“I saw all the pics, but did you like him? Did he say he wanted to go out again?” she asks.
I shake my head. “No, he’s kind of talking to someone else.”
Olivia looks bummed. “Well, that stinks.”
I open my mouth to tell her about Wes but shut it again quickly. What would I say? I’m glad we’re finally getting back to normal, but now let me screw it up by bringing up my almost kiss with Wes? And let’s not forget he has a girlfriend…I think. And I’m super confused by my ex-boyfriend.
Yeah, probably best to keep all this to myself right now.
The woman returns with my wrapped gifts and we leave the store. Once we’re back in the car, I stare at the picture Margot sent me. As much as I’ve been dying to get a look at my niece, it’s hard seeing her like this. Before I got this picture, I pictured her swaddled in one of those white blankets with the pink and blue footprints on it, sleeping peacefully with rosy cheeks and full lips. The image Margot sent makes me want to cry.
The blanket is there, but Anna is lying on top of it in just her diaper. She’s on her back, her arms and legs sprawled out, and there are tubes and wires and God knows what else attached to her. There’s even a thin clear tube stuffed in her nose, for oxygen I’m guessing, and there’s tape across one cheek to keep the tube in place. An ID bracelet circles one ankle while an impossibly small blood pressure cuff circles the other.
I zoom in on her face and smile when I see the dark hair covering her head. Margot’s husband is blond and pale, and I was secretly hoping she would look like our family. Her eyes are swollen shut and her whole face looks sort of puffy, but she’s gorgeous.
I can’t wait to see her.
Margot didn’t say much in her text, other than she’s tired and sore and Anna seems to be doing “okay,” which is not the word I wanted to hear when describing the health of my newborn niece. Mom told me they’ve been in to see the baby once so far, but they’re hoping to see her again soon.
Olivia leans over to look at my phone at a red light, and I tilt it in her direction.
“She looks so small,” Olivia says. “I mean, she barely takes up a third of that plastic tub she’s in.”
“I promised Margot I would be there when the baby was born,” I tell her. Then I say the thing that’s been on my mind ever since I got the text from my mom. “I’m thinking about going down there.”
This gets her attention. “Today? Right now?”
I shrug. “I just feel like I need to be there.” I’ve actually already floated this idea past Mom and she shot me down.
Olivia’s left eyebrow rises—just the left one—and she gives me that look.
“You know I’m jealous you can do that and I can’t,” I say.
“Sounds like you’ve got a plan brewing?” she says.
I shrug. “Maybe.” I’m quiet a moment before adding, “My parents don’t want me to come because the traffic is dangerous on Christmas Eve, and the baby is in the NICU, so it’s not like I could hold her anyway, and on and on…but I think I can get in, see Margot and Anna, and get out without my parents seeing me.”
Olivia’s eyes are huge. “Hold up,” she says, her gaze darting from the road to me. “Let’s talk this through. They’re in a hospital in Lafayette, right? So it’s three hours down there and three hours back. And if you stay like, an hour, that’s seven hours you’re not here. And that’s if nothing goes wrong! How are you going to hide from Nonna that long? And what if when you get there your mom is in Margot’s room? You could get down there and never see her. Or be in massive trouble.”
I’ve thought about all of these things. But I’m not deterred.
“If I leave at nine, I’m there by midnight. I won’t stay long. Just long enough to see them. Mom and Dad won’t be there, because Brad will stay with Margot tonight. Then I’ll head back. I’ll be here before anyone wakes up.”
I can tell she’s going to try to talk me out of it, so I add, “You can cover for me. The house will be packed and you can run interference. No one will even miss me.”
She lets out a deep breath. “You can’t go alone. It’s not safe. You’d be driving all night.” She picks up her phone and calls Charlie, the call connecting over Bluetooth.
“Hey,” he says, his voice filling the car.
“Your dumb cousin has a dumb plan and needs our help,” Olivia says. I roll my eyes.
“I’m not doing anything for the Evil Joes and you know it.”
We both laugh. “Not them,” Olivia says. “And hold on. I’m adding Wes to this call.”
I start to say no, but before I can get any words out, Charlie says, “He’s right beside me. I’ll put you on speaker.”
“So,” Olivia continues, “Soph’s hell-bent on sneaking out tonight and driving to the hospital to see Margot and Anna and back. I’m just letting y’all know that we’re all going with her so she won’t kill herself by falling asleep at the wheel in the middle of the night.”
