“We need to talk.”

I winced and was really glad I wasn't facing my mother when she said it.

I took a deep breath and slowly turned to face her.

“Okay, Mom. I get off of work in about ten minutes.” I checked my watch.

She looked around the empty waiting room and shrugged. “I'll just wait here.” She sat down in one of the plastic chairs and crossed her legs.

At least Donna could keep her company. They were both members of the Ladies' Bridge Club. That had to count for something, right? I tried not to panic as I finished restocking the rooms and making sure that everything was set for the night.

We'd managed to have a small amount of patients today. Apparently, people liked getting healthcare in town rather than driving forty minutes and having to redo paperwork. It wasn't fast enough, though. Dr. Taggert wasn't pleased. He was more than ready to kick Jacob and I to the curb to save his beloved clinic.

It made my heart hurt, but I understood it. It was just business.

I sighed, trying not to think about it or what talking with my mother would entail. I was half afraid she already knew I was pregnant, even though I hadn't seen her since I found out. My mom always knew my secrets. I secretly suspected that it was a benefit of motherhood and I hoped that I would gain the ability with my child.

I took my time finishing stocking, but my mother knew she could outlast me. She waited patiently in the waiting room making small talk with Donna about the weather. I wasn't sure how someone could talk about rain and the possibility of rain for a straight ten minutes, but they did.

I poked my head into Jacob's office.

“My mom's here.”

“As a patient?” Concern crossed his face and he subconsciously reached for his stethoscope.

“No. She wants to talk to me,” I told him.

He relaxed slightly. “Good luck. You going to tell her?”

“No way in hell. I love my mom, but I don't think she's ready for that bombshell just yet.”

“You're going to have to tell her eventually,” he said gently. I stuck my tongue out at him and went out to the waiting room.

“Okay. What did you want to talk about?” I asked my mom, trying to sound confident and casual.

“We're going to dinner,” she informed me. “So grab your things. It's my treat.”

I gave her a sideways glance. “You sure you want to be seen in town with me?”

“Hannah, even if I don't agree with some of your decisions, I still love you.” Her eyes were genuine and for a moment I felt like things might be okay. My mom loved me.

“Okay.” I grabbed my purse and together we left the clinic.

“Where are we going?” I asked as I got into my mother's car. She waited until I was safely buckled before pulling out of the parking lot.

“The diner,” she replied.

I raised an eyebrow.

“You're with me. No one will spit in your food or do anything stupid,” she said, shaking her head like I was overreacting.

Still, I was thinking of only ordering things that came deep fried and I knew exactly what they were supposed to look like.

We pulled into the diner's parking lot. It was quieter than I expected for dinner time.

“Where is everyone?” I asked, looking around. Maybe they had heard I was coming and were leaving the restaurant.

“It's poker night,” my mom informed me. “They're having their big match tonight.”

I nodded. That's why my father wasn't having dinner with us. He was at the poker night. I hoped he was feeling okay and knew not to drink too much. I worried about him.

All eyes turned on me when we walked in the front door. It took everything I had not to bolt, but my mom made sure to grab my arm so I couldn't get away.

“Table for two,” she said clearly as we walked in. We got a little table in the corner. I liked it because I wasn't the center of attention over here.

We both looked at the menus silently, as if we didn't already have the entire thing memorized. It was a stall tactic for both of us.

“How are you, Hannah?” my mom asked softly, setting her menu down. “I worry about you.”

“I'm okay, Mom.” I did my best to smile.

“I'm sorry about the way things have happened. I always suspected there wasn't much chemistry between Dr. Matthews and Katie, but they were just so perfect on paper. His mother was so adamant...” She sighed. “Anyway, I wanted to apologize to you for my behavior.”

I stared at my mom, tears forming in my eyes. “You didn't do anything wrong.”

“Yes I did. I didn't come right out and support you. I went along with Ladies' Bridge Club because they're my friends.” She reached forward and took my hands. “But, you're my daughter.”

“Thank you, Mama,” I whispered, not really trusting my voice.

She squeezed my hands and then went back to her menu. “I think I'll have a burger. They always have good burgers here.”

That's how I knew she was serious. My mom didn't dwell on important things. She could talk about the weather for hours, but she would only say the important stuff once. We were good now. She had forgiven me for smearing the family name and sleeping with Dr. Matthews.

“I think I just want the cheese curds,” I replied. It was the only thing on the menu that sounded good. When my mother frowned, I followed up with, “I had a big lunch.”

“Did you hear that Cassidy Reynolds is having a baby?” My mom smiled. “Libby is so excited. It wasn't planned, but very much wanted. Apparently a doctor told her she'd never get pregnant. She's with Rich Smokes. They aren't married because they were waiting to save up the money for a big wedding. Now, they're eloping.”

