Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“And that means… If there is someone that he’s visiting, assuming he’s telling the truth, then it’s a long-term patient.”
I nod. “Which means palliative care or mental health care.”
“So Lamone has someone—a relative possibly—who’s either dying or mentally ill.”
“Right.” I gaze around the ER waiting area. “Let’s go. He went this way.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
RORY
I’m cold, and then hot, and then cold again—all while feeling numb. It makes no sense, but that’s what I’m feeling.
Callie and I are sitting together on a small love seat across from Jesse, Maddie, and my mother.
“He’ll be okay,” Callie says to me.
“God willing,” I reply.
“I know how close you are to him. We all are, but you and he…”
Good. She stops talking. I really can’t go there right now, or I’m going to explode into tears again. I’ve done that enough for one day. I’m not sure I have any water left in me. In fact… I rise.
“I need something to drink. Do any of you want something?”
Mom shakes her head. “No.”
“Nothing for me,” Jesse says.
“Maybe a Diet Coke.” From Maddie.
“All right. One Diet Coke and a water for me. Callie, come with me.” I pull her out of the chair.
We walk together out of the waiting area.
“I guess we find a vending machine,” Callie says.
“No, we need the cafeteria,” I tell her. “You and I need to talk.”
“Really, Rory? Now?”
“There’s nothing we can do for Dad,” I say. “I wish there were, but we won’t know anything until we know.”
“Well, true.”
“So you and I should talk. Pat Lamone is here.”
Callie stops walking and turns to face me. “What?”
“Yeah, he came in and told Brock something about visiting someone. He and Donny are probably looking into it.”
“I should text Donny.”
“You can if you want. Why don’t you just try to relax a little in the cafeteria for a while?”
“What about Maddie’s Diet Coke?”
“We’ll bring it when we come back. In the meantime, if she gets too thirsty, she’ll get up and find a vending machine.”
“Rory, you’re not acting like yourself.”
“I’m not myself anymore. My father’s lying on some OR table with his chest cut open and his life in the hands of a bunch of doctors who don’t know him and don’t care about him. And I found out today…”
“What?”
“I’m not pregnant, Callie.”
“Is that good news or bad news?”
I sigh. “Honestly? Both. Brock wasn’t ready for a baby, even if I was. But there was never a baby to begin with, so why did we worry?”
“It’s okay to feel a loss,” Callie says.
“What loss, though? I was never pregnant. It’s not like I had a miscarriage.”
We find the cafeteria and enter. The food service area is closed, but self-service is open. I grab a bottle of water from the refrigerator unit and then a bottle of Diet Coke for Maddie.
“Do you feel like eating anything?” Callie asks.
“Not even slightly.”
“Neither do I, but we should. It will help the sick feeling.”
“Will it though?” I ask.
“One way to find out.” Callie walks up to one of the self-service shelves and grabs a couple of granola bars. “What do you want?”
“That’s a loaded question, Cal.”
“All right, let me bring it into context. What do you want from the shelf?”
I walk over next to her, grab a package of cupcakes. “This, I guess.”
“Sugar high. Good call.”
Callie grabs a Diet Coke for herself as well, and we pay for the items and find a quiet table. I open my package of cupcakes—the chocolate kind with squiggly white icing on top—and take a bite. Chocolate sawdust. Yum.
“Who do you think Lamone is here to see?” Callie asks.
“Hell if I know. At this point, Cal, I don’t give a shit about him anymore. Let him try to publish my pictures. I don’t give a flying fuck.”
“Rory, you don’t mean that.”
“Don’t I? With Dad up in the OR with his heart in some stranger’s hands, do naked photos of me really even matter?”
“Change of trajectory,” Callie says, “because we need to stay positive. Tell me something good. Tell me something that makes you happy. Anything.”
“Brock. Brock makes me happy. Brock loves me and I love him.”
Callie smiles. “Donny told me.”
“You’re not surprised?”
“A little, to be sure, but mostly just happy for you. Very happy for you.”
“Thanks, Cal. I know there’s not much to laugh about, but you know what’s funny?”
“What?”
“You and I, the Pike sisters. We caught two of the Rake-a-teers.”
Callie giggles. “That is something, isn’t it?”
“Men who we didn’t think would ever settle down.”
“Wait… Are you saying…?”
“We’re going to move in together. Brock and I.”
“Oh my God! This is amazing, Rory.”
“It is kind of cool.”
I smile at my sister. She smiles back. And they’re good smiles, radiant smiles, but they’re only masks. Underneath the smiles, though we’re both happy to be in love, we’re both worried about Dad.
And everything else.
“Compartmentalizing,” Callie says.
“What?”
“I’m compartmentalizing. Just Dad right now, Rory. Let’s just focus on Dad right now. Trying to deal with everything else… It’s just too much.”