Chapter 11

While she waited, Nina had one end of the kitchen table covered with a vast array of papers and receipts. In the midst of all of it sat her laptop with a number of open windows, one of which being her employer's constantly changing schedule. Next to her sat Elaine Hancock – the business manager and co-owner of the Waiehu Inn where they were staying – with her reservations book open on the table. As usual, their extended stay, while welcome, was interfering with the Inn's previous bookings.

Up to this point, Rachel had directed Nina to simply pay the weekly rate for the entire house and then subsidize the movement of previously booked guests to upgraded accommodations elsewhere. Now that the girls and the Marzanos were gone, not to mention the paparazzi, Nina had another idea.

"How about this, Elaine," she said as she leaned over and pointed to a few entries in the reservation book. "With half our group now gone, we can just limit ourselves to the five rooms upstairs – freeing up the three rooms on the ground floor for your other guests."

"Really?" the woman exclaimed. "That would be great! That means we'll only have to relocate three families instead of six."

"I've found space for the Russells and Bergens over at the Sheraton," Nina explained, leaning back and expanding the appropriate window on her laptop display. "As for the Doerings ... they're the bridal couple, right?"

Elaine nodded her head.

"How about the Royal Pacific Suite over at the Ritz-Carlton?" Nina asked as she clicked on a sample picture of accommodations.

The B & B owner let out a low whistle at the opulence. She then looked over at Nina with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "You sure they can't just stay in our quarters while you book me and Michael over there?" she asked with a chuckle. After a moment, she reached over and patted Nina on the arm. "I'm just kidding. That is gorgeous, though. They'll love it!"

Suddenly, Nina's cell phone chirped. Quickly picking it up off the table, she glanced at who sent the text.

"Anything new on Terrance?" Elaine asked.

With her brow furrowed, Nina didn't respond right away. After a few moments, however, she shook her head. "No, it's actually from Chloe." Tapping the screen several times, she soon had it calling the absent model. "She says she's coming back," she told the other woman, as she set the device on the table with the speakerphone on.

"Hey, Nina," the girl answered, her voice sounding a bit flat. "Is there anything new about Terrance?"

"No," Rachel's assistant replied, looking up at the clock. "He's been in surgery a little over two hours now but there's been no news from the hospital yet." She paused a moment before asking the next question. "So, what's going on, Chloe? Everything okay there in Tokyo?"

There was an audible sigh from the phone. "Yes and no," she replied with a bit of a sniffle. "The two shows yesterday went fine it's just ... I don't want to do this right now."

"Are you okay, Chloe? Did someone try to... ?"

"Nothing more than usual. Oh, there were a couple rich posers at the after-party tonight thinking I'd drop my knickers in gratitude for gracing me with their presence, but you know how that goes." Chloe let out another sigh. "No, I think hanging out with everyone there on Maui – especially Hailey and Terrance – reminded me of what I'm missing. And then when you texted me about his surgery..."

Nina could hear the emotion in her voice as she let that last sentence trail off. "Have you talked to your sister and Hannah?" she asked.

"I have. They're going to stick it out for the week here and probably head on to Sydney. Hannah's understandably keen on seeing her family and I don't blame her," Chloe replied. "But if everything goes pear-shaped for Terrance, then all bets are off. How's Hailey doing, by the way?"

"She's still in bed," Nina answered. "We thought it best to let her sleep in, since today looks to be a long one. So I'm back here waiting for her to wake up."

"The poor tyke, she's really been put through the wringer lately, hasn't she?" Chloe observed, the sympathy clearly evident in her voice. "And dare I ask about Rachel?"

"Not sure," Nina responded. "She took off from here like a bat out of hell right after the call from the hospital and she's not answering her phone. Right now, Marge is the one giving me the updates – not that she's had much to tell me so far."

"I'm coming back," Chloe declared, the sound of keys on a keyboard clicking in the background. "Looks like I should get in there around eight p.m. your time."

"Vivian's going to pitch a fit over this," Nina remarked, referring to her and Rachel's rather mercurial agent. "You know that, right?"

"Like I care what that silly bitch thinks!" Chloe retorted with more than a little heat.

The Bed & Breakfast owner, who'd been sitting quietly the whole time, began to giggle.

