She straightened her shoulders. It didn’t matter. She wasn’t going to the house for Ryan. She was going for Percy. No matter how little she apparently meant to his nephew, she’d grown fond of the old man. She wasn’t going to balk at giving him this gift out of some kind of cowardice. Moving briskly, she rounded the corner onto Cochran Drive. The house came into view…with no rattle-trap truck in the drive. Relief came first, draining some of the tension from her shoulders. On its heels came disappointment. She wanted…well, she didn’t know what she wanted other than the guy she’d gotten to know. But that guy could never have spoken to her the way he had.
Moving quickly up the walk, Hannah’s gaze skimmed over the greenery, the lights, and ribbons. All the hard work she and Ryan had done to bring some joy back to Percy. It was still beautiful, even in the daylight. She’d see Percy again when she came to take it all down. By then, Ryan would certainly be gone, if he wasn’t already, and maybe Percy would have some kind of answers for her. Or maybe they’d pretend nothing had ever happened.
She rang the bell. Inside, Duke began to bark. Fidgeting on the front porch, she waited. But there was no shushing of the dog and no one answered the door. Maybe Ryan and Percy had gone off somewhere together. Although, Percy had been taking Duke almost everywhere. Inside, the dog’s barking got more insistent. Uneasy, she tried the knob. Locked, of course. Just in case, she decided to circle around to the back, to peek inside.
Cupping a hand around her eyes, she peered through the window of the back door. Duke leapt up, booming bark startling her so badly she jerked back. Pressing a hand to her thundering heart, she bent forward again, scanning the kitchen. A corduroy clad leg and a bedroom slipper stuck out past the kitchen table.
“Percy!” She jiggled the knob. Also locked. She began to pound on the door. “Percy!”
The leg didn’t move. Inside, Duke paced, interrupting his barking to whine.
Dropping the tin, she raced back around to the front of the house, lifting and shifting every pot, every plant, every piece of furniture or decoration she could think of that might hide a key. Rising to her toes, she ran her hands up and over the top of the door frame. No key. She scanned the flower beds, searching for a rock that wasn’t really a rock. But there was nothing at all like that amid the mulch and bushes. Maybe she could get the garage door to lift. Rushing to the side of the house, she tried to get a grip on the door, but couldn’t manage to budge it. She needed something to wedge beneath the lip to get some leverage. But there was nothing. Ryan had cleaned up the mess all around the house while he’d been here.
Duke’s barking rose in pitch.
She had to get inside that house. Determined, she ran back up to the front door and rammed her shoulder into it. Pain ricocheted down her shoulder as she bounced off. That clearly wasn’t going to work. Frantic, she whipped out her phone to dial 911, just as the truck rumbled into the drive with Ryan at the wheel.
The long drive around Hope Springs had done little to improve Ryan’s mood. All he’d managed was an hour and a half of self-recriminations, backed up with a repeated chorus in Percy’s voice, reminding him that he owed Hannah an apology. He’d do it before he left town, for whatever good it would accomplish. Maybe it would give her closure. For him, it would simply be another sign of how he’d fucked up.
Movement caught his eye as he pulled into the drive next to Percy’s SUV. Hannah flew down the porch steps, toward the truck. The potent mix of joy and shame at the sight of her was a punch to the gut. He hadn’t driven her away completely. But as he slid out of the driver’s seat, he got a good look at her ashen cheeks and the eyes peeled wide with fear.
“Percy! Percy’s passed out in the kitchen. I can’t get in!”
For one, chilling beat, Ryan allowed the terror. Then he locked it away, throwing himself into action. He flew past her, hitting the porch steps at a dead run. His hand fumbled the key as he jammed it into the lock, and he lost precious seconds getting it to turn instead of simply kicking the door down as he’d done his first night here. Inside, Duke was going nuts.
Hannah’s footsteps sounded behind him as he got the door open. They raced inside, following the frantic barking of the dog into the kitchen. Percy lay face down on the tile floor. One of the chairs was askew, as if he’d grabbed for it on the way down. A quick, visual assessment didn’t indicate any obvious broken bones.
Behind him, Hannah gasped. “Oh my God!”
“Dial 911.” He knelt, checking for a pulse. The beat of it pounded beneath his fingers. Dimly, he was aware of Hannah giving her name and the address as he gently rolled Percy over.
Percy moaned. “Janie? Is that you, baby?”
“Percy, it’s Ryan. Can you hear me?”
The old man moaned. Ryan checked his head for injury, but found no evidence of trauma. Why the hell had he passed out? Snapping his head up, he scanned the counter, noted the usual, huge collection of empty glasses. The three-quarters eaten pie was still on the kitchen table. Suspicion dawning, Ryan bent low to check his breath, catching the telltale fruity scent.
“Tell them we have an eighty-one-year-old male in probable diabetic ketoacidosis. Rapid heartbeat, incoherent and only semi-responsive.”
As she relayed the information, Ryan leapt to his feet and filled one of the glasses with water. Back down on the floor, he scooped an arm behind Percy’s frail shoulders and lifted him. “Come on, Percy. You gotta get some water.” As he pressed the glass to Percy’s lips, he flailed, knocking the glass away and spilling the contents down his front.
“Damn it, Percy.”
The tap switched on and a moment later, Hannah handed over another glass. Ryan tried again, taking a firmer grip on the old man’s arms. Percy tossed his head from side to side, but Ryan held firm, managing to get a little water in him.
“What’s the ETA of the ambulance?” he demanded.
“They don’t know. There was a massive, multi-car pile up at the edge of town because of the Christmas parade. There’s no ambulance available.”
Fuck.
“She says they can send somebody from the Volunteer Fire Department until an ambulance is free.”
“No time. He might slip into a coma before then. We’ve got to get him to the hospital now.”
She relayed their intent to the dispatcher.
Percy’s head lolled back. Ryan shook him. “Percy. Percy! Wake the hell up. You can’t go to sleep. Stay with me now.”