Being Emma Page 7

  Dave and Janie walked down to apartment 353 together. She knocked first. When no one came to the door, he opened it and stepped aside. Janie walked in and started searching the apartment. She found a woman in the bedroom who was not breathing. Dave’s mouth dropped open.

  “Dave, go make sure the paramedics get in here fast. This doesn’t look good.” He hurriedly left. She found a sleeping pill bottle on the nightstand and it was empty.

  The woman’s legs were twisted – It looked like she had fallen after making the call. Her phone was on the floor and luckily she had fallen onto the bed. She tapped her on the shoulder. No response. Janie straightened her legs and then did a preliminary check of her airway and pulse. No pulse. No air coming from her airway… She pushed firmly downwards in the middle of the woman’s chest and then released it. Janie’s training had taught them that chest compressions would keep the blood pumping around the body and help keep the vital organs alive until help came.

  After thirty chest compressions, Janie began CPR. She tilted the woman’s head back and gently lifted her chin forward to open the airway. She began mouth-to-mouth breathing. Within a few minutes, the woman began to stir and Janie stopped the procedure. The woman coughed and sputtered as she began to breathe on her own. Then she leaned over and threw up on the floor. It was plain to see all the partially digested pills that came out of her. Quite often a tube would have to be inserted, but not this time. This wasn’t anything Janie hadn’t seen before and she merely sat with the woman until she emptied her stomach. Then she collapsed back on the bed in time for the paramedics to rush in the door.

  They loaded her into the ambulance and Janie followed along to make sure she was all right. Later she would head to the office and write her report.

  Dave thanked her for coming so promptly and went about his business. He had to call for a cleanup crew to go into the woman’s apartment. Actually, it wasn’t mandatory, but Dave was a nice apartment manager and wanted her to come home to a clean place. Nice of him…

  At the hospital, Janie checked her in and talked to the attending physician. He told her that the woman would be fine and a social worker would be coming up to see her soon. The doctor was a friend of Craig’s, so Janie, of course, knew him. After completing their business and signing the appropriate forms, he smiled at her.

  “How you been, Janie? How’s Craig?”

  “Um… Fine, Scott… Craig’s good, I guess.” He looked at her curiously.

  “… You guess? … I thought you two were getting ready for the big archery competition. Vegas, right? Sounds like hard work and fun all wrapped up together.”

  “Yeah… Getting ready… How’s Kathy?” Scott thought that was a strange answer and wondered.

  “She’s great. We just got engaged and are planning a spring wedding. I’ll make sure you and Craig get an invite.” She smiled weakly at him.

  “Thanks. Well… must get back. Duty calls. Bye.”

  “See ya, Janie.” He knit his brows at her comments. Then he shrugged it off and went into one of attending rooms to see a patient.

  Instead of leaving the hospital, Janie checked to see which room the woman was in. She walked purposefully down the hallway, nodding to some nurses and doctors en route. They knew her well, as a deputy sheriff and local member of the town. She found the room she was looking for, knocked on the doorframe and entered. The woman she had brought in was conscious and smiled at her. She was partially sitting up and drinking some water.

  “Hi…”

  “Hi there. How are you feeling?” Janie smiled at her. She stood at the end of the bed.

  “I’m good… Thanks to you, right?” Janie nodded. “Please, have a seat.”

  Janie sat in a chair by her hospital bed. She held out her hand.

  “I’m Deputy Johnson, Naples Sheriff’s Department.” The woman took it.

  “Sharon Anderson. I work in the restaurant at the Hot Springs Resort.”

  “Nice to meet you.”

  “You too. Sorry about the circumstances.”

  “No problem. Just glad to see you’re still with us.” Sharon frowned and looked at her hands in her lap. She sat that way for a few minutes.

  “… Would you prefer that I go?”

  “No… it’s just that I’m so embarrassed. You being a woman and all…”

  She looked upset and teary. Janie handed her a tissue.

  “Don’t be. We all have down days… Yours apparently got away from you.”

