Making sure the door was closed, Ava sat in the chair her brother had left, noticing that it was still warm and sort of indented. She wasn’t Junie B. Jones, but she was pretty sure her brother had been there for a while.
“How are you feeling today?”
“Better. I’ve been using the techniques you mentioned last time. Whenever that feeling of dread takes place in my stomach, I go through my day. It’s really helping me.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Is there anything on your mind?” Ava asked.
Fern talked a little bit about her leg, which was healing up nicely. She thought that she might be moved out of the hospital.
“How do you feel about that?”
She shrugged and did that thing, making pyramids with the blanket on over her legs and then flattening them out. “Not sure. I feel safe here.”
“That makes sense. The hospital is the first place you haven’t had to worry, so transition from here is going to take you some time. Did the doctors give you a date?” Ava asked, making a note to speak to the hospital staff and find out when the move was going to happen.
“No. Just that I was healing up nicely…which just made me think they are going to want me to leave. Also I don’t have good insurance—I’m not even sure who’s paying for this,” Fern said.
“It’s okay. It’s all being taken care of, you don’t have to worry about that,” Ava said, knowing that Fern’s bills were being covered until the investigation was finished.
“One less thing to worry about,” she said.
“Do you want to talk about another one?”
She shook her head. “It’s nothing concrete. Just fear that those guys will somehow come back. I mean, am I being ridiculous? Why would they risk coming to the hospital?”
But those men hadn’t seemed impervious to risk. “You’re right. The nursing staff, doctors and myself are all stopping by to check on you.”
“And Ryan,” Fern said.
“Does he visit you a lot?”
“Pretty much every day,” she said. “He’s nice.”
“He can be,” Ava said. “As a little brother, he can also be a bit of a pain.”
“I guess,” she said.
Ava realized Fern was forming an attachment to her brother, which was fine and would probably go a long way to speeding up Fern’s recovery. But how did Ryan feel about her?
It had always been her policy to never meddle in his life. Was she going to change that now?
Maybe. Fern was vulnerable, and her brother, who had a big heart, might not realize how attached the other woman was becoming.
“Have you been working on that list I asked you to make?” Ava had suggested Fern make a list of things she was looking forward to once she left the hospital.
“Some. I’m not ready to share it,” Fern said.
“You don’t have to. It’s for you. I’m glad you’re doing it.”
They spent the rest of the hour discussing other techniques that Fern could use to get ready to leave the hospital. “Try to picture something that would make the new place feel like home. It could be a view out the window or something on your dresser or nightstand. Just an item that makes it feel like it’s your place.”
Fern glanced toward the closet where a balloon had been tied to one of the handles. The slogan on it read You Are Essentially Awesome!
“The balloon?”
“Is that silly?”
“No, it’s perfect. You have it here with you and can bring it to your new place. What else would make it homey? Anything I can bring for you?”
