Lost and Found in Lavender Bay (The Lavender Bay Chronicles #2)

8. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

M aureen sat in the waiting room, arms crossed over her chest because in her run to the airport, she hadn’t bothered putting on a bra. She still wore the clothes she’d thrown over her nightgown when she left the house with Allan earlier.

Lance and Ashley arrived in the waiting room, looking pale. Lance, car keys dangling from one hand, wore his baseball cap, a pair of jeans, and a T-shirt. Ashley had put on the same, minus a baseball cap, and wore a hoodie. She carried Maureen’s purse.

Lance sat on one side of Maureen, Ashley on the other. Ashley handed her mother her purse.

“Thanks for bringing this,” Maureen said. “I left in such a hurry I didn’t even think about it.”

“How is he?” Ashley asked.

Maureen sighed. “I don’t know, I haven’t spoken to anyone yet.”

Lance leaned forward in his seat, removing his baseball cap and scratching his head .

Maureen eyed him. “Did you know your brother was taking drugs?”

He didn’t reply, simply shrugged.

“What does that mean?” Maureen demanded.

Finally, he muttered, “I kinda knew.”

“Kinda?” Maureen questioned. She turned to her daughter. “Did you know?”

Ashley shook her head. “No. How would I?”

Maureen’s gaze swung back to Lance. “How could you not say anything?”

He shrugged again. “You brought us up not to tattletale.”

Maureen stared at him, eyes wide and mouth open. “You guys rarely listen to me. I can’t get you to wipe the crumbs off the counter when you make yourself a sandwich, but that was the one thing you decided to live and die on.”

He finally looked up at her, sheepish. “Sorry, Mom.”

“Don’t ever again keep secrets like this. This is too big and too important.” She looked at her daughter on the other side of her. “That goes for you, too, Ash.”

Maureen felt a lecture brewing up inside her. This was a teachable moment. But just then, she spotted her mother, flanked by Nadine and Angie, rushing through the doors, looking frantic. Like herself, they looked like they’d come straight to the hospital, her sisters not even having brushed their hair. Her mother’s short, silvery hair always looked the same.

Maureen frowned. “How did they find out?” she asked. Panic filled her. She hadn’t wanted anyone to know about this, not even her mother or her sisters.

“I called Gram before we left the house,” Lance replied .

“I didn’t want anyone to know,” Maureen whispered.

Ashley spoke up, parroting what Maureen had said only moments ago to Lance. “Mom, this is too big and important not to tell Gram and your sisters.” Then she muttered under her breath, “Besides, it’s not 1950.”

Maureen would have preferred to deal with this privately. But she couldn’t worry about that right now. Her first thought was for Everett. If he’d been taking drugs regularly, he was going to need help, but she didn’t even know where to start. This sort of thing was not in her frame of reference. It had always been someone else’s kid. But now, here it was, not only on her doorstep, but right under her roof.

Angie spotted them, and she, Nadine, and their mother, Louise, made their way toward them. Maureen stood, and her mother pulled her into her arms and hugged her.

“Oh, Mom.” It was then that Maureen started crying, and her mother rubbed her back.

“It’ll be all right, honey.”

There were hugs all around.

“What happened?” Nadine asked. Her face was heavy with sleep and devoid of makeup.

“Lance said Everett was unconscious,” said Angie. She’d scraped her hair into a quick ponytail, and there was a small loop sticking up on the top of her head.

To say the truth out loud almost strangled Maureen’s voice. She coughed, cleared her throat, and swiped at her eyes. “He had a drug overdose.”

For a moment, her mother and her sisters said nothing, and then the three of them spoke at once.

“What?”

“What do you mean? ”

“How is that possible?”

Maureen drew in a deep breath. “Apparently, it is.” Without looking at Lance, she told them, “I think he’s been taking drugs for a while.”

Louise Cook’s hands flew to her mouth. “No! Not Everett. He’s such a good, sweet boy.”

She would have said the same about any of her grandchildren. This was why Maureen hadn’t wanted to tell her what had happened; she didn’t want her worrying needlessly.

