Rachel bit her lip while pacing the waiting room rapidly. She was also twirling her hair around her finger, two of her worst nervous habits. Her mind was jump all over the place while she watched doctors moving around the hospital going about their business. Why weren’t one of them saying anything? They had to know something about Mr. Rast by now. She just wanted to know if he were alive.

She couldn’t even imagine how Trace was feeling.

She could practically feel the despair in his voice when he called her on his way to the hospital. It chilled her to the bone and practically made her heart stop. She was surprised that he remained as calm as he did. If it were her and it was any of her parents or grandparents in that position she’d lose her head.

But she should’ve expected it from Trace. He didn’t show is emotions unless he was drunk. He was the type of person that didn’t want to burden others with what he was feeling or what was going through his mind. It drove her nuts then and it drives her nuts now.

“Rachel, stop pacing,” Trace grumbled from his seat. He was slumped, hardly staying upright in his chair. He constantly pulled his hat off of his head to run his fingers through his hair and then put it back on. Mack was sprawled in the chair next to him flipping through the pages of US Magazine as if she were at a nail salon instead of a hospital.

“Leave her alone, Trace, she can pace if she wants to,” Mack said without putting the magazine down.

“It’s getting on my nerves,” he clarified at the look that Rachel was sending him.

“It’s not like it’s killing you.”

Trace made an odd sound at her comment but otherwise stayed silent. Rachel put her hands on her hips and glared at the two of them. ”What’s with you? You’ve been act each other’s throats since we got here.” Neither of them said a word. Rachel took the free seat next to Trace. “Look, T, I understand that you’re upset and worried and confused and everything—“

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Trace interrupted her.

“Well, what else are you going to do in a hospital? Sulk? You’ve done that enough already,” Mack jumped in.

“No one asked you!” Trace snapped. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He didn’t want to fight with her but he couldn’t help it. His emotions were jumping all over the place. He almost drove them off of the road a few times on their way to the hospital. He was overcome with so much worry and fear that he couldn’t think straight. It didn’t help that she kept giving him pitying looks the entire way there. It also didn’t help that his stomach tied in knots every time she looked at him and that hasn’t happened before and it wasn’t something that he wanted to dwell on.

“Trace!” Rachel scolded.

“What?” He snapped. She was talking to him as if he just yelled at a little kid. They didn’t get what he was going though. He just wanted some answers and no one was giving it to him, leaving him steadily growing frustrated. “I want some answers but no one in this fucking place seems to know anything about my Granddad!” His voice started to rise with each word, gaining the attention of the others in the waiting room and doctors that passed by. “It’s not my fault that the doctors here are fucking quacks!” he added, barking at a young male doctor that rushed by him, looking at a clipboard.

“You’re being unfair,” Mack said, finally putting down the magazine. She creased the top corner of one page and rested the magazine on her knees which were drawn up to her chest. “The doctors are doing the best they can to help Mr. Rast. You have to chill and be patient. The doctors will tell you as soon as they find out what’s wrong.”

Rachel sat back and let the two go at it. They needed to get everything out. It was obvious that Trace was scared and worried and just wanted answers on his grandfather’s condition while Mack was scared for him. But, of course, the two didn’t exactly know how to get that point across so they just argued until they couldn’t talk anymore.

“Hey Mack, why don’t you go call my favorite cousin?” Rachel interrupted the two at the height of their argument.

Mack looked at Rachel as if she were crazy. “You only have one cousin, Rach.”

“Exactly,” Rachel replied pleasantly.

“If you want me to leave, just say so.”

“Leave.” Rachel waited for Mack to leave the waiting room to find good signal on her cell phone. Trace had his arms crossed and his foot was tapping rapidly on the ground. Every now and then he’d glance up and down the hall. Rachel crossed one leg over the other and picked at lint that landed on her shirt. She then rested her hands on her knee and clicked her tongue. “Your UST is stifling,” Rachel commented offhandedly.

Trace looked at her as if she had grown a second head. “Our what?”

“UST,” she replied. Trace’s face remained blank. She let out an exasperated sigh. “Unresolved sexual tension.” Trace scoffed and rolled his eyes. “I’m not kidding, Trace. Every time you look at each other I think you’re going to jump each other’s bones right then and there.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” Trace mumbled, taking off his hat. “We don’t have UST.”

“Yes you do,” Rachel said with a rapid head-nod. “It’s like…an overflowing teapot. Sooner rather than later the tension is going to build and build and build until the only thing you two can do to get over it is have hot, steamy, inhibition-lowered sex.”

“You’re too comfortable talking about this,” Trace muttered.

Rachel shrugged. “I figured it’s the same reason she slept with my cousin.”

“Wait, you know about that?” Trace asked.

“Duh! He told me about it,” she replied with a scoff. “Anyway, those two have been close for years. People speculated that they were sleeping together anyway, might as well confirm their suspicions, ya know? With them, though, I figured it was more about being lonely than having UST. I mean, Justin was in a rough spot with Britney and Mack probably just wanted to feel loved by someone. I knew it was only a matter of time for them to sleep together so it’s only a matter of time for you two, too.” She elbowed him in the side. “Especially considering the fact that you’ve been pining after her since, like, the first grade.”

Trace scoffed again. “I haven’t been pining after her,” he told her.

