Page 16 of A Matter of Time
“Oh.” She looked down at my shoulder in dismay as she realized where she’d been sleeping. “Sorry. You should have pushed me off.”
“It’s no big deal, Sugar.”
Though I said that, as soon as she turned to look out the window, I stretched out my aching muscles that I hadn’t been able to move for the last few hours, biting my tongue to keep from groaning in relief.
“Are we almost there?”
She turned back to me and I quickly froze in place so she wouldn’t notice me stretching. “Just a few more minutes. You’ve had a few texts on your phone.”
I gestured to her purse that had fallen onto the floor and she quickly picked it up and pulled her phone out, scrolling through and responding to the important ones as the taxi pulled up outside the hospital.
“Go on ahead, I got this,” I told her. Still staring at her phone, she headed through the doors while I settled up with the taxi driver. By the time I got inside, I couldn’t see Tonia or any of the Callahan crew so I went to the reception desk. Though the shots had mostly worn off during the long drive, the lights still felt too bright, everything a little too white. “Howdy. I’m looking for Shawna Armstrong. Cancer ward, I guess.”
The woman at the desk typed into her computer for a moment before shaking her head. “No one by that name here.”
For a moment, I had a stupid, not-totally-sober hope that maybe somehow this had all been a mistake. Maybe Shawna hadn’t really had a relapse and it had been some kind of stupid prank; not that it would be funny, but a joke would be better than the alternative.
When I thought about it a second longer, though, I realized my mistake. “Sorry, it’s probably under Callahan. Shawna Callahan.”
That did the trick and I was given directions to the waiting room where Tonia had found her parents, her sisters, and Dex, who appeared to be giving Tonia an update. He was the first to see me when I walked in, his eyes widening in surprise as he recognized me. “Cam? What are you doing here?”
Tonia answered before I had a chance to. “I didn’t get a chance to tell you that Cam helped me get back from Corpus Christi. It’s… kind of a long story.”
“It would have to be.” Dex shook his head in bewilderment before returning to the matter at hand. “Anyway, I’m just about to send everyone home anyway. Shawna’s family’s already been and gone, we were just waiting for you, Tonia, but now that you’re here, ain’t nothing else anyone can do tonight. Shawna’s already asleep so go on and go to bed yourselves, and you can come back tomorrow and see her then.”
“What about you, Dex?” Tonia put her hand on her brother’s arm, looking up at him in concern. “You need some sleep too.”
“There’s a chair in her room.” When the others began to protest, he quickly silenced them all. “Y’all know you’re not going to change my mind, so just go. If you need something to worry about, find out what Tonia was doing in Corpus Christi with the devil himself over there. No offense, Cam.”
“Your wife’s sick so I’m going to let that one go for now, but I’m keeping score, Dex.”
He gave me a grateful smile, appreciating that I tried to keep things light for everyone’s benefit and he headed back towards the patient rooms while everyone else gathered up their things to leave.
“Where are y’all staying tonight?” Tonia asked her parents and sisters
“I guess we’ve got to find ourselves a hotel,” her mama replied. “Doesn’t have to be fancy, just a bed will do.”
“You can come stay with me,” Tonia offered, and when they shot her an incredulous look, she added a qualifier. “Well, not all of you, but some of you, at least.”
Her parents exchanged looks. “Maybe Laura and Billie can stay with you,” Mr Callahan suggested. “And we’ll find a place just for us.”
“I’ve got room.”
The words came out of my mouth before I had a chance to think them through and everyone turned to look at me in surprise, as though they’d forgotten I was still there.
The words kept pouring out beneath the weight of their stares. “I mean, if you just need a bed for the night, I’ve got the space. No point in you spending the money on a hotel if you don’t have to.”
Tonia’s parents looked at each other again, having a whole conversation with their eyes before Mrs Callahan gave me a smile. “That’s very kind of you, Cam. If you’re sure it won’t be a bother…”
“Not at all. Happy to help.”
We all headed back to the hospital entrance and the line of taxis outside. Tonia and her sisters took the first one to head to her place and Tonia gave me a small smile before she got in. “Thanks for … well, everything, Cam.”
I tried to shrug it off. “It was the least I could do.”
That made her laugh, her face brightening with that beautiful smile of hers as she called me on my bullshit, just like always. “Absolutely nothing about tonight was the least you could do. And now you’ve got to go back down there tomorrow and get your truck, don’t you?”
I shrugged again. What could I say? She knew I did.
