detective Walsh and ask him if this was his usual duty.
Isabel listened to his worries for a good ten minutes before he finished. She shook his hand, wished him well, and was ready to leave, but then one of the orderlies wanted to chat with her. Michael guessed it was going to take a while, so he leaned back against the wall with arms crossed and waited. He couldn’t figure out why people were so prone to unload their problems on her. She didn’t hand out any wisdom. As to that, she didn’t say much of anything. She usually engaged them in conversation, chatting amicably about mundane things. Once they started talking, she just listened and nodded every now and again. Michael noticed that everyone who talked to her walked away smiling. It was, in his opinion, the strangest thing he had ever seen, and it kept happening. People were drawn to her... just like he was, though he sure as certain wasn’t going to pour his heart out to her.
He had to drag her out of the hospital or they never would have left.
“Why are you in such a hurry?” she asked, trying to keep up with him as they walked down the hospital corridor.
“I have things to do,” he said.
She checked the time and then said, “Do you have plans tonight?”
“Yes.”
No further explanation, just a simple “yes.” She guessed what that meant. He had a date. Probably with that lawyer, Amanda Something-or-Other. She wasn’t going to grill him. If he didn’t want to tell her, she wasn’t going to nag.
“That nurse... ,” Michael began, as he turned the key in the car’s ignition.
“What nurse?”
“The one behind the desk.”
“You mean Terry,” she said, turning toward him. “What about her?”
“When did you talk to her?”
“I’ve talked to her several times on the phone,” she explained. “I’d called to check on Detective Walsh, and she answered. She’s a lovely woman, isn’t she?”
“Yeah, sure,” he said. “She thanked you for all your advice, but you didn’t give her any, did you?”
“I asked her how her day was going, and she told me.”
He shook his head. “It’s the damnedest thing.”
“What is? That people need someone to listen to them? There are a lot of lonely people in the world who don’t have anyone to turn to. You wouldn’t understand because you come from such a big family. If you need anything, you can turn to your brothers and sisters, and you have parents who love you. I hope you realize how fortunate you are.”
He glanced over at her and said, “Yes, I do realize how fortunate I am. What about you? Were you lonely growing up?”
“No, not at all,” she replied. “I was very close to my mother.”