The Escape Collection: (The Escape Collection) (81 page)

“It’s okay. I’m sure you’ve had a lot more important things to think about then calling the soccer coach.” He laughed and despite her stress, Darci smiled.
 

“Thanks,” she said. “I appreciate you being so understanding. And you know you’re more than just the soccer coach.”

“Am I?”
 

The sudden shift in his voice froze her.

Darci cleared her throat and forced a lighter tone. “Cam, you know you mean the world to Taylor.”
 

He didn’t respond right away, and Darci prayed she’d lost the connection. The last thing she needed was any weirdness between her and Cam. She couldn’t deal with anything else.
 

After what seemed like too long, she heard a sigh and Cam said, “Of course. And she means a lot to me too. How is she? Do you think she’s up for a visit from good ol’ Coach Cam?”
 

Darci picked up on his tone, but ignored it. Tucking the phone under her chin, she got out of the car and went to unlock the store.
 

“I honestly don’t know,” she said. “Taylor’s still going through a lot. She has so much to learn and accept, I’m not really sure if we need any distractions.“

“I’m not taking no for an answer, Darci.”
 

Darci pushed the door open, the bells to the shop jingled as she made her way inside. “Cam, please.” She flipped the sign in the door to ‘open’ and flicked the light switch, illuminating the aisles.
 

“I’ll come by this afternoon,” Cam said.
 

Darci let out a deep sigh. “Fine.”

“Thanks.” Cam’s voice had returned to its usual light tone. “Oh, and Darci? Sometimes a distraction is just what you need.”
 

He’d hung up before she could respond. Not that she’d know what to say. Darci tossed her cell phone into her bag and started going through her opening duties. She didn’t have time to think about what Cam may or may not have meant.

***

Monica was late. Darci dialed the number for her cell phone for the third time. It went straight to voicemail.
 

“Shit.” She slammed the phone down and quickly glanced around the shop to make sure there were no customers who might have overheard her. There wasn’t.
 

The store was empty. There’d only been a few people through the doors all morning, which was fairly normal. Monday’s were usually their slowest days.
 

Darci looked at her watch for what must have been the hundredth time that day. She was going to be late. She’d promised Taylor that she would be there for the injection lesson. For a moment Darci contemplated calling one of her part time employees, but that was ridiculous, they both went to school full time. Just because Darci was having a family emergency, didn’t mean she’d ask her employees to skip school. She shouldn’t have to. That’s what she had Monica for.
 

She cursed again. This time under her breath. Her mind played through her options. There weren’t many. Calling Felicity and asking her to come and cover wouldn’t work. Felicity might be the owner, but at sixty-four, she considered herself retired and didn’t know the first thing about actually working in her own shop. Besides, that’s what she paid Darci for, and Felicity had made that very clear when Darci had been hired.

The minutes ticked by. Darci tried Monica’s phone again.
 

“Monica, it’s Darci,” she said to the voicemail. “Call me the second you get this message. It’s an emergency.”

She clicked the phone off. “Damn it.”
 

She looked at her watch again. The needles lesson would be starting in five minutes.
 

Out of time and out of options, Darci scrawled a note onto a piece of paper and grabbed her tote bag. She taped the note to the door, locked it behind her and jumped in her car.
 

Chapter 10

By the time she battled with traffic, found a parking spot and ran through the hallways, the needles lesson was already well underway.
 

Joelle and Taylor were sitting on Taylor’s bed, the table next to them filled with various needles, bottles of liquid and oranges.
 

“Hi, Mom.” Taylor looked up from sticking a needle into an orange.
 

“I’m sorry I’m late, kiddo.” Darci tossed her tote bag into the corner of the room and moved to the bed. With nowhere to sit, she stood awkwardly next to the tray filled with supplies. “What did I miss?”

“Check it out,” Taylor said and pulled the syringe out of the orange. The sharp tang of citrus filled the air. “Joelle’s showing me how to work the needles.”

“Don’t you think she’s a little young to handle those?” Darci looked at the nurse who was smiling and holding out an alcohol swab.
 

