Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 79870 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79870 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
The smile turned to a frown when I noticed my knees. Jesus, they were scraped up and bruised. I sighed and returned to the suitcase, reluctantly pulling my black jeans out again and putting them on. I already had enough strikes against me without having to explain to my dad how my knees had somehow gotten banged up in the few hours since he’d gone to bed. Somehow I didn’t think he’d buy that I’d been sleepwalking on my knees in the yard.
Jennifer stayed with Paul while Mom, Dad, Layla and I went to the hospital. I checked my text messages on the way there, hoping for an answer from Kage concerning his forgotten luggage, but there was nothing. It was still early, though.
The next hours passed like sand through my fingers. Mom was having the operation done at Grady Memorial, the same hospital where she worked as a nurse, so she got fast tracked in through the check-in process. They already had most of her information on file, and her friends worked to make things as painless as possible for her. She even knew the surgeon who would be performing her operation.
“It’s going to be weird seeing Dr. Fisher in the halls after he operates on me,” she told the nurse who helped her into the wheelchair and took her back to get prepped for surgery. “I think I’ll feel almost embarrassed.”
“Those doctors have seen everything. They’re used to it,” the nurse told her with a chuckle and she wheeled her through a set of double doors and down the hall. Mom didn’t look back at us, but we’d already been told we’d get to see her again just before she went in. Sure enough, about an hour later Dad and I were ushered through a maze of halls and into a curtained area, leaving Layla behind in the waiting room because she wasn’t immediate family.
Mom was leaned back on a hospital bed, looking surprisingly calm in a well-worn hospital gown, her arms lying limply at her sides. She’d already been drugged with something to relax her, and boy did it ever work. She was smiling contentedly and slurring about what a nice man Dr. Fisher was, and how great the Grady nurses were, and how she appreciated how everyone was so supportive of her. Later on in the operating room, she’d be anesthetized, intubated and put on a ventilator. The thought of that made me nervous, but I wasn’t about to share it with anyone. We all needed to stay positive.
“I love you,” she told first dad, then me, her slur becoming more and more pronounced as she talked. Her eyelids kept slamming shut, and it was clear she wouldn’t be conscious for much longer. “They say you talk crazy when they sedate you. Tell all of your secrets. Don’t let me tell my secrets, Jamie. If I start talking crazy, you just hush me up, okay?”
“You’ll be fine, Mom.” I smiled and held her hand, not wanting to look down at the IV in her arm. It made it too real. “You won’t say anything embarrassing.”
“I hope not.” She pulled her hand free of mine and tried to pat my cheek. Instead, her hand crumpled against my chest and slid back down to the bed. “Such a good boy. Where’s Layla? I’m so glad she’s not pregnant. You two be safe, okay? You need to finish school before you start a family.”
That made me blush like mad. “Mom, Layla and I are just friends. We’re not together anymore.”
“I thought you got back together. She called to see about me when she found out I was sick.”
Something inside me, some perverse and reckless thing, decided to test the boundaries of my tiny life, and I found myself saying something stupid just to see what would happen.
“I’m seeing someone else now.” It may not have been exactly true, but I wanted it to be true.
I averted my gaze from her and accidentally found Dad, who was watching me suspiciously. His eyes were so narrow I had to question whether he could see out of them, and he was biting the inside of his lip. “Jamie, do you really think this is the right time to discuss your love life? Your mother is about to go into surgery.”
“Sorry.” I cleared my throat. “She brought it up. I just didn’t want her to think—”
“I said shut up,” Dad barked, and I snapped my mouth closed.
Thank goodness Mom was nodding off. Her head lolled over onto one shoulder, and she seemed unable to think coherently anymore, which I thought was a blessing. I didn’t want her to have even one more second of worry. Dad’s outburst had been shocking, to say the least. The man was opinionated and didn’t usually agree with the choices I made, but yelling for me to shut up was harsh, even for him. I supposed he was just on edge because of worrying about Mom.