  “I’ll say… Could I tell you something?” She wiped her tears and composed herself. Janie looked at her – They were about the same age.

  “Sure.”

  “No, I mean… Do you have to rush back to the station or something?”

  “I’m good. Don’t worry about it.”

  “Okay. Here’s my pathetic little story. I moved here last year from Reno trying to get away from a man I thought was a good friend.” She paused.

  “You were trying to get away from a good friend?”

  “I know this sounds stupid, but we had been friends all our lives. Our families were close and we did everything together. We weren’t lovers, but I didn’t think that mattered. I thought that might come in time. Somehow, in the back corners of my mind, I thought we’d even get married someday.” Sharon reached for another tissue and wiped fresh tears. This was beginning to sound too close to home for Janie.

  “What happened?” She really wanted to hear the rest of this story.

  “I guess he got tired of waiting for me. My family and I went on a week’s vacation in Utah and when I came back, he was dating some woman.”

  “He was seeing a new woman who just came to town?”

  “Yes…”

  “Did you meet them out at dinner?”

  “Yes…”

  “How did you feel when you saw them together?” Sharon let out a deep breath.

  “… God, I couldn’t breathe. It was like I had the wind knocked out of me. I just stared at him, realized finally that I loved him and had never told him so.”

  Janie blinked. That was Craig’s exact reaction when he had seen her with Mike at the Naples Bar and Restaurant.

  “Um…”

  “And then it was too late.”

  “Why was it too late? It’s never too late…”

  “This time it was. Apparently, it was a whirlwind romance. They were married today.”

  “Oh, how horrible for you…” Sharon nodded.

  “I couldn’t go to the wedding and the more I thought about it, the worse I felt. Just moving out of town didn’t move him out of my heart, so I tried sleeping pills.” She gave a small laugh. “But then I chickened out and called 911.”

  Janie, the big strong deputy sheriff, had tears in her eyes and they weren’t all for Sharon. What was she doing herself? What was she doing with Mike?

  This woman sitting in front of her just described her relationship with Craig. She now knew how Craig was probably feeling about her. Janie felt like she had the wind knocked out of her as well.

  “Deputy? Are you all right? Do you need to throw up? …”

  Janie laughed. “That’s a good one, Sharon. Listen, thanks for telling me your story and I’m happy that you are on the mend.” She fished a business card out of her pocket. “Here… My roommate and I live in the same complex. Call me sometime when you’re feeling better and we’ll introduce you around a bit.”

  “Really?” Sharon’s smile made Janie feel better.

  “Absolutely. Please call me. We’d love to hear from you.”

  “Thanks, Deputy.”

  “Janie, please.”

  “Bye now.”

  Janie left the hospital and got back in her car. She let out a huge breath she’d been holding. Driving back to the Sheriff’s Office to write her report, she was really confused. She mulled over what Sharon had said. Was Craig really hurt over her dating Mike? Didn’t he just want to be friends? After work today, Janie was going to cook dinner for her roommate. Sh
e needed to have a good talk with her best friend. It was time…

  ####

  Mandy and Jeanne had been on the phone together for a while now. They were both struggling and becoming frustrated. Jeanne always compared every problem or event in the family to some movie. Her family was used to it…

  “I can’t even think of what movie this would be, Mandy… That’s how frustrating this is.” Mandy laughed.

  “Jeanne… I can’t believe that you, the movie diva, can’t compare their relationship to a movie. How about…” She thought a minute. “How about ‘When Harry Met Sally’?”

  Jeanne brightened. “Hey… Not bad. I like it. Long time relationship between protagonists… They fight… makeup… fight some more… get involved with other people… and eventually realize they’re in love with each other. Great!”

  “Great except for the Happily Ever After ending.”

  “Right… major point actually.”

  “… But Jeanne, are there any clues in that movie that will help us now?” Jeanne’s smile faded.

  “… None that come to mind.”

  “So… we’re on our own here?”

  “Looks that way…”

  “Have you spoken to Lily?”

