“Yet, she’s terrible with computers?” I found myself asking.
I’d met Birdee several times in a group setting, but I’d yet to spend time with her alone.
And getting her from a hospital that was thirty minutes away from her home and driving back with her when I barely knew her?
That was going to be crazy, even for me.
“My stepsister is so smart that she’s scary,” Cody admitted. “Though, she does have a few issues, and one of those issues is her ability to do anything electronically. It’s like her and electronics don’t get along.”
I snorted. “I guess I’ll go get her.”
“Thanks, Creed,” she said. “You know where she lives?”
“I know about where she lives,” I offered.
“That’s good enough,” she sighed. “Thank you, again.”
Thirty minutes later, I found myself at the emergency room entrance standing in front of a frazzled-looking elderly nurse.
“Who did you say that you were here to see?”
“Birdee Calvert.”
“Ahh, Birdee Calvert used to be Watts.” The nurse nodded. “That’s been pretty confusing. She’s bounced back and forth between the two names since she got here.” She leveled me with a look. “In case you’re not aware of her entire life story, she changed her last name to Calvert to be free of her stepfather and mother’s name. She thought about using her actual father’s name, but she didn’t want to be associated with that, either, thanks to her father being a complete douche to her for her entire life.” The nurse paused. “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, though.”
She kept speaking as if she’d dismissed her own concerns.
“We’ve had some issues with the system today. Every time we input her driver’s license information, it picks up her sister, Mable. It’s been the weirdest thing.”
I didn’t bother to tell her that Birdee’s mother was responsible for that mess, and instead said, “What’s her room number?”
The nurse gave me directions, and I started heading that way moments later.
I found her with her eyes closed and her hair a riot of curls around her face.
I didn’t think I’d ever seen her so approachable.
Every time I met her, she had this huge “back the fuck off” sign stamped on her forehead.
Now, she looked tired and vulnerable.
And tiny as fuck in the hospital bed that she was practically curled up in.
“Are you Mr. Daugherty?”
I looked over to see a doctor on my right. “That’s me.”
“Good.” The doctor nodded. “You know what happened to her?”
I was what happened to her…
“Yes,” I admitted. “What’s the next step? Do I need to get her prescriptions?”
Romeo’s wife was going to kill me. Birdee had literally just gotten out of her arm and leg cast from when she’d been in a car wreck not too long ago.
“Yes, but that can wait until tomorrow. We gave her a dose of pain meds that should last her through the night. Tomorrow, she’ll need to take the antibiotics, though.” He looked at me shrewdly. “You’ll have to wake her up once every hour. If she starts acting off or her pupils are looking odd, I want you to bring her back in immediately.”
I just shook my head.
