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

lips and kiss them one at a time. Although this group of doctors look a little disconcerted by my arrival, my presence seems to calm Linc. One of them tells me they’ll allow me to remain as long as I stay out of the way while they work on him.
    “Deal,” I say to the growing crowd of doctors and nurses.
    “Careful now,” one of them says to me as I hug Linc fiercely to me and stroke the back of his head, which appears to be the only uninjured part of him at the moment.
    “A few more minutes,” Linc cajoles one of the nurses who tries to lead me further away.
    “You forgot the signal,” I say softly to Linc.
    “I did. I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. It all went black. All I remember is the ambulance ride, waking up and knowing all I wanted to do was get to you, to see you again.” He tries to smile, but it doesn’t quite work this time. Then, he winces in obvious pain.
    I pull away and step back from him a few feet as the doctors start to move in on us. “I love you.” He doesn’t say anything in response and I stare at him hard trying to make sense as to what is going on with him. His breath goes shallow and he looks a little dazed now. “Yeah, well, you scared half the nation,” I say slowly. “At least, all the San Francisco Giants’ fans.”
    He frowns at first at what I’ve just said and appears to try and laugh but it comes out more this guttural groan. The doctors seem to be watching him as closely as I am now. I step forward and kiss him lightly, embarrassed by the unintended scrutiny by everyone here, but determined to show him that I’m here, and I love him.
    “Are you his wife?” One of the nearby nurses asks. She gives me a sympathetic but hopeful look.
    I glance over at her with a faint smile. “No. I’m his fiancée. We’re getting married tomorrow. It’s supposed to be a secret for a while, but I guess that cover is blown.” My smile is erased by the sympathetic look that comes over her face. Tomorrow’s planned courthouse nuptials fade just as fast. I draw an unsteady breath when she immediately turns to Linc and quickly points to the places he should sign his name.
    After about thirty seconds, Linc has signed all the forms and I watch as the nurse races out the ER doors with them. Then, I keep my eyes on Linc, smile wide, and effectively ignore the tragic parts to this scene.
    “You look like hell, big guy. Good thing we’re getting married tomorrow, and that I love you so much because that baseball left a mark or two on your otherwise totally handsome face.” I gently kiss him but then he’s pulling back and looking at me funny. “Linc? Are you okay? Linc?” I ask again when he doesn’t answer.
    His good eye kind of glazes over. He’s stares at me and doesn’t say anything else.
    Then I notice his lips are turning blue just as panic begins to grip me. I trace his lips checking his air. “He’s…barely breathing. There’s something wrong. There’s something wrong!” I scream to anyone who will listen and frantically look around as the circle of doctors closes back in on us.
    About that time, I hear one of the machines go off, and I’m unceremoniously pushed out of the way as more alarms begin to go off.
    The nurse who spoke to me earlier about being his fiancée returns. She grabs my arm and half-pushes me out the swinging doors of the emergency room. “You should wait out here, Ms. Landon. Right now, they are doing everything they can to help your fiance.” She points towards the waiting room that I remember Marla being directed to earlier.
    In a daze, I walk slowly, forcing myself to put one foot in front of the other, and make my way down the long hall toward Marla and my dad and some kind of reassurance. Someone grabs my arm at the halfway mark along this trek. Mom.
    “Tally? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” She asks after taking one look at my face.
    “Something is wrong with Linc.”
    I glance back. Now, there are at least another half dozen