Her reaction wasn’t surprising. Of the two of them, he’d always been the one with the short fuse.
“We can’t both lose our shit at the same time, so I guess it’s my turn to be level-headed.”
Another long pause. “I really need to meet this Mallory. It’s only been a few weeks and you’re like a totally different person. I think she’s good for you.”
“Okay,” Chris began, ready to change the subject. “You need to get some sleep. Talk your friend down and then go to bed. You guys have a long flight tomorrow. You’ll meet Mallory at the reception.”
Chris disconnected the call as he walked back into his mother’s room. She was wide awake and smiling at him. There was no doubt she’d heard his end of the conversation since he wasn’t far from the doorway and wasn’t as quiet as he could have been.
“Your best friend hasn’t met your special friend yet? Why is that?” she asked as soon as he returned to the chair at her bedside. Even when confined to a hospital bed, she never missed a thing.
“Not yet. Scheduling conflicts,” Chris responded with a shrug.
“Well, I hope they meet soon. She is good for you and I’m sure Alyssa will love her. How did her friend’s wedding go?”
Chris was certain she’d been listening and already had a pretty good idea of how the wedding went, but he humored her anyway. “The wedding went great, but there’s been some drama after it. Apparently, Brian has been married before, much to Kerry’s surprise. Alyssa is out of her mind furious about it, and it’s a mess. I’m hoping Kerry holds off on making any major decisions until she’s rested and in her normal time zone.”
His mom’s eyes sparkled. She always did love a good soap opera. “That’s terrible. When’s the reception?”
“Next weekend. If it happens.”
“Well, if it doesn’t happen, then make sure to make up for it with your reception.”
“Mom. What reception? I’m not even engaged,” he pointed out.
“When’s Robbie getting here?” she asked, completely changing the subject. Before long, she’d be playing things up as if she had dementia and didn’t know what was going on. None of her strategies were new.
“Should be later today, Mom. Is there something you need?”
“Oh, I was just wondering, that’s all. Has he said how long he’s staying?”
He sat down and hoped his mom would stick with the subject change. “Well, that depends. We’re hoping to get an update from your doctors. Once we know more, we’ll decide from there.”
“Okay. So, back to the wedding. Do you think they’ll still have the reception?”
Chris shook his head. He knew she couldn’t stay away from some good gossip. “I’m pretty sure they will since it’s paid for. Now if it goes off without any drama may be a different story.”
Chris stopped talking when he heard a light rap on the already open door. “Mrs. Ramirez?”
An older gentleman walked in wearing a long white coat over top of a sky-blue shirt and navy tie, along with a pair of tan dress pants. His expression was serious, but his eyes were kind. Chris decided he liked him.
“Hello, Doctor,” his mom said. “Come on in.”
“Hello everyone. How are you doing today? It’s good to see you both.”
Chris had been at the hospital at some point every day since she broke her hip. Aside from making sure his mom was okay, he wanted the hospital staff to get used to seeing him and to know that someone was there making sure she received the proper care.
“Do you have an update for us, Doctor?” He was aware of the meeting between his mother’s entire care team to come up with an updated treatment plan. The doctor needed to get to the point.
“Yes. We had the meeting first thing this morning in order to discuss what’s next. The good news is everything is healing very nicely. How has the physical therapy been going, Mrs. Ramirez?”
She shrugged her shoulders in a noncommittal way. “Okay, I guess.”
“You guess? Are you able to do everything?”
She sighed. “I can, but I’m having too much pain, so I don’t like to do it.”
“Well …” He hesitated as he appeared to search for the correct words. “I’m going to recommend you to be discharged to a rehabilitation facility. The physical therapist agreed that even though you are healing well, you aren’t where we would feel comfortable with you going home.”
