Cherry Pop (Mercury Rising Book 3) (11 page)

“What?” his dad said breathlessly. “Can’t be. I’m too young.”

“The hell you are,” Tripp told him. He hit 911 and speaker on his phone and then went over to him, looking for the pulse in his neck with his free hand. His dad grabbed his hand away, but then he squeezed it tightly as he winced again and fell back in his chair.

“911 Dispatch,” a woman answered. “What is your emergency?”

“My dad’s having a heart attack,” Tripp said. “Lanier Construction, 800 N. Elm Street, Lumberton. What do I do?”

“Sir, what’s your name?” she asked briskly.

“Tripp Lanier,” he answered as his dad hunched over.

“Tripp, I’m sending an ambulance now. Is your dad responsive?”

“What do you mean?”

“Can he talk?” she clarified.

“Yes.”

“What are his symptoms?”

Tripp listed them, from the pain in his shoulder and chest to the sweating and trouble breathing. Before he was done, he could hear sirens in the distance.

“The ambulance reports they are minutes away,” the dispatcher told Tripp. “As long as he remains responsive, don’t move him. Let the EMTs do that. Okay?”

“Okay,” Tripp said. He was sweating as much as his dad, and his heart was hammering. There was knocking at his door.

“Tripp, is everything okay?” his administrative assistant called out. “You’re shouting.”

“My dad is having a heart attack,” he yelled. “The ambulance is almost here. Send them in when they get here.”

“Oh my God,” she exclaimed. He heard her shouting, “Dean Junior is having a heart attack! Get the EMTs up here!”

“Everything’s going to be okay, Daddy,” he told his father, praying he was right.

B
en rushed
through the hospital doors, not sure where to go or who to see to find Tripp. He wasn’t even sure he could see him since Ben wasn’t family. But Tripp had called in a panic on his way to the hospital to tell Ben what had happened and Ben had to calm him down so Tripp didn’t get in an accident on the way there. Tripp had been so shook up it had rattled Ben. Then he thought of Loreene, and he’d had to come and make sure everything was okay. He didn’t know Dean Junior that well yet, but he knew how much Tripp and Loreene loved him. Ben hoped he was going to be all right.

“Can I help you?” a woman sitting at the front desk asked him.

“I’m looking for the Laniers,” Ben said. “Dean Junior was brought in with a heart attack a little while ago.”

“They’re still in the emergency room,” she said, looking at him curiously. “Are you family?”

“No.” Ben shook his head. “But Tripp called me. Can you let him know Ben Heston is here? Unless he can have his cell back there.”

“No, I’ll page him,” she said, picking up the receiver. “Have a seat.”

As Ben was sitting there waiting, Evan rushed through the door. He spotted Ben immediately. “Ben,” he said, walking over briskly. “Thanks for calling me. Have you heard anything?” He waved at the front desk attendant and she waved back.

“Nothing,” Ben said. “I just got here and they’re paging Tripp.”

“Okay, I’ll see what Cameron knows.” Evan walked over to the front desk. Ben wasn’t surprised he knew her. He knew everyone.

Tripp came through the doors from the back and Ben stood up. When Tripp saw him, he seemed to crumble a little as his shoulders drooped. He hurried over, and before Ben could speak Tripp had his arms wrapped around him.

Ben held him as Tripp buried his face in Ben’s neck. “Thanks for coming,” Tripp mumbled against his skin.

“Of course I came,” Ben said quietly, squeezing him tightly. “How is he?” Tripp’s behavior made him fear the worst.

“He’s going to be okay,” Tripp said. He sniffed and Ben felt wetness on his neck. “It wasn’t a major event, the doctor said, and the EMTs got there pretty quick and stabilized him. But he has to remain here overnight for observation and he’s going to see the cardiologist in a couple of days.”

“Good,” Ben said. “I’m glad he’s going to be okay. I know you were worried.” Tripp nodded into his neck.

“Tripp?” Evan said behind him.

“I called Evan,” Ben said. “I hope that’s okay.”

Tripp took a deep breath and straightened. His eyes, lashes damp with tears, met Ben’s, and Ben’s heart stuttered a little at the emotion he saw there, directed at him. “Yeah, that’s okay,” Tripp said. He unselfconsciously wiped his eyes and turned to face Evan. “Hey, Evan,” he said. “Daddy’s going to be okay.”

“Oh, thank God,” Evan said, relief in his voice. “Do you need anything, you or your mom? How is she?”

“She’s doing okay,” Tripp said. “Worried sick about my dad, of course. Come on back and say hey.”

Evan smiled. “I’ll come back later, after all his other company has gone.” He patted Ben’s shoulder. “See you later. Don’t worry, I’ll tell Brian what’s going on.” Before Ben could answer, he hurried out the door, waving at the desk as he went, his phone to his ear.

