Norma looked on her computer at the admissions. “I’m sorry, Mr. Flores has been airlifted to MCH Medical Center in Odessa.”
“Do you know if his wife went with him?”
“Let me check.” She worked the keys on the computer, read something on the screen, hit more keys, then more again. “Yes, she accompanied Mr. Flores on the helicopter.”
“Thanks.” Hunter walked out of the hospital and then had to mentally struggle to make herself go to a friend’s house in Alpine and put up the perishable groceries rather than immediately roar out of Alpine for Odessa. The logical side of her mind won out, but only by a hair. She called her friend Loraine, who said to bring them over. They unloaded the groceries and Loraine told her to get going, that she would put them up.
Hunter made the one hundred forty-five mile drive from Alpine to Odessa in ninety minutes.
***
The woman at the information desk told her that Mr. Flores was in ICU and wasn’t allowed visitors. Hunter said, “Where can I wait?”
“Are you a relative?”
“No.”
“I’m sorry, but you will have to wait in the general area.”
“Don’t you have a waiting area for ICU?”
“Yes, but only for the immediate family.”
Hunter started to turn away, then said, “I’m his partner. We’re Border Patrol Agents, and he’s my partner, my best friend. Is there any way…?”
The woman told her the directions to the ICU waiting room and said, “If anyone asks, tell them you’re a relative.”
Hunter thanked her and rode the elevator to the ICU floor. The first person she saw was Connie. Hunter walked to her and they hugged. Hunter said, “How is he doing?”
Connie said, “They’re operating. I haven’t heard anything else since they told me.”
They sat down to wait, and Connie struggled to hold herself together. Hunter wasn’t sure what to do to comfort her. They had been friends when Hunter first joined the Border Patrol and worked so much with Raymond, then there had been the falling out, and now they were casual friends, until this. Until today. Connie needed help. Hunter leaned sideways and put her arm around Connie’s shoulders.
Connie cried and said, “Thank you for being here with me. I can’t do this alone.”
Hunter felt awkward. She patted Connie’s shoulder and said, “I’m not going anywhere.”
Three hours later, the Doctor came through the doors and Hunter woke Connie as she dozed in the chair. The doctor said, “We’ve finished the surgery, and he’s resting.”
Connie said, “Can I see him?”
“Not yet. He’s in recovery, and will be for another hour or so.”
Hunter said, “Is he going to be all right?”
“He still has a ways to go. We performed a quadruple bypass, and he has damage to the heart. We have to watch for clots and further arrhythmia for the next twenty-fours hours. This wasn’t the flu he had, it was a major heart attack.”
Connie said, “Will he be able to return to work? If he can’t, I’m not sure how he will take it.”
“He’s a Border Patrol Agent, is that right?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll have to wait and see how well he recovers before we decide. It will be a while, either way, before we know.”
Hunter said, “There are things he can do at work that only involve light duty. Nothing strenuous. If that helps, I mean.”
The Doctor said, “It’s something to consider. When the time is right.”