Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Zach

Once I get Elaine settled into the back of the Trailblazer, I tell Ellie, "Keep a close eye on her so she doesn't fall over."

"Or vomit all over the back of your truck," she says, suggesting another viable possibility.

"The car is rented, so hurling isn't my concern," I tell her. "I just don't want your mom to hit her head against the window or anything."

Except for Ellie giving me directions to the hospital, we make the short drive in silence. Pulling into the Emergency entrance, I put the car into park before getting out.

"Do you want a wheelchair, Mom?" Ellie asks her.

I interrupt before Elaine can answer. "I'll carry her."

"You can't leave your SUV blocking the entrance."

"I'll take your mom. You move the car." I have Elaine in my arms before she can argue.

Luckily, there isn't much of a line, so I go right to the window and announce, "We need a doctor."

"What happened?" the woman behind the thick glass wants to know .

"She fainted and hit her head. Her daughter says she was unconscious for over an hour." Those are the magic words to get everyone moving in overdrive.

A nurse comes out with a wheelchair and takes Elaine into a triage room while the lady at the desk tells me, "I need to get some information along with an insurance card."

"Her daughter is parking the car, but I'm sure she has everything you need." I remember Ellie saying she didn't have the money to pay for an ambulance, so I add, "If there's no insurance, I'll take care of the bill before we go."

I don't hear Ellie come in, so I jump a little when I hear her say, "My mom has disability insurance." She doesn't make eye contact with me, so I know she's embarrassed by my offer.

I often felt the same way when I was a kid. Too many times I had to decline a party invitation because there was no money for a gift. I didn't go to formal dances in high school because none of us boys had proper suits. Most of the money we made doing odd jobs went to things like school lunches and sports. We even occasionally helped pay an electric bill.

As such, I know Ellie's embarrassment all too well. I would do anything to let her know she never has to feel that way around me.

I wait while Ellie gives the receptionist all the information needed and then I follow her into the triage room. The nurse announces, "Elaine's blood pressure is low, and she's still a little dizzy. We're going to take her straight for a CT scan from here." Looking up from her patient, she tells Ellie and me, "You can sit in the waiting room. Someone will be right out to take you back to her assigned bed."

Ellie leans down and gives her mom a kiss on the cheek before saying, "You've got this, Mom."

"Thanks to you." Then she smiles at me and adds, "And to your friend."

Ellie feels the need to clarify. "He's not my friend , he's our tenant." Ouch .

I tell Elaine, "I'll be your friend, Elaine, even if your daughter won't claim me."

She smiles through a grimace of pain. "I'll take it. Now get going so we can find out how much damage I've done to myself."

I follow Ellie as she walks toward the waiting room. She mumbles, "We may not have much, but we have insurance." Oh yeah, she's ticked off at my offer to pay.

Once we're seated, I ask her, "Do you know anything about Troy's childhood?"

With eyes straight ahead, she answers, "I know he had a great one with a loving family and a load of brothers."

"He did," I concur. "But we were also dirt poor."

She whips her head in my direction with a look of shock etched across her face. "Really?"

I nod. "Really. My parents didn't have college educations and jobs in our town kind of came and went. My dad worked in a series of factories, and my mom took in other people's mending so she could stay home with us boys." Ellie doesn't respond right away, so I ask, "Does that surprise you?"

"Very much. I mean, you guys have everything now. How did you manage that coming from such a start?"

"My folks made our education their biggest priority. They stayed on top of us to get our homework done and they made sure we had a sport we were good at. They tried to negate all obstacles that might have kept us from getting a higher education."

Ellie shakes her head. "You'd think that would be something people would know about you."

"It's not something we hide," I tell her.

After a moment of silence, she confesses, "Things have been tight since my dad died five years ago. He didn't have life insurance and then Covid hit, and nobody came to rent Mom's cottage anymore. That's when her arthritis became debilitating. It was just a lot of tough things hitting at once."

"It's hard to get ahead once the slide starts," I tell her. "I'm sorry you're going through this, but your mom is really lucky to have you."

"I'm lucky to have her," she says. "I know success isn't about how much money you have, but I really wish I had more of it so I could make Mom's life easier."

I reach over and take her hand in mine before giving it a small squeeze. "I get that."

And just like that, Ellie's body relaxes, and she leans toward me. "I have some really great friends," she says. "But everyone has their own lives and I never want them to feel sorry for me. I feel alone a lot of the time."

"Life's burdens can weigh you down," I sympathize. "But the good news is that things always have a way of turning around."

I'm more than a little surprised when she announces, "I'm starting to believe that. Just today, I was offered twenty thousand dollars for a month's work."

"Excuse me?" Who made an offer like that and what kind of seedy thing do they expect from Ellie in exchange for that kind of money?

"Yolanda wants me to help drag your name through the mud. At least, I think that's what she's planning." I'm silent for so long, Ellie straightens up and looks at me. "I told her no."

"Why?"

"Are you kidding? Zach, I'm not the kind of person who would take money to help someone hurt you. It may not seem that I like you very much, but it's clear after today you're a decent enough guy."

"Because I brought your mom to the emergency room?" I'm secretly hoping she decided I was a good guy before that.

Nodding her head, she says, "Among other things."

"I have a proposition," I tell her. "I think you should take Yolanda's money and let her think you're on her side."

She looks startled. "But I'd really be a secret agent for you?"

"Yes," I tell her. "And I'll match her twenty thou." Realizing this might be my only chance to help Ellie, I decide, "In fact, I'll double it. "

"You want me to take her money and yours?" I see a little wheel turning in her head as she tries to compute what she could do with that kind of money.

"You'd be doing me a great favor," I tell her. "I was thinking earlier about asking you to pretend to be Yolanda's friend to get information, but I didn't think you'd go for it."

"Sixty thousand dollars is more than I make in a year." She's so adorably flustered it's all I can do not to wrap my arms around her.

"Does that mean you'll do it?"

"I don't know … I mean … it's just that …" Her poor brain is under assault by all the possibilities. "I'll do it," she finally concedes.

"Good," I tell her. "I'll pay you up front so you can start helping your mom with things she might need. I suggest you get Yolanda to do the same."

"She'd be stupid to give me that kind of money up front. So would you," Ellie reluctantly says.

"Yolanda is desperate," I tell her. "And for some reason she really wants to take me down. I think she'll hand over the money without a second thought."

"Why would you trust me?"

"You're a good person," I tell her. "And I have great instincts about people. Also, my brother thinks the world of you, so I know you're a safe bet."

As much as I came to Maple Falls with the sole goal of repairing my reputation, I'm starting to realize there might be another gift to being here. And I'm looking right at her.