Tripp grabbed Ben’s hand and dragged him toward the doors he’d come out of. Ben heard a click and the doors opened.

“Maybe I shouldn’t,” Ben protested. “I mean, I don’t think your dad would want to see me right now.” And he was not ready to see Tripp’s dad again. Did he know about Ben and Tripp? Not that there was anything to know, but there had been rumors. Had he heard those?

“Oh, he wants to see you,” Tripp said. “We were talking about you when he had the heart attack.”

“Oh my God,” Ben said, horrified. “I gave your father a heart attack?”

“No,” Tripp said. “Biscuits and barbeque and beer gave my father a heart attack. And pie and fried fish and all that other crap he eats. Plus high cholesterol and high blood pressure. The Lanier men are a Molotov cocktail of genetic heart failure.”

Ben gripped Tripp’s hand harder. “What?” he said, irrational fear slicing through him.

“Yep. Four generations of heart attacks, including my dad now,” Tripp said blithely. “Why do you think I exercise so much?”

“Because you like biscuits and barbeque and beer?” Ben asked, trying to grin.

“Correct. We don’t live long, so we live to the fullest.”

Ahead of them, a large group of people were milling around in the hallway outside one room. They all turned to face Tripp as he approached, Ben’s hand still in his. Ben felt his face grow hot and all talk ceased as they stared at him. He recognized a couple of Tripp’s cousins from the day they went waterskiing and smiled nervously at them.

“This him?” a big man asked, shouldering his way forward. He was overweight, wearing Carrhart overalls and dirty boots. Ben vaguely recalled seeing him at the data center construction site. He was a supervisor of some kind.

“You don’t get to meet him until Daddy sees him,” Tripp said. “Move out of the way.”

“Don’t talk to your uncle that way,” a woman said, coming forward to stand beside him. Ben tried not to gape. She looked just like Loreene, beautiful, but about ten years older and twenty pounds heavier. Marilyn Monroe left unchecked to age naturally. She took the big man’s hand in hers and Ben did gape when he realized they were a mismatched couple. “How do you do?” she said, holding out her other hand. “I’m Tripp’s Aunt Doreene.”

Ben shook her hand. “Ben Heston,” he said, trying to inconspicuously pull his hand from Tripp’s.

“Oh, we know who you are,” she said with a laugh. “We’ve heard all about you.” She turned toward the man. “This is my husband, Dennis Wooten.” As Ben shook his hand, Tripp’s uncle glared at him. Tripp’s aunt yelled toward the hospital room, “Loreene, Ben’s here!”

“Send him back,” he heard Tripp’s mom say.

Tripp didn’t say a word and he didn’t let go of Ben’s hand. He pulled him to the door and Ben heard someone whisper behind him, “He’s cute.”

Loreene was sitting beside the hospital bed holding Dean’s hand. Dean Junior was asleep, but his ashen complexion and the dark circles under his eyes showed what he’d been through. He looked so much like Tripp that it made Ben uneasy to see him laid up like this in the hospital. Loreene looked like she’d been crying her eyes out.

“Ben, honey,” she said with a sniffle that turned into crying. Tripp let go of his hand, and Ben went over and hugged her. She wrapped her arms around his middle and pressed her cheek to his stomach. “It’s so good you could come for Tripp,” she said. To his surprise it felt good to be a source of comfort.

“Well, I came for you too,” he told her, and he meant it. She’d become a friend in a short time. “I’m glad to hear he’s going to be okay.”

“Damn him anyway,” she said, letting go of Ben to grab a tissue and blow her nose. “Having a heart attack of all things. His daddy didn’t even have one until he was fifty-five, and he was meaner than a snake.”

“I’m sorry,” Ben said lamely. “Tripp said it’s hereditary.”

She nodded. “It is. He’s already on medication, but chances are he forgot to take it. He’s so damn stubborn.” She pointed at Tripp. “Like this one.” She looked down at Dean Junior and patted his hand affectionately. “I wish I could quit him. He just breaks my heart one way or another.”

“Mama,” Tripp said. He walked around Ben and stood behind her, rubbing her shoulders. “You don’t mean that.”

“Sure I do,” she said. “You’ll see. All they do is break your heart, baby.”

Ben felt like he should defend himself, but he kept quiet. After all, he and Tripp weren’t officially dating. They weren’t officially doing anything except riding bikes, not since last Saturday. She probably hadn’t even been talking about him.

“Okay, Mama,” Tripp said. “Want me to beat him up for you?”

She snorted with watery laughter. “Not yet. Let’s let him get out of the hospital first,” she said.