“Really?” My heart lightened hearing the other side of the story. “That's actually a really happy story.”

“I know, right?” My mom leaned forward. “It's all drama in the society about it, though. Libby's so happy, but that means she's going to have a grandchild before Rachel, and Rachel isn't happy about that. Her daughter's been married for three years and no babies yet.”

I was about to say something when the front door of the diner burst open and a gaggle of men poured through it.

“I won!” my dad shouted, waving his hat around as he came in. “I won the tournament!”

“Oh, there will be no living with him now,” my mother whispered, shaking her head.

I chuckled and smiled as my dad went up to the bar and ordered a round of drinks for his friends. He pulled out a thick stack of bills and slammed a hundred dollar bill down on the counter.

“How much money was the tournament worth?” I asked, eyeing the wad of cash in my dad's hand.

“Each member had to put in fifty dollars,” my mom answered. “There were some re-buys, but you know your dad never goes for that.”

Given that nearly every adult male that could get away from their kids or work was part of the poker group, that meant a lot of money. I was rather proud of my dad. It was definitely something that made him happy.

The diner got much louder with the men buying drinks and praising my dad for his poker skills. I recognized many faces. There was my dad, Dr. Taggert, the minister, Mr. Abrams who owned the grocery store, and several other of my father's friends. At one point my dad came over to our table. He kissed my mother on the lips, making her blush.

“Can you believe I won?” he asked us, his eyes dancing with delight. “I've never won before.”

“What was your secret this time, Dad?” I asked him.

He glanced around and then leaned forward so the poker group couldn't hear him. “I'm not drunk. I've only had water and root beer all night. I can read their bluffs like a book.”

He pointed to the dark bubbly glass of liquid next to him. I had thought he was drinking a dark stout like he usually did, but I smelled it to find it really was just root-beer.

“I should have thought of this years ago,” he admitted. “Dinner's on me, girls.”

He grinned, picked up his drink, and went back to hanging with his buddies.

I knew he would be exhausted later. I could already see the dark circles under his eyes and he leaned heavy against the bar. This would drain his energy, but it made him so happy I didn't have the heart to tell him to stop. These were the memories I wanted to have of him.

Many of the poker club members gave me dirty looks. Despite the restaurant being crowded, my mother and I had plenty of room around our table. However, my water was knocked over three times and somehow my lemonade never made it out.

I tried to ignore them. My father was happy and my mother didn't hate me. I didn't really care what the rest of the town thought. They could keep on giving me dirty looks and bumping the waitress with my drink so it would spill.

“Just go home,” one man said, walking past me. “You're not wanted here.”

My mother gave him a death glare, but he was already gone.

“Have people really been treating you like this?” Mom asked, looking around.

“Yeah.” I played with my food for a moment. “I'm actually thinking of applying at the hospital for a job. It's a commute, but people don't want me in town anymore.”

My mother frowned, but she didn't disagree with me.

“Bob? Bob, are you okay?” I heard my dad ask over the sound of the TV and conversations. There was something about his voice that made my internal alarms go off.

I looked over to see my dad standing next to Dr. Bob Taggert at the bar. Dr. Taggert was slumped over his drink and my dad was shaking his shoulder. Something about it made my skin crawl. My dad shook his friend's shoulder and Dr. Taggert groaned.

Something was definitely wrong.

“Hannah!” my dad shouted, followed by a heavy cough.

At this point, the fellow restaurant patrons went quiet. It might have been my name or the terror in my dad's voice, but suddenly all eyes were on me and my dad.

I hurried over to the bar. Dr. Taggert's skin was clammy and white. His eyes were glazed over and he had his right arm clutched to his chest.

“Dr. Taggert? Are you okay?” I asked, putting my hand on his left wrist.

He didn't answer me with more than a shake of his head. His pulse under my fingertips was thready and erratic.

The first thought through my head: Oh shit.

Then, my training took over.

“Dad, I need you to call 911. Mr. Abrams, I need you to call Dr. Matthews and tell him that Dr. Taggert is having a heart attack at the diner. He'll get here before the ambulance will.” I looked up long enough to make sure my dad nodded at me. I pointed to one of the younger men. “Help me get him on the floor. If he falls, he'll hurt himself. Everyone else, we need some space and a clear path to the door. Mr. Canes, please make sure that happens.”

I made sure to look at them and make sure everyone had a set job so that things would actually get done. I'd done several full Code Blues at the hospital and even there it was important to assign roles so nothing got forgotten and no one thought someone else would do it.

The room went silent as two men helped me get Dr. Taggert on the floor. I kept checking his pulse and making sure that he was breathing. His breaths were shallow, but there. His pulse wasn't much better.

