***
“Sweetheart? Lil, can you hear me?” Mum asks.
I manage a strained sound, my throat scraping like sandpaper. Someone pours a cool trickle of water into my mouth, and it stings as I swallow.
I force my eyes open.
“There she is,” Ellenor says from the foot of the bed, her voice soft but unmistakably teasing. “Back in the land of the living.”
The lights blur, then they sharpen. I’m in a proper hospital room now, the curtains half-drawn. My foot is elevated, wrapped, and impossibly heavy.
Mum strokes my hair off my forehead. “You’re okay, darling. Surgery went well.”
Without warning, it all comes rushing back. Ambulance. Slipway. The fall. The guitar. Jack.
I swallow, wincing. “Mum…how did you get here?”
Her expression shifts, a mix of relief and exhaustion. “Brandon came to get me. He escorted me here.”
“Brandon?” My chest tightens as I peer around the curtained area. “Is…is he here?” I’m embarrassed by the neediness in my voice.
A shadow shifts beyond the curtains. He’s there, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets. His eyes meet mine with steady, devastating softness. He looks exhausted—pale, unshaven, creased clothes and dark shadows beneath his eyes—but he straightens as soon as I notice him.
“I didn’t want to crowd you,” he says quietly.
“You…flew to Sydney? Just to get Mum?” I ask in disbelief.
“Yes,” he says simply. “I thought her presence would be a comfort to you.”
I swallow, words failing me. Trying to work out what would compel him to do such a thing.
He gives me a faint smile, then he starts to step back.
Something in me panics at the sight of him leaving. “Brandon—wait.”
Helingers.
“Thank you,” I whisper. I don’t have the words for more. Only gratitude.
He nods slowly before retreating, leaving me with a strange, fuzzy warmth I’m not used to feeling. No one—family excepted—has ever come through for me like this.
And Mum made the trip. Maybe I’m worth coming back for after all.
41
False Notes
Lily-Anne
A soft knock breaks the quiet.
I expect a nurse with meds, but when I look up, Daisy is standing hesitantly in the doorway. She’s wearing her scrubs, her usual pink mohawk combed back.
“Hey, Lily.”
“What areyoudoing here?” Ellenor says snidely, getting to her feet.
“I work here, and I heard about Lily’s surgery. I thought I’d check in. Actually, I…was hoping to talk to her.”
