Page 109 of The Ex-Best Thing
“She’s sleeping now. If you want, you can come into her room, but I’d prefer she sleeps.”
“Of course,” Benny says. “We’ll be quiet.”
The doctor gives them the room number and directions on how to get there, then heads back inside.
Colby runs a hand over his face, then pulls out his phone. “I’d better call my dad. He’ll want to know.”
“Ask him to call my dad, too?”
“Sure.”
Benny looks at me. I take it as a signal and head toward him. “How is she?”
“Stable. They’re keeping her for observation now, but she’ll need to have surgery tomorrow. One of her arteries is blocked,so they need to do an angioplasty and place another stent. But the doctor thinks she’ll be fine. It all seems very routine to him. I guess her numbers recently indicated this was a possibility, but she was keeping it from Colby and me.”
“How are you holding up?”
“Better now.” He tries to smile, but he sounds so tired.
Colby gets off the phone with his dad, and we head back to the room. Benny tells one of the nurses we’re family. She doesn’t question my presence, but she does give me a double take.
Benny pushes the door open quietly. A machine beeps in the corner and the room is sterile, smelling faintly of whatever was recently used to clean it. The window is dark, the shade still up, so I make a mental note to close it before we leave.
Nancy’s lying in bed, her skin pale and silver hair splayed on the pillow behind her. She blinks her eyes open, taking us in.
“Hi, Grandma,” Colby says, going to her side. Benny stands beside him, and I go to the foot of the bed.
Benny reaches for her hand. “You worried us.”
“Dr. Ford knows what he’s doing.”
Benny’s jaw clenches.
“We’re just glad things are looking okay,” I say. “You really freaked us out.”
Nancy gives me a funny look. “You’re still here.”
“I’m not planning on going anywhere for a while.”
“What about your little dog?” she asks.
I have to fight amusement that Nancy’s lying in a hospital bed and this is what she’s worried about. Does she think I’m going to leave them all for Peanut? “I need to go pick her up and return some of my sister-in-law’s clothes, then you’re stuck with me.”
She relaxes on the bed, closing her eyes and letting out a sigh. “That’s what I hoped you’d say.”
Nancy’s surgery goes well,and we take turns keeping her company. Colby found a hotel nearby to stay at when we aren’t at the hospital. I drove home one morning to say goodbye to my sisters and pick up clothes and toiletries for the guys. We spend the days following the surgery taking shifts sitting with Nancy in her room, reading to her, singing to her, and playing Mad Libs from a book I found in the gift shop.
Four days later, I take an Uber to the hospital to join Benny during his shift, a Chipotle order swinging in a bag from my hand. The staff has been wonderful, respecting our privacy. But when I reach Nancy’s room, I find Benny and Colby standing outside the door, deep in conversation.
My steps slow, my heart beating rapidly. “Everything okay?”
“Dr. Ford is releasing Grandma tomorrow.” Benny takes my hand, an action that’s so familiar again it’s soothing. “We’re deciding who’s going to stay with her.”
“Me.”
The guys both look at me.
“It makes sense,” I tell them. “I need to get out of Colby’s house anyway, and I would love to hang out with Nancy.”
