Free The Truth About Air & Water (Truth in Lies #2) by Katherine Owen

few seconds and exudes reassurance for me with his very presence. “He’s asking for you, Tally.”
    I unconsciously gasp air realizing I’ve been holding it again since we raced through the hospital parking lot all the way to here.
    “Daddy? Is he okay? I saw it on TV as well as the replay over and over.” I swallow hard. “He was unconscious for a long time.”
    My dad pauses for a few seconds, choosing his words carefully, always at the ready as the doctor— the famed cardiologist —that he is. I can practically see him put on his bedside manner, like a winter coat, when he finally answers. “Babe, he’s in the best place he can be. They’re going to do a CAT Scan to see how he’s doing. He may have a facial fracture to the right side of his face. They’ll want to rule out other stuff with the scan.”
    “Other stuff?”
    He doesn’t answer for a long ten seconds and won’t quite meet my eyes when he does. “He got hit pretty hard, Tally.” My dad sighs ever so slightly. “Go talk to him. He’s asking for you. I’ll be right there.” He turns to Marla. “Let me show you where the waiting room is. His pitching coach is there too. I’m sure the rest of the team will be along as soon as the game finishes.”
    “They’re still playing ?” I call out to my dad incredulous that they continued the game.
    The two of them have started to walk away from me, but my dad turns back. “Yeah.” His one word answer conveys his own frustration at this insanity.
    God forbid the Giants would stop a game for their star pitcher’s injury. I just nod at Marla and my dad, too helpless to form words and then slowly follow one of the nurses my doctor dad has assigned to take charge of me.

    Ten minutes later, I’ve put on some blue paper gown and these ridiculous billowy covers for my shoes in the same nauseating shade of blue, and now I’m following ‘Linda’ the nurse into the trauma room, where no less than five people are working on Linc. I look around for a familiar face, but there are none. I can barely see Linc’s with so many people surrounding him.
    No Davis Presley. For some reason, this makes me uneasy that Linc’s dad isn’t here yet, and that feeling gets stronger when I finally get a look at Linc’s face. The left side is perfectly normal but the right side of his face is this dark, flaming red streaked with dried blood with the outer edges into his dark hairline turning a raging purple in color. His right eye is already swollen shut, while his open left one zeros in on me.
    “Tally,” he whispers, reaching for me. “This my fiancée,” he says to the doctors and nurses crowding around. “Everyone, just back off, please , and give me a minute with her. We’re getting married tomorrow.”
    Incongruent. So incongruent with what I am seeing before me right now that I actually laugh and shake my head at him.
    “Hi,” I say shyly and with a bit of wonder at the medical team. “I’m Tally Landon. Hi.” I smile at the sympathetic look of the doctors and nurses and catch their fleeting smiles. I turn to Linc again. “I thought we were going to keep that to ourselves?”
    “No secrets anymore. Only the truth about us. In sickness and in health, remember? Soon enough anyway.” He tries to smile but I think it hurts him to move his face too much. “I love you, Tally Landon. Come here.”
    I forgo thinking about what he looks like, which is rather frightening on a level I can’t even begin to comprehend yet, and rush straight into his open, waiting arms. We cling to each other for a few minutes not saying anything more, while I feel the presence of all the others in the room warily watching us.
    I pull back and take a good look at him. Describing him as having been in a prized fist fight that he clearly didn’t win doesn’t begin to cover it. I reach for his left hand, where his wedding ring will soon be. My mind flashes that it’s at home in my lingerie drawer. I bring his fingers to my