“Not at all,” Joelle said. “It’s very important for kids to take charge of their health. Taylor needs to know how to do this before she can go home.” To Taylor she said, “Why don’t you try it again?”

Darci watched as Taylor took the alcohol swab from Joelle and wiped it on the orange.
 

“But, I can give her the insulin,” Darci said. Even at the thought of giving her daughter an injection, Darci’s stomach flipped and she reflexively put her hand to her belly.
 

Joelle noticed the action and smiled. “You’re not always going to be around, Darci. Besides, Taylor’s doing a great job.” She turned her attention back to Taylor. “Good, now draw the water into the needle.” Taylor held a bottle of saline up, pushed the needle in and drew the solution into the syringe before gently flicking the side causing air bubbles to rise to the top.
 

“Great,” Joelle said. “I didn’t even have to remind you that time.”

Taylor beamed and Darci watched in wonder as her daughter easily slid the syringe into the orange and slowly depressed the plunger.

Taylor carefully drew the needle out and placed it on a tray. “How did I do?” she asked Joelle.
 

“You did great. High five.” Taylor slapped the nurse’s outstretched hand and turned to her mom. Darci quickly put her hand up to receive the slap.

“You look like a pro, kiddo,” Darci said.
 

“It’s really easy,” Taylor said. “But I’m a little scared of doing it on myself. I mean, my body’s going to feel different than the orange, right?”
 

“Well, yes,” Joelle said. “It might take a bit to get used to, but you will.”

“How do you get used to it?” Darci asked. “I mean, is there a dummy or something she can practice on that’s more natural?”

Joelle stood from the bed and smoothed her scrubs before answering. “Unfortunately, there’s not. But sometimes, patients will practice on family members to get their confidence up before trying it on themselves.”

Darci had to grab the chair for support. A bead of sweat had appeared over her upper lip. She used her sleeve to wipe it away.
 

“Are you okay?”

Darci nodded. “What do you mean, practice on family members. Like with needles?”

“Of course. It’s perfectly harmless. We use saline instead of insulin. It’s a good way for children especially to get the sense of what it’s really going to feel like.”

Darci took a few deep breaths and straightened up.
 

“Oh, would you, Mom?”
 

“Pardon me?” Darci looked at her daughter. Her face was lit up in expectation and hope. She reflexively shook her head. “No, Taylor.” She looked between her daughter and the nurse. “No,” she said again. “I just don’t think I can…I hate needles.”

The moment the words slipped out, she wanted to reach out and pull them back in. Taylor’s face fell and her lip started to shake. Darci quickly looked to Joelle, who couldn’t hide her frown.

“Tay.” Darci squeezed onto the bed next to her and put her hand on Taylor’s leg. “Hey, that’s not what I meant.”

“That’s what you said.” Taylor’s voice cracked and she chocked back a sob. “I hate needles too, Mom.” She looked up and if it could have, Darci’s heart would have split from the pain in her daughter’s face. “Remember when you made me get those shots?”

“Your immunizations?” Darci nodded. “You were in grade one.”

“I was terrified. Remember?”
 

“Oh, I remember. You hid under the table and I had to drag you out.”

“You told me I needed the needle to be healthy, but you’d give me a lollipop if I was brave,” Taylor said. Tears streamed down her face, but Darci didn’t wipe them away. “I need these needles to be healthy too, don’t I?”
 

Darci nodded and bit her lip.
 

“But you can’t give me a lollipop if I’m brave this time. Can you?”
 

The tears she’d been fighting to hold back, slid free and streaked down Darci’s cheeks. “No, baby,” she said. “I can’t give you a lollipop.” Darci reached forward and pulled Taylor into a fierce hug. “Oh, Tay. I’m so sorry this had to happen to you.”
 

Darci rocked her gently, allowing both of them an outlet for their grief. Taylor’s sobs shook her slight body but Darci didn’t try to stop her, she needed the release. At some point, Darci realized they were alone in the room and she silently thanked Joelle for giving them the privacy they needed. Darci stroked Taylor’s hair back from her face and let her own tears fall unchecked. She never cried in front of Taylor. A self-imposed rule after Ryan died. She needed to be strong for her daughter. A rock.
 