  “Of course. She’s completely spooked over Janie dating Mike Church. She’s met him and thinks he’s nice enough, but she and Sandy are sick about Craig. He hasn’t even gone over for dinner since he’s been back, and they’ve invited him a few times.”

  “I wonder why not. He’s been over here with us…”

  “Maybe he doesn’t want to run into Janie. Or maybe he just doesn’t want to see the looks of pity on their faces. I don’t know.” Jeanne sighed.

  “So where does that leave us, Jeanne? Out in the cold?”

  “I think so… At least until Janie makes some kind of move, one way or the other… Everyone seems to be holding their breaths waiting to see what she’s going to do.”

  “That’s pretty accurate, I’d say.” She thought of something.

  “You know, we haven’t seen much of her in the last few weeks.”

  “Well, she knows Colt and Craig are best friends. Maybe she doesn’t want to talk to Colt either.”

  “Boy, there’s too little fact here. Has anyone spoken to her?”

  “Lily tried last week, when Craig was back. She said Janie wouldn’t talk about Craig at all to her, but did speak about Mike… What a great guy he was…”

  “Huh…”

  “She got the feeling that Janie’s just having a fling or something. It didn’t sound serious to her.” Mandy felt relieved.

  “…Well, that’s good to hear. Maybe Mike is just a passing fancy. His work is about done, isn’t it?”

  “Oh, my, yes. The well was completed a few days ago. I think Mike’s still around because of Janie now. Lily thinks he’s waiting for a new job to come up.”

  “So he’ll move on, you think?”

  Jeanne blew out a breath. “Let’s hope so… Actually… I take that back.” She narrowed her eyes.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Maybe Mike is giving Craig the kick in the pants he’s needed to make a move… You know, tell Janie how he really feels about her.”

  “He was here for dinner the other night, Jeanne, and admitted to us that he was in love with her.”

  “Really? Okay, that’s one down. Now Janie needs a kick in the pants to realize how she feels about Craig. I wonder who’s going to give it to her?”

  “Got me…”

  “I gotta go, Mandy. Thanks for calling for the heart-to-heart. It’s good to talk it out.”

  “Yeah, it’s good that we’ve talked it out. How about them?” Mandy laughed.

  “… The question of the year, my dear…”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Dinner that night with Diane was good. They were friends again and Janie was happy about that. She promised not to interfere in Diane’s love life again and would be there to support her future decisions. And Janie meant it – No more being Emma for her…

  Janie had made stir-fry and they were sitting on the floor with their backs against the sofa, eating with chopsticks. She was better at eating with chopsticks than Diane was. After a few minutes and more vegetables falling back into her bowl than her mouth, Diane began to spear the food instead of delicately picking it up. Janie laughed at her.

  “No… No… This is how you use chopsticks.” Janie modeled how to put the sticks between her fingers for maximum plucking power. Diane managed a bite, but then laughed and got up to get a fork.

  “You give up too easily…”

  “Ha. I just know when I’m licked here.”

  “Grab the wine, would you?”

  “What? A second glass for the infamous Deputy Sheriff who never drinks more than one glass of anything?” She pretended to be shocked.

  “Yeah… I’m in for the night…”

  Diane picked up the bottle of wine and brought it back into the living room with her – and a fork. She poured Janie a glass and glanced over at her.

  “So… what’s up with you and Mike?”

  “We’re just having fun, that’s all.”

  “What kind of fun?”

  “… Well, we’ve been to the movies, a few restaurants, riding horses at the ranch… He’s not a bad horseman, actually. One of his many talents… And I’ve invited him to that dance in Gardnerville Saturday night.” She laughed and picked up some more stir-fry.

  “Isn’t the well finished?”

  “Yes… He won’t be around forever. I know he’s waiting for another job to come along and he’ll probably be off.” Diane ate her forkful of vegetables and thought about that.

  “It’s not serious then… between you two?” Janie laughed.

  “Oh, Heavens, no. He’s not looking for Miss Right. He’s looking for Miss Right Now.” They both laughed and ate another bite. Diane swallowed and looked over at her.