I really didn't want to do CPR today. This was not how I had envisioned my evening going.

“Aspirin. I need an aspirin. Who has one?” I asked, looking around the room.

“I got one,” a voice said from the back. The owner of the grocery store came forward and handed me a bottle of pills.

“Thanks,” I told him, wrenching the bottle open and grabbing one of the tablets. I put it in Dr. Taggert's mouth and he thankfully started to chew it. He gave me a small nod as he swallowed down the medication. I was glad he was still conscious enough to help out.

“911 wants to talk to you,” my dad announced. He looked pale and like he might pass out at any moment, which I certainly didn't need.

“Okay. Give me the phone and go sit with mom,” I told him. I set his phone on speaker and put it on the floor beside me. “This is Hannah O’Leary. I'm a nurse here. I've given him one tablet of adult aspirin, which he has chewed and swallowed. Dr. Matthews is on his way.”

I was in full nurse mode now. It was science, medicine, and muscle memory. There was no fear, or nerves. I knew there would be if I stopped, so I didn't. I just kept doing assessment after assessment and reporting everything to the 911 operator.

I've done CPR twice in my life. I didn't want this to be the third. CPR is hard and doing it on someone you know is brutal.

“I'm here,” Dr. Matthews announced, running through the doors. He had his big black medical bag as well as an AED with him. If I hadn't been in work mode, I would have kissed him.

I rattled off Dr. Taggert's stats as we placed the AED and turned it on. No shock was advised, so Dr. Matthews handed me an IV kit to get started. I felt a lot better knowing there was a computer watching Dr. Taggert's heart instead of me just feeling and hoping for a pulse.

I had the IV placed when the shriek of the ambulance broke through my thoughts.

The paramedics had Dr. Taggert in the gurney and into the ambulance in two breaths. Everything blurred now that someone else was in charge. I did remember one of the paramedics telling me I did a great job on the IV, though.

Dr. Matthews went with the paramedics to the hospital. The energy and clarity of what I was doing vanished with them out the door. I stood in the center of the entrance to the diner, panting as the ambulance roared off with a shriek and a flurry of lights. I still had my gloves on from starting the IV.

The room was silent for a moment.

“Good job, Hannah,” my mother said, coming and giving me a hug. She took my arm and led me back to the table where my father sat.

I collapsed into a seat, suddenly very tired. Someone put a beer in front of me, but I pushed it away. Instead I stole a sip of my dad's root-beer, grateful for the sugar.

“He said he just had indigestion,” my dad said, sipping at his root-beer. He took another deep sip, trying to wrap his head around what just happened. “I'm glad you were able to help, Hannah.”

I smiled at my dad. “Me, too, Dad.”

“Good job, Hannah,” a man said walking past my table. Then another. Someone patted my shoulder and thanked me. Another walked past and said I did good.

“It was a good thing you were here,” my mother said after a moment, loud enough for those standing close to hear. “Imagine if she had just gone home tonight. Or left early. Or worked somewhere else.”

Some of those standing close managed to look bashful.

Now that everything was over, I just wanted to curl up in bed and sleep for the next eighteen hours.

“You should get Dad home,” I told mom. He was pale now and shaky. The excitement of his poker win had worn off and now he looked pale and tired. He'd already overdone things for the day, and witnessing a heart attack had put him over into exhausted.

“Can you get home okay?” Mom asked.

“If you can drop me off at the clinic, I'll be fine,” I told her. I didn't plan on driving just yet. My hands were still shaking. I was just going to sit in my car and freak out for a minute.

We stood up and made our way to the door. The other patrons called out their good nights to my parents, and a few of them even to me.

Outside the night air was humid but relaxing. It was warm, but not hot out. The stars twinkled over head and the cicadas hummed in the trees. I took a deep breath in of the sweet air and sighed.

We piled into the car and took the short drive back to the clinic. We left Dad's truck and Dr. Mathew's motorcycle in the parking lot. I hoped things were going well.

Mom pulled into the parking lot of the clinic just as Dr. Matthews texted me an update. Dr. Taggert was stable. He was in the Cardiac ICU and scheduled for a round of tests in the morning. They suspected he'd be having surgery sometime tomorrow.

I let out a long sigh of relief and let my parents know. My dad's shoulders relaxed with the news and he smiled.

“You did good tonight, Kiddo,” he told me. “I'm proud of you.”

“Me too,” my mom chimed in.

I nearly burst into tears.

Instead I just thanked them, gave them each hugs, reminded my dad to take his medicine and get some rest, and then sat in my car.

As soon as I was alone, I cried and laughed and then fell asleep in the parking lot.