ENTANGLED: A McCarthy Love Story

CHAPTER 022

As usual the hospital was a depressing place that Sammy didn't want to be in, it didn't help that the first sight that assaulted her was a man carrying his infant boy crying that his child was dying. It was really sad to watch.
The hospital was were horrible things happened and Sammy didn't think she'd be back in one so soon.
They found Vicky, she was speaking to a nurse when they saw her, aggressively. Her hand gestures were scaring Sammy from feet away so she wondered what the cowering nurse was feeling.
"There she is" she pointed and told Nick.
She didn't understand why he had insisted on coming in with her, she would have simply been content thanking him for the ride and coming in alone to be with her friend. Now she was going to have to explain his presence here while Vicky was still worrying over her mom.
"Vicky!" she called and then waved when Vicky turned to look at her. She watched as the nurse used the distraction to sneak away.
"Could you wait here a minute?" she asked Nick, he nodded and then she began to walk to Vicky.
She embraced her friend, to offer comfort but she was met with a distracted hug in return. Vicky gently pushed her away,
"Is that him?" Vicky asked, she nodded. She could already see the daggers coming from Vicky's gaze.
"What is he doing here?" she asked, she still wouldn't take her eyes off him.
Sammy scratched her head,
"He was at the diner when you called. How's your mom?" she tried to change the subject
"They wouldn't tell me anything, the dumb nurse over here doesn't know anything" Vicky said and for the first time noticing that the poor girl she had been emotionally terrorizing was gone.
She shook her head,
"why was he at the diner?" she asked
"Could you please stop staring at him, he'll know we're talking about him" Sammy told her
"I don't care if he knows, why was he at the diner?" she asked again
"I don't know, he wanted to talk I guess"
"You guess? Fine, I'll talk to him then" she said and then started to walk,
"Vicky" Sammy called bodily blocking her,
"What? You said he wanted to talk, right?"
"I'm begging you"
Vicky frowned and then huffed loudly, she folded her arms and then looked at her friend,
"I just want to ask him nicely to leave you alone" she said.
Sammy shook her head, the girl had no clue what asking nicely meant
"He was kind enough to bring me here in his car, please don't embarrass him or me" she whispered
"Fine" Vicky replied with a pout.
"I'm gonna go find out about my mom" she said before walking away.
Sammy returned to where Nick was standing, waiting,
"That's the best friend?" he asked and she nodded,
"She seemed angry"
"She's just worried about her mom" she told him.
He nodded,
"I guess so but I mean she kept staring at me, I thought she was about to come beat me up"
Sammy chuckled awkwardly and then shook her head,
"She just went to find out about her mom"
"Okay" he told her with a nod.
They fell into an uncomfortable silence waiting,
"Thanks for the ride but you don't have to stay" Sammy told him after a few minutes of awkwardly saying nothing to each other.
"I want to stay, I want to be here for you"
Please stop saying things like that.
He was weakening her resolve to hate him and he obviously knew that, Sammy thought.
"Okay then, let's find somewhere to sit"

THERE WAS SOMETHING about a hospital bed that just made people look frail and week, Sammy observed when they were finally allowed to enter to see Mrs. Taylor. She was asleep when Sammy and Vicky came in but she woke up almost immediately, she smiled once she saw them.
"My girls" she called and they both went to either sides of the bed to embrace her.
"Mum, a heart attack? Seriously?" Vicky leapt immediately.
"I keep saying you should take it easy, let Fred earn his salary as the manager and you take a step back, but you never listen. What is wrong with you?"
Sammy looked at her friend in disbelief, the woman still wasn't out of the woods yet and she was already getting a lecture.
"Vicky" Sammy called her friend and then shook her head when she looked.
Vicky took a deep breath,
"I was so worried about you, mom" she told her mom and then hugged her again.
"I know, my love. I'm sorry" Mrs. Taylor told her daughter. She knew her daughter had just spoken from a place of fear and nothing more and she hated that she had given her cause to worry.
"What happened?" Vicky asked
Sammy watched Mrs. Taylor take a deep breath and then struggle with whatever it was she wanted to say.
"Your father happened. He mortgaged the diner to fuel his gambling habit and now we are almost seven hundred thousand dollars in debt"
"What?!" Vicky and Sammy asked simultaneously.
"I didn't know until this morning, he's been taking out money for years. Now the bank is threatening to take the diner" Mrs. Taylor told them bitterly.
"I'm going to kill him" Vicky said immediately.
"Killing him won't pay the bank" her mom told her with a sigh, taking her hand.
"I'm so sorry Mrs. T" Sammy said.
"The diner has been in my family for almost fifty years and now I might lose it because I got married to an idiot"
"How long do we have mom?" Vicky asked
"Not long enough, two weeks"
Not long at all.
"How are we expected to come up with seven hundred thousand dollars in two weeks?" Vicky heaved
"I don't know"
This was just crazy, how could someone gamble seven hundred thousand dollars away? And Mr Taylor? Sammy wasn't as close to him as she was with his wife but he didn't seem like someone that would do this sort of thing and even if he had before Vicky never mentioned.