She merely nodded. “Yes you have, otherwise you wouldn’t be insanely jealous over how close those two are. You wouldn’t be pissed at her for sleeping with him when it’s her decision. You wouldn’t get mad at him every time those two get into a fight. It’s a cycle for them, Justin says something stupid, Mack overreacts, they fight, and they make up by the next day. Surely you’d know that by now. You wouldn’t try to be her knight in shining armor all the time if you didn’t like her. Besides, she’s not insanely jealous over how close we are.” She smirked when he didn’t say anything. “You know I’m right,” she stated.

“Shut up,” he groaned. He opened an eye. “And stop smirking at me like that.”

“You’re only mad because Justin slept with her,” Rachel stated.

“Can we please stop talking about this?”

“We’d be done if you stopped running away from the fact that you feel something for her.”

Trace was about to give a response when he saw a doctor walking down the hall. The way his heart leapt he could tell the doctor was there for him. He wanted his parents there with him but they got stuck in bad traffic. It seemed that as soon as he got the news the sky opened up and unleashed its fury, delaying them in getting to the hospital.

“Family of Mr. Rast?” The doctor said, looking around.

Trace jumped up. “He’s my grandfather. My mom and dad are stuck in traffic,” he said in a rush. “Is he OK? Is Granddad still alive?”

“What’s your name?” the doctor asked.

“Ju—er—Trace,” Trace replied.

“Trace,” the doctor repeated. Trace hated the way his name was said. He hated the way the doctor was looking at him. He hated the doctor altogether. He was unsettling and Trace could tell he was only going to give him bad news. “I’m Dr. Schneider. Your grandfather suffered a stroke but we have him in stable condition. He should be fine. However, there could be some side effects to his stroke.”

Trace’s heart fell. “What do you mean?”

Dr. Schneider sighed and crossed his hands on his clipboard. “The stroke was in the part of his brain that affects his memory, so some of his memory could be gone. Don’t be surprised if he starts up a conversation and completely forget about the conversation in the next five minutes.”

“And?” Trace egged on. Dr. Schneider lifted an eyebrow. “You have something else to say. I can tell.”

“We’re going to have to keep him here to run some tests on him, just to be sure we can release him. At the latest, he’ll be out in the next two days,” Dr. Schneider said.

“May I see him?” Trace asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

“If you want to wait about five minutes, your parents are almost here,” Mack said, walking over to them, closing her phone.

“I’ll wait,” Trace told Dr. Schneider.

As soon as the doctor went off the trio fell into an uncomfortable silence. Of course, Rachel being Rachel, she’s the one who broke it by asking how Justin was doing. “Oh yeah,” Mack said, snapping her fingers. Then she deflated. “He sounded weird,” he told them. “He wasn’t himself.”

“What do you mean?” Trace asked, playing with his hat.

“I mean he sounded…defeated,” she replied. “It’s…I don’t know, that’s the only way I can describe it.”

“Well, it’s a good thing he’s coming home. He can recharge his batteries, so to speak,” Rachel said. Rachel clicked her tongue when no one else said a word. “I’m going to get some coffee,” she announced but she didn’t expect a response. The response she got was a roll of thunder and a bright flash of lightning. Rachel smirked despite the situation at the apprehensive look on Mack’s face. If the thunderstorm didn’t kick start anything Rachel would.

She finally found her way to the cafeteria and, by the time she got there, she wasn’t in the mood for coffee anymore. She was on her way back when she spotted a familiar cowboy down the hallway. She gave a little laugh. “Cal, what’re you doing here? I figured you’d be making sure the horses were inside,” she said as she walked over to him. She hugged him tight and he dropped a kiss on her cheek.

“I heard what happened to Mr. Rast and I wanted to make sure everything was OK,” he replied, taking her hands. “How’s he doing?”

“It’s bad,” Rachel sighed, pushing her hair behind her ears. She looked Cal up and down. With his dark cowboy had, ripped and muddy jeans, and boots he really stood out against the pristine-white walls of the hospital. “The stroke affected his memory. The doctors say he’s stable and can get out soon but I can tell it’s tearing Trace up. He was fine earlier and now he’s in the hospital.” Rachel sadly shook her head and let Cal hold her while she rested her head against his strong chest. “It’s not fair, Cal. He’s a wonderful man, why does this have to happen to him? To their family? Why is God doing this?”

“The Lord has strange ways of getting people together,” Cal told her. “From the short time I knew Mr. Rast I could tell he was a strong man. He’ll make it through this. The Lord won’t give up on him and this will only bring their family closer together.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Rachel agreed, pulling away.

Cal beamed down at her. “There are always good things that come out of tragedies,” he added.

Rachel’s eyebrows furrowed. “It’s not entirely tragic, Cal, Mr. Rast didn’t die…”

“I know, but it’s tragic he’s sick. And driving here made me realize that I would be…lost if something were to happen to you. And I realize that a hospital is not the best place to do this but I can’t wait any longer and it wouldn’t be fair to make you wait, either.” He pulled a simple, shiny silver band out of his pocket. He got on one knee and held Rachel’s hand. “Rachel Bomar, will you marry me?”

“Of course!” Rachel said excitedly, bouncing on her toes. Cal slipped the band onto her ring finger and kissed her. She then playfully slapped his arm. “It’s about time you asked!”

“I just wanted to be reinforced that I was making the right decision,” Cal replied, taking her into his arms. “Mr. Rasts’s condition made me realize that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I just wish it were under better circumstances.”

“Me too,” Rachel agreed quietly.