"Who's that?" Chloe asked. "Is someone else there with you?"

"Oh, that's Elaine. I've got you on speakerphone."

"Hi, Elaine, do you happen to have any spare rooms available?"

The older woman chuckled. "It just so happens that we do. The Lokelani Room is still in need of an occupant. Care to make a reservation?"

"Yes, please!" Chloe replied with a giggle.

Suddenly Nina noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. Glancing over, she saw a still sleepy Hailey standing in the doorway to the kitchen, rubbing her eyes.

Snatching up the phone, she quickly took it off speaker and lifted it to her ear. "Listen, Chloe, I've got to go. Hailey's up," she explained quietly. "Okay ... text me with the info when you get it lined up ... All right ... Yeah, you too. Bye." Nina tapped the screen to end the call and then looked over at the young girl, who looked so cute in her pink pajamas.

"Where is everyone?" the child asked, followed by a big yawn.

"At the hospital." Nina looked over at Elaine, who was pulling out that morning's breakfast casserole, along with the fruit salad and sweet bread. "Would you like some breakfast? Your Opa Henry made it this morning."

Hailey nodded her head and noisily pulled the wooden chair out so she could sit down. She waited patiently for Elaine who, in short order, had a plate and a glass of juice all ready for her. While she ate, Nina tried to break the news to her about her father as gently as she could. The girl took it remarkably well, she thought, and said so later as she helped Hailey get ready to go to the hospital.

The child just shrugged as Nina brushed out her hair. "Daddy told me that if he had to have surgery, it would only make him better – even if they had to ambu ... ampule..."

"Amputate?"

"Yeah, that," the young girl replied with a solemn nod. "He said he'd miss having a foot but that he'd be okay. He'd just be a bit slower and I'd have to let him catch me once in a while."

Nina snickered at that last comment. "That sounds like your dad." Looking at Hailey's reflection in the mirror, she could see the child smile as well, before her countenance grew serious again.

"Do you think he's going to be okay?" the young girl asked, a strong tremor of concern evident in her voice.

"I do," Nina responded with a nod, as she drew Hailey's thick dark hair back into a simple ponytail. "Your daddy's a strong, healthy man and he's got a lot of really good doctors and nurses taking care of him."

The girl's eyes caught hers in the mirror but she didn't say anything. After a bit, Hailey looked down at her hands.

"What's the matter?"

"Daddy asked me to help Rachel," she replied quietly. "He said she's a worrywart and needed someone to distract her but she left me here. Is she okay?"

Nina couldn't help but smile at Terrance's cleverness in dealing with his daughter. "Your daddy sure has her pegged," she mused aloud as ran the brush one last time through the ponytail. "As for how she's doing, I don't know. She's not answering her phone and your grandparents don't know where she is."

"What do you mean?"

"Your Oma Steiger said Rachel wasn't in the waiting room when they got there. They've looked around for her but couldn't find her."

"Did they look in the courtyard by that painted maze thing?" the child asked, turning to look at Nina. "She sometimes likes to sit there on one of the benches under the palm trees."

Nina nodded. "They already looked there but no Rachel. Any other ideas?"

Hailey got a studious expression on her face. Suddenly her eyes widened and she reached for the cell phone her father got her that was sitting on the dresser. In mere seconds, she was tapping out a text message.

"We've already tried that," Nina explained but the girl's thumbs kept moving.

"I'm just telling her I'm wondering where she is," Hailey replied, finishing up and hitting the send button. "She'll respond," she added confidently.

Moments later, her phone chimed, alerting her to the presence of a new text message. Looking down at it, she quickly tilted the screen so Nina could see.

Rachel's assistant chuckled. "What a clever girl you are!" she remarked, pulling out her own phone to pass along the new information to Marge.

Rachel was sitting with her head in her hands, when she sensed movement next to her. The slight groan of the neighboring chair and the audible scrape of its feet against the floor confirmed it. She didn't need to turn and look to know who it was. The hint of lilacs told her it was Hailey's other grandmother, Janis. The woman didn't say anything, though.

"I couldn't stay in there," Rachel finally whispered to break the silence. Even so, it sounded loud in the small room.

She let out a big sigh and then leaned back in her chair.

