Surfside Sisters(74)
The next morning, her phone woke her at six. Sebastian. Ha, Keely thought, he misses me.
“Hi, Sebastian,” she said, her voice hoarse with sleep. She hoped she sounded sexy.
“Keely, I’m sorry to wake you, but my father had a stroke last night.”
“Oh, no! How is he?”
“They medevaced him to Mass General. I’m here at the hospital right now. I brought Mom up. I don’t know when I’ll be home.”
“Sebastian, that’s terrible! I’m so sorry.” She sat up in bed. “Can you…” Was this too intimate to ask, when they were only just beginning a close relationship? “Is there…any way to tell how serious it is? I mean, I know from my mother that strokes are all different.”
Sebastian was eager to talk, in the way that talking helped to make sense of a catastrophe. “We don’t know for sure, but I don’t think it’s life-threatening. Mom said he woke in the middle of the night and got up to go to the bathroom. He staggered and didn’t know which way to go. She went to him, and he was awake, but he was confused. He couldn’t talk right. He couldn’t understand Mom. She called 911. The ambulance came right away. She called me and I got there just after the ambulance. Mom was so upset because Dad peed himself and she couldn’t change his wet pajamas before the EMTs arrived.”
“Oh, poor Donna.”
“But he didn’t lose consciousness. The doctors told us he had an ischemic stroke. That means a blood clot in the brain. The ER doctor administered an IV of something unpronounceable, alteplase something or other, that breaks up the clot and restores blood to the brain. Keely, I don’t even know what I’m talking about, really.”
“How is your mother taking this?”
“She’s freaked out. She’s been sobbing a lot. The hospital scares her. She can’t deal with seeing Dad with tubes in his nose and arm. I mean, of course, she was in there, talking to him and so was I, but they wanted him to rest, so now Mom’s down the hall, calling Isabelle.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“I can’t think of anything now, but I’ll keep in touch. We’re really just waiting for the doctors to tell us something. Waiting to see how Dad is.”
“I’m so sorry, Sebastian. This is frightening.”
“Yes, and at this point we can only go from minute to minute. I’ve got to phone Eric and tell him to run the shop today. And Mom wants me to call some of Dad’s friends. And the office. Someone will have to take over his cases. I don’t know how long I’ll be up here. I don’t have a change of clothes…”
“I can help you. I can express mail you some clothes or shaving stuff, whatever you need. I could call some of your parents’ friends.”
“Thanks, Keely. If I stay, I think Isabelle will come up, and she can bring me what I need.” He cleared his throat, sounding on the verge of tears. “Keely, I’m almost more worried about my mother than about Dad. She was hysterical when we got into the helicopter.”
“Flying in a huge noisy machine like that must be scary.”
“No, no, it was because Dad was so helpless and…not himself. He was…making sounds. Sometimes he could get some words out, but they were slurred. We’re supposed to hold his hand, talk to him, and I do, and Mom does try, but it’s difficult for her.”
“I can understand that. Would you like me to have my mother call you? This is exactly the sort of thing she knows about.”
“Maybe. Let me think about it. Let me ask Mom. The doctors will tell us what to do.”
“Let me know if I can do anything. I’m so sorry, Sebastian. I’m praying for you all.”
“Thanks, Keely. I should go.”
* * *
—
Keely rose, pulled a light robe around her, and padded quietly into the kitchen. She made coffee. She took it out onto the patio and sat for a while listening to the morning begin.
Her first thoughts were for Al Maxwell and his family. She still resented the man for the way he’d treated her when her father died. How he had callously told her to leave college. But when she was younger, he’d been nice. Poor Sebastian and Isabelle…it didn’t sound as if Sebastian’s father’s life was in danger, but certainly that his life would change. Should she call Isabelle? But no. Keely wasn’t part of their family. It wasn’t the Maxwells she should be thinking about. She should be thinking about what to do with Gray when he arrived on the island.
Gray. Sebastian.
She had planned to tell Sebastian about Gray, that he was coming for a brief visit to see the island. She had planned to stress that he would be staying in a hotel, not with her. But she couldn’t tell Sebastian now. Compared to what the Maxwell family was going through, Gray’s visit wasn’t even on the radar of importance.
Still, she wished she could let Sebastian know Gray was coming. She didn’t want to seem to keep it a secret from him. She felt unsettled and irrationally guilty.
* * *
—
The day became one of those stop-and-start, restless days, when Keely couldn’t force herself to write and instead compulsively checked her phone to see if Sebastian had called. When Eloise drifted from her bedroom at eight, Keely nearly jumped on her, needing to talk with her about Al Maxwell. After that, they were both nervous, wanting to help the Maxwells, resigned to waiting for the phone to ring. The two women agreed it was the perfect time to use their nervous energy, so they gathered all the items they’d set aside for the Seconds Shop and delivered them, then filled the trunk once again with treasures for the Madaket Mall. Eloise kept up a running commentary, recounting all the people she’d seen over the years who’d had strokes and how they recovered and how necessary physical rehab was for the entire mind-body return to health.