“Yeah,” Skyler adds, “doctors can do amazing things these days. She’s in good hands.”
Eventually Jaya’s mom comes over to us with a cup of coffee and Henry stumbles to his feet. The two of them sit down across the waiting room from us, talking in hushed voices. Skyler and I stay on the floor, stress eating M&M’s.
“Can you distract me please?” she asks, her face pale. “Hospitals and me aren’t the best of friends.”
“Uh, sure. Want to see a photo of Scott’s ridiculously attractive new girlfriend?”
“The guy you met traveling? Yes.”
I pull up the photo Scott sent me last week and show Skyler, who whistles low. “Okay you failed to mention Scott was descended from Norse gods. He looks like he’s AI generated. No one has skin that flawless in real life.”
I laugh quietly. I guess I stopped seeing it, but Scott is very attractive.
“Did you and him ever…”
I twist my lips. “We dated briefly but nothing serious. Honestly, I slept around so much the first year I was traveling, after I met Scott and found coffee I kind of lost interest in dating.”
“Like completely?”
I shrug. “I met a few guys over the years after Scott and I called it off, but I think they could probably tell my heart wasn’t in it because none of them went anywhere.”
“Probably a good thing, because you’ve got Roman now and Scott has…” Skyler points at Michelle, with her high cheekbones and pencil straight dark hair. “Okay she’s definitely AI. Seriously this photo is like a fake advertisement for Paris tourism.”
We’re both distracted by the photo and Scott’s supermodel beautiful girlfriend for a few more minutes, but then the doctor appears and calls Henry’s name.
Henry stands up, gripping his mother-in-law’s hand.
“Jaya did well,” the doctor says. “She’s in recovery now but she’s going to be okay.”
“And the baby?” Winona, Jaya’s mother asks.
“She’s in the NICU. She’s got a long road ahead of her but she’s a fighter.”
Relief washes over me like a wave as Skyler and I clamber to our feet.
Henry’s chest heaves as he sucks in a breath and lets it go. He brushes away his tears. “Can I see them?”
The doctor nods, her smoothed-back ponytail bobbing. “I can take you to them now.”
Henry goes to follow but stops when he gets to us. “Lola, I’m so sorry. The shop?—”
I wave a hand through the air. “Don’t even think about it. The shop will be fine. Go be with your family.”
He mouths athank youthen follows the doctor out.
“She’s okay,” Skyler says.
“She’s okay,” I repeat. Except now the crisis is over all the thoughts that hadn’t occurred to me creep into my mind.
I’m so happy for Henry and he can have all the time he needs to be with Jaya and the baby. But I’m pretty sure I must be a horrible person because I can’t help thinking that I’ve got a half-finished coffee shop opening in two weeks and I just lost my contractor.
Chapter Twenty
Roman
You sure this is a good idea?
No. But Lola needs this.
