Free Being Emma by Jeanne Harrell Page B

big archery competition. Vegas, right? Sounds
like hard work and fun all wrapped up together.”
    “Yeah… Getting ready… How’s Kathy?” Scott
thought that was a strange answer and wondered.
    “She’s great. We just got engaged and are
planning a spring wedding. I’ll make sure you and Craig get an
invite.” She smiled weakly at him.
    “Thanks. Well… must get back. Duty calls.
Bye.”
    “See ya, Janie.” He knit his brows at her
comments. Then he shrugged it off and went into one of attending
rooms to see a patient.
    Instead of leaving the hospital, Janie
checked to see which room the woman was in. She walked purposefully
down the hallway, nodding to some nurses and doctors en route. They
knew her well, as a deputy sheriff and local member of the town.
She found the room she was looking for, knocked on the doorframe
and entered. The woman she had brought in was conscious and smiled
at her. She was partially sitting up and drinking some water.
    “Hi…”
    “Hi there. How are you feeling?” Janie smiled
at her. She stood at the end of the bed.
    “I’m good… Thanks to you, right?” Janie
nodded. “Please, have a seat.”
    Janie sat in a chair by her hospital bed. She
held out her hand.
    “I’m Deputy Johnson, Naples Sheriff’s
Department.” The woman took it.
    “Sharon Anderson. I work in the restaurant at
the Hot Springs Resort.”
    “Nice to meet you.”
    “You too. Sorry about the circumstances.”
    “No problem. Just glad to see you’re still
with us.” Sharon frowned and looked at her hands in her lap. She
sat that way for a few minutes.
    “… Would you prefer that I go?”
    “No… it’s just that I’m so embarrassed. You
being a woman and all…”
    She looked upset and teary. Janie handed her
a tissue.
    “Don’t be. We all have down days… Yours
apparently got away from you.”
    “I’ll say… Could I tell you something?” She
wiped her tears and composed herself. Janie looked at her – They
were about the same age.
    “Sure.”
    “No, I mean… Do you have to rush back to the
station or something?”
    “I’m good. Don’t worry about it.”
    “Okay. Here’s my pathetic little story. I
moved here last year from Reno trying to get away from a man I
thought was a good friend.” She paused.
    “You were trying to get away from a good
friend?”
    “I know this sounds stupid, but we had been
friends all our lives. Our families were close and we did
everything together. We weren’t lovers, but I didn’t think that
mattered. I thought that might come in time. Somehow, in the back
corners of my mind, I thought we’d even get married someday.”
Sharon reached for another tissue and wiped fresh tears. This was
beginning to sound too close to home for Janie.
    “What happened?” She really wanted to hear
the rest of this story.
    “I guess he got tired of waiting for me. My
family and I went on a week’s vacation in Utah and when I came
back, he was dating some woman.”
    “He was seeing a new woman who just came to
town?”
    “Yes…”
    “Did you meet them out at dinner?”
    “Yes…”
    “How did you feel when you saw them
together?” Sharon let out a deep breath.
    “… God, I couldn’t breathe. It was like I had
the wind knocked out of me. I just stared at him, realized finally
that I loved him and had never told him so.”
    Janie blinked. That was Craig’s exact
reaction when he had seen her with Mike at the Naples Bar and
Restaurant.
    “Um…”
    “And then it was too late.”
    “Why was it too late? It’s never too
late…”
    “This time it was. Apparently, it was a
whirlwind romance. They were married today.”
    “Oh, how horrible for you…” Sharon
nodded.
    “I couldn’t go to the wedding and the more I
thought about it, the worse I felt. Just moving out of town didn’t
move him out of my heart, so I tried sleeping pills.” She gave a
small laugh. “But then I chickened out and called 911.”
    Janie,
the big strong deputy sheriff, had tears