“Yes,” I answered. “But make it two, please.”
“Two?” she asked, batting her eyelashes. “You must be really hungry.”
I laughed but didn’t give her any more details. I paid and then stood to the side as I waited for my order.
I thought about Brenna and what she was going to be facing, and I knew what I had to do. I couldn’t heal her foot any faster, but I could help her in other ways. She hadn’t thought about it yet, but I knew she had an appointment for an inspection on her place in five weeks. She couldn’t afford to lose two weeks of working on the property. She had a lot to get done before the grand re-opening of the B&B.
I picked up my phone to call Greg. He answered after the first ring, just as I knew he would. We normally don’t call each other on the weekends, so I knew he figured this was an emergency.
“What’s going on?” he asked, his voice full of concern.
I briefly explained what had happened and then got to the reason I called.
“I’m going to be out of the office for the next two weeks,” I said. “I will check in regularly, and you’ll be able to get a hold of me by phone and email, but my priority is going to be helping my friend.”
“Thank you for letting me know,” Greg said. “What can I do to help?”
I let out a sigh of relief. We both knew that I wasn’t asking him for permission to be out of the office, since I could do what I wanted. However, knowing that he was supporting me made everything that much easier.
“Maybe if you could just let the rest of the staff know, and make it clear that I am only to be contacted in case of emergency? That would really help.”
“You got it,” he said. “And is there anything I can do to help your friend? That sounds awful!”
“Nothing comes to mind right now,” I said. “But I will let you know if anything comes up.”
“Okay, please do. Good luck, and I hope everything turns out all right.”
I thanked him and hung up the phone, feeling a surge of gratitude.
The food was ready, and I grabbed the bags and got back into the truck. As I drove back to Brenna’s house, I tried to imagine the conversation she had been having with her parents. Although it was going to be very inconvenient for her to have a sprained ankle, I knew she was fully aware that it could have been so much worse. I didn’t let myself think too much about what could have gone wrong; I was just very thankful that I had been there and able to help her as quickly as I did.
When I arrived, I quietly knocked on the door and then let myself in. I walked into the living room and saw she was still on the phone. She waved at me and then finished the conversation with her mom.
“All right, Mom. Josh is back with the food now, so I’m going to go.”
She waited as her mom was talking, and then a smile spread across her face.
“Of course I’m going to dip the fries into the shake. That’s the only way to eat them!”
I chuckled as I began setting the food out on the coffee table.
“Okay, I love you too. And I will see you tomorrow afternoon. Thank you, Mom. Give Dad a hug for me.”
She got off the phone, and I could see that she was a lot less anxious than she had been.
“Your mom is coming out?” I said.
“Yes!” she said, smiling.
“I knew she would.”
“I did too,” she said. “She wanted to come out tonight, but the soonest flight she could get has her landing at LAX tomorrow at two.”
“I can pick her up from the airport if you would like,” I said. “If I could use your truck. I don’t really have room for luggage in my car.”
“You don’t have to do that!” Brenna said. “She is just planning on taking an Uber.”
“I know I don’t have to,” I said. “But I would like to. An Uber ride from LAX can be very expensive. I really don’t mind.”