“Look,” Maureen said to her mother and her sisters, “I’d like to keep this as private as possible, and I’d appreciate your discretion. I don’t want this to become fodder for the gossips.”

Angie arched an eyebrow, and Nadine slid a sideways glance at their mother.

“Maureen,” Angie said. “You can’t control this narrative.”

Maureen thought that was rich coming from Angie, who was a bigger control freak than her, but said nothing. She wasn’t going to start arguing with her sisters while her family was in the middle of a crisis.

Louise spoke up. “Don’t worry about that now, Maureen. Come on, let’s sit down.”

They all looked around for seats. Louise and Nadine flanked Maureen, and Angie grabbed three seats across from them and Lance and Ashley sat with her. Louise took hold of Maureen’s hand and reassured her, “It’ll be all right, you’ll see.”

Maureen wanted to believe her but was doubtful. She felt her brow furrow. “Will it?”

“Where’s Allan?” Nadine asked.

“He’s on a plane to St. Paul, heading to a dental convention. I have to get a hold of him. But his plane only took off a few minutes ago.”

They were all quiet. Louise dug through her purse for her wallet and pulled out a couple of twenties, handing them to Lance. “There’s a coffee shop in the lobby. Can you go get us coffee? And get some breakfast for you and Ashley. You must be starving.”

“I’m okay, Grandma.”

“Good. But get yourself some breakfast.” She turned to Maureen and said, “What do you want to eat?”

Maureen frowned. “I don’t think I could eat anything right now.”

“Okay.” She patted her knee reassuringly.

Lance and Ashley disappeared.

“I’m glad he called me,” Louise said, watching the two of them take off.

Maureen didn’t comment. She was back to trying to register the fact that her oldest son was taking drugs. “You know, whenever I think of drug addicts, I think of an emaciated junkie in a dark alleyway, leaning against some abandoned building with a syringe next to him. You never think it’ll be your son.”

Angie spoke up. “It’s just as much a problem in the suburbs as it is in the big cities.”

This did not make Maureen feel better.

“Maybe it was a one-off.” This from Nadine.

“Somehow, I don’t think so.” Maureen had been going over the last six months in her mind. “He’s changed. He’s moody, quiet, and he has a different set of friends.” She leaned forward, putting her head in her hands. “How did I not see this? How stupid and blind am I that I didn’t attribute the changes in my son to something more serious or sinister? What kind of mother am I? Am I that disengaged?”

Her mother reached out and placed her hand on her back. “Don’t beat yourself up.”

It was hard not to. She’d failed her son. She looked at her sisters, who had their own busy lives.

To Angie, she said, “Don’t you have to be at Coffee Girl?”

“I called Melissa and asked her to open,” Angie replied. This was big. Melissa had worked at the shop for years, and she was very good at what she did, but Angie had trouble letting go and delegating. This was a major step for her.

Maureen looked at Nadine, sitting next to her. “And what about you? You have a full house at the inn. Don’t you have to get breakfast ready for your guests?”

“I woke Emma before I left.”

Maureen groaned at the thought of another person being inconvenienced.

Nadine continued. “She’s been helping me all week since she’s been home, so she knows the drill by now. Don’t worry about it. It’s more important for us to be here.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re here.” Maureen stood up from her chair. “I need to find a restroom. If anyone comes out, tell them I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” Louise said with a nod.

Angie yanked on something behind Maureen. “Did you know you’ve got a big bow hanging out from beneath your sweater?”

Maureen looked over her shoulder and sighed. The sash that tied in the back of her nightgown hung over the waist of her jeans. At that point she didn’t care, but Angie tucked it in quickly.

“Thanks.” She headed off to the restroom.

When she returned, Lance and Ashley had reappeared with coffee in take-out trays and a large box of donut holes. Lance was in the process of wolfing down two egg-and-sausage breakfast sandwiches on croissants. Breakfast. She and Lance had had plans to go out for breakfast that morning. She sighed. It would have to be another time. He was due to return to college over the weekend. She hoped she could squeeze in some time with him, but now everything was up in the air.

