Page 122 of Cuts like a Knife
Madison, Claire, C526
Got it.
I make sure to look like I’m barely paying attention before I speak.
“Sorry! Maria, where am I going? I don’t see a sign.”
She turns with a sigh and points again to the far corner of the lobby.
“There.”
“Excuse me, I am still speaking,” insists Marla.
“Thanks, sorry. I’m all turned around. Jet lag. Sorry to interrupt, Marla!”
I don’t have jet lag but neither of them have to know that. I hurry across the lobby to the little hall, where the public bathrooms are, and go inside. I stand around for about three minutes, wash my hands, and come back out.
Two security guards are now at the information desk, Maria is on her feet, and Marla is full-on shouting. Perfect. I slip across the lobby to the elevator bank and hurry into one of the cars.
I find the floor for the maternity ward and push the button. Moments later, the doors are opening and I’m in front of yet another desk — this one staffed by no fewer than three nurses350.
I decide to bypass them and just hurry off down the hall to my left. Blessedly, I think it’s the right hall. All the rooms are labelled C.
Strangely, no one stops me. None of the nurses call out, no one seems upset. Hmm.
I pass C500, C501, C502. Jesus H. Christ. Is she in the furthest room in the place? I start jogging, turning one right corner, then another, as the numbers climb. C524, C525. I’m almost back at the elevator bank. I’ve gone in a circle351. Oh well. I’m here. Room C526.
Without knocking, I burst through the door, expecting to see … I don’t know what. Blood on the floor, maybe? A team of doctors shouting at one another? A blue baby in a clear glass incubator?
Instead, what I find is Adam, Diana, and Claire, all looking at their individual phone screens, all completely calm.
Claire’s in the bed, the huge rise of her still-pregnant belly in front of her, her reddish hair full and shiny.
“Lex!” she exclaims. “What are you doing here?”
“And why didn’t you knock?” adds Diana. Officiously.
~
Claire is completely fine.
“They said I was threatening early labor, but it’s not that early. Even if the baby was born right now, it would be okay. That’s what they say.”
“It wouldn’t be … like a premie?”
“Not at all. I’m basically full term already. It would be fine. They’re just keeping me here to be safe. And to help me with my stress,” she explains. “I’m okay. You didn’t come back from the Bahamas for me, right?” She laughs even as she says it, and she’s not wrong. I guess that would be completely out of character for me. And a little nuts.
No need for her to know that’s exactly what I did.
“Um, no. I was just … finished early. And I heard you were here, but then my phone got ruined and I couldn’t check in, so I decided to come over.”
“That’s really sweet of you, Lex.”
“Suspiciously sweet, in fact,” Di interjects. “You’ve never been particularly sweet before, Alexis.”
I ignore that one. “So … I don’t want to like, increase your stress level or whatever, but I actually ran into Marla in the lobby.”
“What? Where?” Adam suddenly joins the conversation.
