Daughters Of The Bride(89)

“You had a call,” she said quickly. “It was dispatch. Something happened to Greg.”

Rachel went cold. It was the call every firefighter’s wife dreaded.

She rushed to the phone on the wall and dialed a number she’d never forgotten.

“Dispatch.”

She fought to keep her voice calm. “It’s Rachel Halcomb. I’m calling about Greg.”

“Hey, Rachel. Greg was injured on scene. I don’t have the details, but he was conscious when he was taken to the hospital. That’s all I know. Are you heading over?”

“Right now.”

She pressed a hand to her chest as she spoke. Her heart pounded so hard and so fast. She wanted to cry, but there was no way she could give in, she told herself. She had to stay strong. Who knew what was going to happen or what she would have to deal with?

She hung up and headed directly for her locker to collect her purse. She went into the break room, where Sara was working on her laptop.

“Greg’s been taken to the hospital,” she told her coworker. “I don’t know how bad it is, but I need to get over there. Can you finish up with Belinda?”

Sara looked up. “Sure. Is he okay? Are you?”

“I don’t know. I’m having a little trouble breathing, but that should pass. Her color will be done in about five minutes. She gets a simple layered cut. Nothing you haven’t done a million times. Thanks so much. I owe you.”

Sara stood and hugged her. “Don’t worry. I’ll deal. Go be with Greg.”

Rachel hurried out to explain the situation to Belinda, then raced to her car. She had no idea what had happened, but her imagination was able to produce dozens of scenarios, each worse than the one before. He could have been hit by a car at a car accident or burned in a fire. He could have fallen through a roof or been attacked by a crazy person.

By the time she got to the hospital, she was nearly hysterical. What was she going to tell Josh? How would she survive as a single parent? While she thought of herself that way now, in reality Greg was around, helping. He couldn’t be gone, he couldn’t!

She rushed into the ER. There were a handful of patients waiting, a few nurses and someone at the reception desk.

“I’m Rachel Halcomb. My husband, Greg, was brought in. He’s a firefighter.”

The receptionist scanned her computer screen. “He’s in exam room four. You can go right in. It’s that way.” She pointed to her left.

Rachel thanked her, then jogged down the hallway. She felt sick to her stomach and a little dizzy. She slowed for a second, startled to see Quinn pushing his grandmother in a wheelchair. She started to stop to ask if Joyce was all right, then simply waved and kept going. There were a couple of firefighters standing in the hallway by Greg’s exam room. She knew them all, had had them over for dinner, been on picnics with their families. The tallest of the three, Zack, smiled when he saw her.

“Hey, Rach, don’t worry. He’s fine. One of the rookies got into trouble at a fire and Greg helped him out. Unfortunately, he got a cut on his arm in the process. It was bleeding pretty bad, so we brought him here. He’s going to be okay.” Zack winked. “He’ll have a scar, but chicks dig scars, right?”

She forced herself to smile. “We do.” She drew back the curtain of the exam room. As she did, she saw Greg lying on the bed. There was a makeshift pressure bandage around his biceps...and a gorgeous redhead holding his hand. They both looked at her.

Rachel stood immobile for two whole beats of her heart, then turned on her heel and walked back the way she’d come.

“Rachel! Rachel, wait!”

She ignored Greg’s voice and everyone around her. She kept her head high and her pace brisk. It wasn’t until she was back in her car that she gave in to tears.

She was a fool, she thought bitterly. A pathetic ex-wife turned laughingstock. Greg wasn’t trying to get her back. She didn’t know what his game was, but it wasn’t that for sure. He was probably just trying to be a better father to Josh. He didn’t want her getting in the way of that. So he’d played her. And she’d let him.

Not again, she told herself angrily as she wiped the tears from her face. Fool me once and all that. She was going to get back to work, do her job, then go home. Tonight she would walk an extra two miles. She would find an exercise class and start lifting weights. She would get so incredibly fit and hot, she would attract some amazing man and they would fall madly in love. Wasn’t there an old saying about living well being the best revenge? As of this moment, she was all about revenge. At least on the inside. Screw Greg and his bimbo redhead. She was going to be just fine.