I should’ve kept my mouth shut—just told them to sort their shit out like fucking grownups. But I’d said too much and Danni was on to me, and now I had the love of my life sick and in pain downstairs, and his sister going out of her mind when she should’ve been focused on herself.Welldone,Pete.
Time to be blunt. “I don’t know what’s wrong. He got sick on the plane and it looks like appendicitis. Glenn’s with him, but I need to be there too. I’m sorry, Danni—I want to be here for you, but I can’tleavehim.”
Understanding flashed in Danni’s eyes. She straightened up and released her death grip on my hand and reached for Joe. “We’re fine. We loveyou.Go.”
I went. Danni was strong, and she didn’t need me. The hospital team would take care of her, and Joe loved her enough for allofus.
The stairs flew by as I charged down them. In the ER, I found Ash in a side room, sitting on the edge of a bed, leaning forward and clearly in as much pain as his sisterupstairs.
Glenn left the room as I crouched in front of Ash with my hands on hisknees. “Hey.”
Ash’s eyes blinked open. “Did Danni havethebaby?”
“Not yet. I think it will be awhile.”
“You’relying.”
I forced a grin. “Not entirely. She’s still in labor, but she’s doing good. Joe’s with her, so I’m going to stay with you, okay? They’ll call me if anythinghappens.”
It felt like I’d had the same conversation a thousand times in ten minutes, and I braced myself for Ash to argue. But he didn’t. He shuddered and closed his eyes. “Man, this hurts. How does Jed live with a stomachache worse than thiseveryday?”
“Practice. And hehasto live with it, so he finds a way. If this is appendicitis, it’s easilyfixed.”
I nearly choked on the words. An appendectomy was among the most common surgeries in the world, but the thought of someone slicing a scalpel into Ash’s flesh was like a bucket of lava to myowngut.
Glenn came back into the room dressed in fresh scrubs and carrying a tray of equipment. He drew blood from Ash’s arm and then whisked it away to be fast-tracked. When he came back, he coaxed Ash onto the bed and reexamined his belly for mybenefit.
The exam was pretty conclusive. “We’ll wait for the bloods,” he said. “But I’m bookinganOR.”
Ash blanched, the terror in his gaze mirroring what I felt in every facet of my being. “Are you sure I needsurgery?”
“Yes,” Glenn said bluntly. “Appendicitis will kill you if it’s not treated, and the only way to treat it is to yank thatfuckerout.”
“I know that, and I don’t care if they cut me open. But—” Ash’s eyes flickered between Glenn and me. “What about the drugs? I don’t want any narcotics oropiates.”
It took a split second for me to realize the fear I’d seen in him wasn’t the same as mine—it was for something I hadn’t even thought of. Narcotics were standard after any kind of surgery, but Ash had been clean foryears. Barely an Advil had passed his lips, and I knew him well enough to be horribly certain he’d rather refuse surgery thanchangethat.
“Ash, buddy,” Glenn said. “You’re going to need pain relief post-surgery—there’s no way around it, and Tylenol isn’t going to cut it. I get that you need to maintain your recovery, but without proper pain relief, your body won’t heal because it will waste energy fighting the pain you’llbein.”
“I’m not takingnarcotics.”
Glenn was a hardened vet with two decades in the field, who wasn’t easily fazed, but the steely resolve in Ash was terrifying for me. I let go of Ash’s hand and reached for his chart. So far, he’d been given no meds at all, and he wasn’t the first recovering addict to pass through the ER—or, in fact, the OR. There had to be another way. “What about Toradol? He could have that post surgery for a few days and then go home with regularNSAIDs?”
“It’s not up to me,” Glenn said. “I’m not thesurgeon.”
“What’s Toradol?” Ash spoke through gritted teeth and the gravity of the situation threatened to send me into ameltdown.
“It’s an anti-inflammatory,”Isaid.
“Will it get mestoned?”
“Probably not. You’ll be too drowsy from the anesthetic to noticeanythingfun.”
“Can I thinkaboutit?”
“Are you fucking serious?” I snapped. “There’s nothing to think about. You have to have the surgery, and if you don’t agree to Toradol, the surgery team will blast you full of narcoticsinstead—”
Glenn’s hand on my arm cut my rant short, but the terror in my chest remained. I turned on my heel, fled the room, and crashed rightintoJoe.