"People recognized me. All I wanted was to sit and wait quietly but they wouldn't let me. Terrance had just been taken into surgery and they want to talk about fashion or famous people I know. He's probably going to lose his leg and they wanted to take selfies with me on their smart phones."

Shaking her head in dismay at the memory, she snuck a glance at her neighbor. Janis was sitting there listening but her eyes were taking in the room, rather than looking at her.

Rachel had taken refuge in the hospital's chapel. Though it was rather wasted on her, given her current state of mind, she had to admit the small, oddly-shaped space had an attractive décor. Its walls were covered in one continuous landscape mural with blue skies set above what she assumed were the green hills and mountains of Maui. Also painted on the walls were stone columns with what looked to be religious symbols on each of the blocks. She recognized the cross and the Star of David, but most of the others were a mystery to her.

She supposed it was all intended to evoke feelings of peace and serenity but those emotions were far from her at the moment. Looking down at her hands, Rachel thought of the storm that was churning inside her.

"I feel like I'm going crazy," she admitted softly. "My heart's racing, my mind's going a mile a minute and my stomach's doing somersaults. All I can think about are 'What ifs' and worst case scenarios. It seems the more I try to be calm, the worse it all gets."

Janis nodded but said nothing.

Rachel gestured to her cell on the seat to her left. "It rings but I let it go. I know it's bad of me but I don't want to talk to people right now. What am I going to say? If they're asking about Rance, I don't know anything new." Just the thought of him brought tears to her eyes and her voice began to quiver. "If they're asking about me, I'll probably just start crying."

Frustrated at the loss of control, she shook her head in disgust and angrily wiped the moisture from her cheeks with the back of her hand.

"I hate hospitals."

Janis' words caught her by surprise. Rachel's head turned swiftly to look at her, but the other woman's gaze was still focused on some distant point in front of them.

"I hate hospitals," she repeated. "Over the years, I've watched eight of my family and close friends die in hospitals. Six months ago it was my daughter. A year before that, my sister."

The ensuing silence was deafening.

"I hate the smells, the chatter, the security doors, the stupid visiting hours, the doctors' awful bedside manner, snotty nurses, all of it. I hate hospitals. I just want to scream at the chaplains who mean well but are so bland and full of clichés. I want to throw things at the doctors and punch a nurse or two. But all I do, instead, is put on a shitty 'everything will be fine' smile and pretend that it will be when I know it won't."

"I'm so sorry..." Rachel began but was soon cut off.

"I'm not saying this so you can feel bad for me," the other woman said with a nonchalant shrug. "It is what it is and I neither want nor need your pity."

Not knowing how to respond to that, Rachel opted to say nothing. She watched as Janis turned to face her. The woman's eyes were soft and her expression gentle.

"But it changes how you look at what's going on today, now, doesn't it?"

The question challenged her but as she thought about it, she had to admit it was true. Terrance's surgery was very serious but not essentially life-threatening. Despite all her anxious thoughts and fears, Rachel had to concede his chance of dying was low. So, regardless of the surgery's outcome – whether he kept his lower left leg or lost it – she'd still have him.

It was by no means a cheery thought, though, because behind it all was the enormity of Janis' losses – the last of which, her daughter Melissa, was also Hailey's and Terrance's loss, as well. The knowledge that someone else has had it worse than you never brings comfort but it can give perspective. And it was that new perspective that had Rachel feeling more than a little foolish.

"I am so pathetic," she groaned.

"No, you're not," her companion retorted. "It's only natural for you to worry about Terrance. He's a good man and you love him. There's nothing silly or foolish about that."

Rachel shot her a concerned look but she waved it off.

"Now, I'm not saying I'm all that happy about that. To me it's far too soon, though I suspect that five years from now it will still be too soon. But Hailey's fine with it and Terrance would be an idiot not to be. The real question is are you fine with it?"

"What do you mean?"

"After today, Terrance's left leg will either still be a mess or gone. Can you live with that?"

"I don't understand."

"Can supermodel Rachel Vargas – the magazine cover favorite of the grocery aisle and every red-blooded male's fantasy – love a crippled math teacher from Nowheresville, Illinois? You're a media darling now, looking as sympathetic as can be, but what about in six months or a year? Can you afford to be seen with him then? Can you put your life on hold to support him as he heals or will you just pop in now and then when it's convenient?"