“I’m hearing all this,” Tripp’s dad mumbled from the bed. “And I’m keeping tabs. I’m gonna get my own licks in as soon as I feel better.” He opened a pair of bloodshot eyes and squinted against the light. “Who’s that?” he asked.

“It’s Ben,” Loreene said.

“As in, Ben, Tripp’s new boyfriend?” he asked no one in particular.

“That’s the one,” Tripp said.

“Well, all right,” Dean Junior said. “He feel guilty about giving me a heart attack?”

“Nice try,” Ben said calmly. He was getting used to these Laniers and their convoluted logic. “But I already heard about your family history.”

“Shit,” Dean Junior said. “I could’ve used that one for a long time, you know.”

“Go back to sleep, old man,” Loreene said. “You’re delusional.”

“Aw, Loreene, honey,” Dean Junior said. He raised their clasped hands to his chest and his eyes drifted shut. In seconds he was asleep again.

“They gave him some heavy duty sedatives,” Tripp said. “Otherwise he never would have shut up.”

“I’m not your boyfriend,” Ben said with an exasperated sigh.

“He’s on drugs,” Tripp said. “I have to humor him.” Ben frowned at him and caught Loreene winking at her son.

“You two are going to give
me
a heart attack,” Ben told them.

“Ain’t it the truth,” Loreene said, laying her head down on the bed beside Dean Junior

* * *

“
H
ow’s
your boyfriend’s dad?” Brian asked Ben as he sat down in the chair on the other side of Ben’s desk. “Evan told me he had a heart attack and you were at the hospital and wouldn’t be back here today.”

“First, Tripp is not my boyfriend,” Ben said. He’d gotten so used to saying that, or some version of it, that he couldn’t put any real feeling behind the words. “And second, his dad is going to be fine and they didn’t need me there to watch him sleep along with half the population of Mercury, so I came back to work.” He hit send on the email he’d been typing and turned to face Brian. He expected that Brian would have some unsolicited advice and a few not-so-funny jokes at his expense. Brian did not disappoint.

“If it smells like bullshit, and looks like bullshit, then I call bullshit,” Brian said with a grin. “Everyone in town already refers to you as ‘Ben, Tripp’s boyfriend’, like it’s your new last name.”

“Yes, well, this is Mercury. Gossip is the number one social problem here.”

“Careful,” Brian warned, wagging his finger, “your new in-laws may hear you. Apparently Tripp is related to most of Bladen County.”

“Don’t feel the need to come in here and check on me,” Ben said desperately. “I liked you better before you decided to try to be human. And by the way, you’re not doing it right.”

“My human impersonation is good enough to fool the natives,” Brian said. “Seriously, if you want to be with Tripp and his family right now, I don’t mind. Michael Tremblay filled me in on what you guys did in the workshop last week, and frankly we can hit pause on any more plans until we implement the new protocols. So right now you’re superfluous.”

“Then I’ll go back to L.A.,” Ben said, the idea suddenly coming to him and taking root. “If you don’t need me here, I can fly back and touch base with some people and water my plants.” He stood up, trying to think of someone he could go see in L.A. besides his mom. Maybe Trey? Or was he off filming somewhere?

“Not so fast, Tonto,” Brian said in alarm. “You’re my right-hand man here. You can’t just disappear. I meant we didn’t need you today, but tomorrow we’re meeting with Charles Goodman about the foundation mission statement and setting up the board of trustees’ agreements. And on Wednesday we’re testing the new server.”

Ben sat back down with a sigh, visions of Thai food disappearing like mist. “Great,” he said without enthusiasm. “I can’t wait.”

“Okay, enough,” Brian said. “I’m laying my cards on the table. Do you want to be here or not? I know
I
want you here. I rely on you not just as a top-notch manager, but as a friend. But I don’t want to make you miserable. This is a big step for me, Ben. My entire life is changing and I need to surround myself with people who are as excited by these new ventures as I am. If you can’t be one of those people, then I’ll be disappointed, but I’ll understand. This is a big change for you too, and maybe it’s not a good fit. I’ve been pushing to keep you here because I think you can make a positive difference and because I thought you agreed with what I was trying to do. If I’m wrong, tell me.”

Ben was stunned by Brian’s impassioned speech. “Thank you,” he said. “I appreciate the confidence you have in me.” He looked down as the desk and ran his palms over it nervously. “What exactly are we trying to do again?”

“I’m trying to make Turnstiles into a force for change, Ben. A source of funding and education for groups and individuals who are working toward the same positive goals. I don’t just want to be a purveyor of information anymore. I want to affect how people use that information, how they connect with one another, maybe even influence social and cultural change that will help empower disenfranchised groups around the world. And in the process, I’m trying to rebuild this town. It’s a good place to start, isn’t it? This is going to be my new base of operations; this is where the action is.”