Page 3 of Rosie
“Anytime.” She almost held out her arms for a hug, but his girlfriend returned, and he ignored Rosie once more. Aside from him listening to the sunscreen argument earlier, that was the most interaction she’d had with him since the driveway.
When the party was over and he left to take Gail home, the sense of relief among them all was palpable.
“What the hell was her problem?” Mia spit out. “You’d think she didn’t want to be here!”
“Matt spends all his free time with her,” Mrs. Lundholm explained. “Any weekend he wants to come home, he either brings her, or she ‘blows up his phone,’ as you kids say, the entire time.”
The squad all shook their heads. Rosie breathed a small sigh of relief. “I thought it wasme,” she whispered.
Olivia looked at her. “Why would it be you?”
Rosie felt the heat rise to her cheeks, and she knew her pale complexion would be beet red. She hadn’t thought anyone had heard her confession. “Because of how he helped me at the car. I almost fell face first into the gravel and he caught me. I kinda …” she flushed deeper, “… fell into him. She got really upset. I thought that’s why she was acting this way.”
“It’s not you, Rosie dear. She’s always this way.” Mrs. Lundholm sighed, her face resigned.
That made her feel better, feeling the embarrassment fading from her face.
“She’s crazy. He’s Olivia’s brother, and that makes himourbrother by proxy.” Jade said, greeted by murmurs of agreement from the girls.
“Why would she think we want to steal him away? We’re juniors and they’refreshman.” Mia shook her head. “That would never work, never mind the distance.”
Rosie gulped down her soda as she repeated her friends’ words in her head.
We go to different schools.
We live in different states.
He has a girlfriend.
You’re practically hissister.
Unfortunately, the attraction she was feeling toward Matt was anything but sisterly. But clearly he only had eyes for Gail, as he should. Even if she didn’t deserve him.
Just then, Mr. Lundholm grunted and grabbed his chest.
“Dad? Are you okay? You look a little gray …” Olivia’s comment caught Rosie’s attention immediately just as their host slumped over in his chair.
“Sven!” Mrs. Lundholm grabbed him by the shoulders to stop his fall.
“Olivia, call an ambulance. Mrs. Lundholm, let’s get him down to the floor. He can’t fall that way.” Rosie was out of her seat as her training took over. She’d just got her first aid and CPR certification last semester, and the information was fresh in her mind.
Kneeling by the man’s side, she checked his pulse against her watch. It seemed awful fast. Olivia was still close by, obviously not willing to leave her father’s side. “Tell dispatch his heart rate is elevated.” The buttons on his dress shirt strained against his chest, so she opened them to give him some more breathing room.
After a moment that seemed to take a lifetime, Sven’s eyes opened. “What am I doing on the floor?” He moved to get up, but Rosie and his wife halted him and convinced him to lie back.
“I think you’re having a heart attack, sir.”
“The ambulance is on its way. Dad, you scared me!”
“Mrs. Lundholm, where is your aspirin?” Rosie suggested. “He can chew on that until they get here.” Olivia’s mom scrambled for the kitchen.
She’d done everything she could. Now it was up to the professionals.
Matt came home from dropping off Gail as the paramedics arrived. They barely noticed him with the lights from the wagon filling the house with an eerie red glow.
“Mom? Dad? What’s going on?”
Rosie pushed him out of the way just as the paramedics were wheeling Mr. Lundholm out on the gurney.