  “Have you slept with him?” Janie looked up. She blushed.

  “No.”

  “Really? What red-blooded American male wouldn’t want to sleep with you?”

  “Oh, he wants to.”

  “But you don’t?”

  Janie shrugged her shoulders. “… He’s attractive enough but…” She blushed again.

  “What? You’ve really got me curious now.”

  “I know this sounds strange – especially from me – but I’m holding out for love.” She looked sharply at her. “No jokes… That took a lot for me to admit.”

  Diane blew out a breath. “No shit, Sherlock.” She shook her head and then hit it softly with the palm of her hand. “Let me clear out the disruption to my brain that caused.” Janie laughed.

  “… I just don’t want to have sex with someone I don’t love. It seems too intimate to me.”

  “Understandable.” Janie was quiet for a moment. Then she practically whispered to Diane.

  “One night at the ranch when Meg and Carter were visiting, I happened to see them in an intimate moment. It had a profound effect on me.”

  “Really? How did it affect you?”

  “I saw Carter looking at Meg, and it was such a look of tenderness and love that I decided right then and there, that was what I wanted too.”

  “A great look, huh?”

  “A fabulously romantic look…”

  “Says Janie Johnson, last of the Red Hot Lovers…” They laughed. “I gather you haven’t gotten that look from Mike Church.”

  “No. I knew the first night we went out that it wouldn’t be him.”

  “And it’s okay with him that you don’t have sex?”

  “It’s not his decision to make…” Diane looked at her friend in wonder.

  “… I’m impressed. When did you get so wise?”

  “Stepping out of my comfort zone has taught me a few things.”

  They ate in friendly silence for a while. Then Diane decided to change the subject.

  “Have you been practicing for the state c
ompetition with Craig?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?” Janie didn’t look up. She picked up another bite with her chopsticks.

  “Oh… I’ve been busy working and then seeing Mike.”

  “You aren’t that busy and haven’t been seeing Mike that much. You’re avoiding Craig… Why?” Janie’s eyes filled with tears. Diane was alarmed. “What’s the matter?”

  “Craig saw me with Mike out at Naples Bar the first night he was back in town. You should have seen the look on his face when he saw us together.”

  “How’d he look?”

  “Like he wanted the earth to swallow him up. I felt like I was cheating on him or something…”

  Then Janie told Diane about her attempted suicide call and helping Sharon Anderson. She told her Sharon’s story which paralleled hers with Craig and about the insights she had gleaned from her story. Then she turned to Diane with tears on her cheeks.

  “Diane, he’s in love with me!” She handed Janie a tissue.

  “Are you sure? I thought you two were just friends… How do you feel about him?” Janie wiped the tears away and blew her nose.

  “I haven’t got a bloody clue.” She turned to her. “What the hell’s wrong with me?”

  “And you said you never wanted to get tangled up with any guy. I believe that’s a direct quote.”

  She laughed. “Yeah… See what I wanted to avoid?”

  “… Well, you’re in the middle of it now.”

  “Sink or swim?”

  “I think you just need a good kick in the pants to figure this all out.” She raised her glass to toast. Janie raised hers in response.

  “Here’s to the kick in the pants then…”

  “And it can’t come soon enough…” They smiled and took a sip. Laughing, they drank their wine down in the next gulp. “If we only had a fireplace to throw these into.”

  “Yeah, that would be appropriate…”

  “Thanks, Diane. I needed this tonight.” She gave her a hug.

  “My pleasure, sweetie. And I hope I can help with that kick too.” Janie laughed. Diane thought a minute and then narrowed her eyes at Janie. Maybe she could help with it…

  ####

  They heard the music long before they went in the front door. It was loud and noisy and the beat was booming. The big western dance at the Gardnerville Community Center was alive and kickin’. A good, local cowboy band had set up on the stage. A little sawdust on the floor and a few bales of hay around made for a typical western theme. People were everywhere, dancing, drinking and having a good time.