“I don’t care what your policy is! I’m not leaving him. He just about died in there and there’s nothing you can say that will change my mind. If you need me to sign something, I’ll sign it.” Then everything was quiet, except for a hum that wouldn’t go away, and the occasional sound of someone near me speaking. Through it all Tig never let go of my hand.
Twenty-Eight
Tig
“Tig, there’s been anaccident,” Jeff had said, but while his voice was calm, the look on his face told me something bad had happened.
“Is it Isaac?” I asked, but I already knew and as soon as he nodded, I was running.
“He’s in the dryer control room,” he yelled. When I walked in Roger was standing over him not knowing what to do. Smoke was coming off his hand and shirt and he wasn’t moving. Never in my life have I felt such complete terror as I had at that moment—I worried he was beyond help. But then he took a breath, and I dropped to my knees next to him.
The images ran through my mind on a loop as I clung to his hand in the back of the ambulance. They’d tried to tell me I couldn’t go because I wasn’t his next of kin, but they were going to have to shove me out the back if they didn’t want to allow me to stay with him. He still hadn’t opened his eyes, and the only movement was when he’d said my name. Since then, there’d been nothing, and as we pulled into the city limits of Hartsville, I hoped he’d be okay.
As soon as we came to a stop in the emergency bay the doors were pulled open and they had the stretcher he was on, out of the ambulance and were rushing into the hospital. I tried to hold his hand, but he was ripped away from me, so I hurried to the registration desk. “Excuse me, my boyfriend was just brought in,” I said not really sure what else to say.
“And you are?” the woman that sat there asked. She was probably in her fifties and as her calm manner washed over me I took a deep breath.
“I’m Tig Sawyer.”
She took out a clipboard with paper and a pen attached to it and handed it to me. “Why don’t you go have a seat and fill this out as much as you can. You might also want to call any of his family that’s in the area.”
“Thank you.” I took the clipboard and found an empty seat away from the kid with his hand wrapped up in a huge bandage and the old guy that had a bucket on the floor in front of him. Ifilled out the small amount of information I knew but was soon overwhelmed with how much I didn’t. Taking out my phone I called Ivan.
“Tig, is everything okay? I didn’t expect to get a call from you,” he said. He’d given me his phone number to keep in touch and in case they wanted to stop by Isaac’s for a visit and couldn’t get ahold of him.
“Ivan.” My mouth went dry as I searched for words that would never be right and could never take the worry and hurt away. “Isaac was hurt at work. He’s okay, but he was electrocuted, and his hand is injured. I’m trying to fill out his paperwork but there’s so much I don’t know and I just—well I don’t know what to do,” I said and took a deep breath.
“Everything is going to be okay. Tell me where you are and I’ll be there as soon as I can.” His voice was so calm, and I closed my eyes to soak it in while surrounded on every side by chaos and confusion.
“We’re at the ER in Hartsville. Mercy Hospital.”
“It’s going to take me about thirty minutes, but I’ll be there as soon as possible. Tig, thank you for being there for him.” He hung up and I hoped he was able to get here quicker, but I knew there was no way that could happen.
I walked back to the registration desk and set the clipboard down on the counter. “There’s a lot I couldn’t answer but his father is on his way, and he can give you the rest of the information.”
“That’s fine, you did your best,” she said, but I wondered if I really had. I walked back to the chair I’d been in and flopped back down. What the hell had happened? Roger said he’d dropped a wrench on a shorted-out wire, but his hand looked like he’d shoved it into a campfire. I forced myself not to think about it, but it was all that Icouldthink of. So many thoughtswent through my mind. I didn’t know his birthdate, or anything about his medical history, did he have allergies? I had no clue.
“Tig,” a familiar voice said.
“Ivan, I’m so glad you’re here.” He pulled me in for a hug I needed more than I realized before I noticed Bex was with him. “They wanted medical information, and I had no clue what most of it was.”
“That’s okay. I’ll take care of it, and what I don’t know I can get from Janet,” Ivan said before walking over to the registration desk.
“How’s he doing?” Bex asked.
“I don’t know. They took him in the back and haven’t told me anything.” Emotions threatened to choke me, and I dropped into the closest chair while shielding my eyes with my hand. “He was hurt really fucking bad,” I whispered.
Bex sat in the seat next to me and patted my back. I was so thankful they were here. “Don’t worry, Dad will find out what’s going on and we’re not going to leave you out of anything. You got him here and called us which is more than I can say for his employer, although they probably thought you’d take care of that since you rode with him.”
“Everyone was shocked, and then it was a little tense when they tried to stop me from riding in the ambulance with him,” I said.
“I knew I liked you. Thank you for looking out for Isaac,” she said before looking at her phone. “Mom said they finally called her from the dryer and explained what happened. I’m sure they were as worried as you were. Everyone knows everyone there.”
“It’s been a great place so far. I know Isaac is really happy working with Roger.”
“He’s going to be okay. He took a pretty good jolt of electricity, but they don’t think it’s done any damage other than the burns on his hand,” Ivan said when he took a seat on the other sideof me. “It could have been much worse, but it was just a freak accident.”
“Do you know what happened?” I asked.