When the tears started to subside, Darci whispered, “Of course you can practice on me, Taylor.” She continued to hold her daughter tight. “As much as you need too. I won’t mind.”
 

Sometimes, even rocks needed to crumble.

***

It was more than pinch.
 

Joelle had promised it would only be a pinch. She lied.
 

Darci clenched her teeth and looked across the room. She examined the details of the framed print that hung there and traced the pink and purple flower petals with her eyes. She shifted her gaze to the ceiling panels and then the window. Anywhere but her arm, where her daughter was jabbing her with a needle.
 

“Mom? You okay?”
 

Darci forced a smile through her tight jaw but didn’t take her focus off the windowsill.
 

“Keep going, Taylor,” Joelle said, kindly. “You’re doing great.”
 

Darci felt the warm rush of the saline enter her body and a moment later, Taylor withdrew the needle. Almost immediately, the throbbing started and Darci had to remind herself not to reach for her arm with her free hand.
 

Taylor pressed a cotton ball to the injection site. “All done,” she said.
 

Darci turned and looked at her daughter’s smiling face. The ache in her arm vanished, and she smiled. “You’re getting better, Tay. I don’t think I even felt that one.”

“Yeah right, Mom.”
 

“You are getting pretty good at it,” Joelle said. “Maybe next time, you can do your own insulin?”
 

Darci held her breath, but Taylor nodded and her voice only wavered a little when she said, “I think I could try.”
 

“Great!” Joelle gathered up the supplies they’d been working with. “You really are doing well, Taylor. I’m very impressed. Why don’t you relax for a bit, maybe go watch some TV? I think we’re done for now.”

Before she left the room, Darci met Joelle at the door. “Thank you,” she said.
 

“You did great too,” Joelle said with a smile.
 

Darci glanced over her shoulder to make sure Taylor wasn’t listening. To the nurse, she asked, “Will it hurt that much when she does it to herself?”

“It might at first. If she’s tense,” she said. “I imagine you were a little tense?”

Darci nodded. “You could tell?”

Joelle smiled. “Don’t worry. She’s going to be fine with it. It’s amazing how fast kids pick it up. Pretty soon you won’t even give it a second thought. The needles will become second nature. I promise you, there will be a time when you’ll look back on all this and wonder what you were so worried about.”

“We’ll see,” Darci said. She couldn’t imagine ever getting to that point, but she smiled anyway. Taylor did seem to be handling the needles well. Better than she would have, anyway.
 

“I promise,” Joelle said. Darci opened the door for Joelle who had her hands full.
 

“Oh,” the nurse said. “Looks like you have company.”

Cam stood, hand poised, in the entryway. “Knock, knock,” he said and stepped to the side as Joelle slipped out.

“Coach Cam!” Taylor hopped off the bed and ran to him, wrapping her arms around him.
 

Darci shot a questioning look over her head to Cam who looked just as confused. Taylor had never hugged the coach before, except for once when he’d comforted her after spraining an ankle.
 

“Hey there, superstar,” he said, unwinding her arms from around his waist. “How’re you feeling?”

“Not too bad,” she said. “Come in. I’ll show you my room.”

“Is that okay?” Cam asked Darci.
 

She nodded. Taylor hadn’t looked so happy since she’d been admitted. “By all means, come on in.”
 

***

While Taylor was busy showing Cam the highlights of her new room, Darci excused herself out to the hall to check her phone.
 

She fished her phone out of her pocket. The light wasn’t flashing. She’d left more messages with Monica since she’d been at the hospital, but she still hadn’t returned them. Felicity would freak out if she knew the store had been left unattended all morning.
 

She dialed the number to the store and Monica picked up on the first ring. “Golden Moon Health, how can I make your day glow?”

“Oh, thank goodness,” Darci said. “You’re there.”

“Of course I’m here,” Monica said. “My shift started an hour ago. But where were you? A sign on the door? Really, Darci, Felicity is going to kill you.”