She took her seat and waited.

It was a while before the doctor came out to talk to them. All six of them stood. He explained that it had been a drug overdose, specifically oxycodone, and that Everett was very lucky. Had he not been found until later, the outcome might have been different. Maureen shuddered. Louise gasped, and Maureen’s sisters went pale. Everett would be admitted for observation and at some point, the hospital social worker and discharge planner would talk to them.

“Can I see him?” Maureen asked.

“Yes.” The doctor hesitated, looking at the six of them. “Two at a time only.”

Maureen and Louise went in first.

Everett lay on a gurney, one hand thrown over his head, and they approached him.

“Hey, Gram,” he said quietly.

“You gave us quite a scare, Everett.”

He mumbled something, but it was indiscernible. A paper-thin blue curtain separated him from patients on either side of him. This was not the place for a proper conversation.

Maureen wasn’t leaving his side and made herself comfortable in the chair there. They’d been informed that they were waiting for a bed, but for now Everett would remain in the ER.

She’d always hated hospitals, as either a patient or a visitor. The strong smell of disinfectant that didn’t totally mask the smells of the sick and dying. And the staff running back and forth, and the look of resignation in some patients’ eyes when they knew they’d never leave the hospital. And then there was the emergency room and the interminable waiting.

When Louise left, Maureen instructed her to send in Angie for a quick visit and then Nadine, as she wanted them to get back to their jobs. Allan came to mind, and she realized his plane should have landed by now. She dug through her purse until she found her phone, and there was a text from him, saying he’d landed.

Angie arrived and tentatively approached Everett. “What were you thinking, Everett?” were the first words out of Angie’s mouth. The kids were used to their aunt’s brusque, abrupt manner, and took no offense. Sometimes she said what needed to be said.

Maureen stood from her chair. “Sit here, Angie. I’ve got to step outside and call Allan. His plane has landed.”

Everett groaned. “Do you have to tell Dad?”

Maureen frowned. “Of course I do. I can’t keep something like this from him.”

To Angie, she said, “I’ll send Nadine in, and then the two of you should go. You’ve got work. ”

“Don’t worry about it.” Impulsively and out of character, Angie reached out and pulled her sister into a hug. “Go make your phone call. I’ll hold down the fort.”

Maureen weaved through the chaos that was the emergency room. Every gurney was occupied, and there was a crowd of nurses and doctors at the nurses’ station, all talking, with phones ringing behind them. The need to step out of this morass and breathe some fresh air, if only for five minutes, was strong.

Passing through the waiting room, she indicated to Nadine that she could go on back, holding up her phone and mouthing, “Allan.” Nadine nodded and stood from her plastic chair. Maureen headed through the automatic double doors and stepped outside, inhaling a lungful of air. Overhead, the sky was blue and cloudless. The morning air was brisk, and there was no warmth from the weak sun rising in the east.

To put some space between herself and the hospital, she walked about fifty paces. At the end of the sidewalk, she bent over, put her hands on her thighs, and let out a loud gasp. It still hadn’t completely sunk in, the drama of the morning. Her son was using drugs. It was outside the realm of possibilities for her but here she was, standing outside of the hospital, dreading the phone call she had to make to her husband. She liked to think of him now, in St. Paul. The airport so easily came to mind. An image of Allan, fast-walking like he always did and dragging his carry-on behind him, filled her head. He was in another state, blissfully unaware of all the drama that was going on with their family. She hated that she would have to make a phone call and deliver devastating news, hated that she would have to crush his soul. She waited five minutes. Gave him five more minutes of peace and believing all was well with the world and their family.

Finally, she pulled out her phone and called him.

Slipping her hand into her back pocket, she lifted her head, watching another ambulance, sirens blaring, pull through the entrance.

He answered on the first ring. “Hey, I was just going to text you. I’m heading out to grab a taxi.”

Maureen’s voice shook. “You might not want to leave the airport.” She looked down and kicked a small stone with the toe of her sneaker. “You need to come home.”