Ambulance—“No, Casper, I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. You passed out. And you’re sick.” He clasped her hands, his expression a little undone. “You scared me.”
Oh.
“Make a path!”
The voice came from beyond her. Her view seemed fuzzy around the edges, so she blinked and then a couple of EMTs appeared. One of them was Pastor Dan from the church where Liza—where she—attended.
“Raina, what’s going on?” He knelt beside her, putting a defibrillator and a medical kit on the ground. Next to him stood a taller man in his forties. Sandy, curly hair. It seemed she recognized him too. Wait, yes—Joe somebody, the husband of Liza’s friend Mona.
Dan slid a pressure cuff onto her arm, pumped it up.
“I’m fine—really, I’m fine.”
“Shh,” he said.
Casper had barely scooted over for them. Now he sat on the bench, put his arm around her. “Let them do their thing.”
It was so silly. She just hadn’t eaten very much today. She said that to them as Dan took her blood pressure reading.
“Your pressure is a little low. I think we need to bring you in, get some fluids in you, see what’s going on.”
“No.” She moved to take off the cuff, but a wave of nausea hit her again, and she put her hand to her mouth.
“Here.” Joe shoved a disposable bag toward her and she lost the fluids Casper had given her.
She wiped her mouth with the napkin Casper handed to her. So maybe she didn’t feel stellar.
But this night was supposed to be perfect.
“You’re definitely going with us,” Dan said. He gestured to the ambulance, and to her horror, they brought over a stretcher.
“Please—”
“Just do it,” Casper said. “I’ll be right behind you on the bike.”
“No, Casper.” She let Dan and Joe lead her to the stretcher, help her lie on it. “You have to be here. You have to announce the team from the podium later. You can’t come with me.”
But he was already dialing his phone. She heard his voice even as they began to wheel her away.
“Darek, yeah, it’s me. Can you introduce the team? I need to go to the hospital with Raina; she’s not feeling well. Yeah . . . no worries; I’m sure she’s just fine.”
But at the tail end of his voice, she thought she heard the finest edge of worry.
She was just fine. This was so silly. And yet her stomach still roiled.
They put her in the ambulance, shut the doors, and Joe drove toward the ER. Thankfully they didn’t turn on the siren. She might have died of embarrassment or begged them to simply keep going straight out of town.
Dan took her temperature. “It’ll just take a second to get to the hospital. They’ll give you an IV. You’ll be feeling better soon.”
“I’m fine.” It seemed the mantra of the hour.
They parked at the hospital, wheeled her through the double doors into the ER. “We’re going to transfer you onto a table,” Dan said.
“I can do it myself.”
But they didn’t listen, just grabbed the edges of the sheets and plopped her onto the exam table.
“I don’t feel well again.”
A nurse came up to her. “Hi, honey. My name’s Denise. We’re going to take good care of you.”
She put a basin under Raina’s chin even as she sat up and leaned forward. Nothing came out. She lay back, her face flushed and hot.
“Let’s find out what’s going on,” Denise said as she got the chart from Dan. “Not much of a temperature. A little elevated, probably from the heat. I see you’ve been throwing up.”
“Could be heatstroke,” Dan said.
“We’ll wait until the doctor comes in. Let’s get some tests done.” She hung the chart on a clip at the end of the bed. “I’m going to start an IV.” She looked at the guys. “I think we got this.”
“All right.” Dan patted Raina’s arm. “You hang in there. I’m sure we’ll see you in church on Sunday.”
She gave him a small smile. “Please don’t call Liza.”
He nodded, frowned. “Sure.”
“I don’t want to worry her.”
He nodded again. “Take care.”
As he left, Denise broke out the IV kit, grabbed some gloves. She looked at Raina, her eyes kind. “So you’re Liza’s niece? You helped cater Darek and Ivy’s wedding, with Grace, right?”
“Uh, yeah.” She didn’t remember seeing the nurse at the wedding, but she didn’t know many people. Had only made one friend that night—although she wouldn’t necessarily call Owen a friend.