“And now you don’t?”
I thought about her question. “It was already complicated. I guess this made it easy.”
“To let go?”
I nodded. “Why do I feel like you’re team Elijah here? You think I should give him another chance?”
She let out a tired laugh. “Do you think I should give Michael another chance?”
“I think you’ve given Michael a lot of chances.”
She squeezed my hand. “They’re both stupid.”
“Agreed.”
“Her leg appears to be healing properly. In fact, we’re going to take off her cast while she’s here. She’ll have to be gentle with it, but she should be able to put some weight on it. Start using it. Her other injuries on her head and abdomen aren’t infected. I think she just caught a virus,” the doctor said.
I stood at the foot of her bed, watching her sleeping form. “But she’ll be okay?”
“Her fever is really high and not budging, so we’d like to keep her here until that shows signs of improvement. But I believe she’ll be fine,” he said.
I rubbed my arms. “Okay.”
“We’ll call you if anything changes,” he said.
“I can’t stay?”
He shook his head. “No, we can’t accommodate overnight visitors.”
“But you’ll definitely call me if something changes and I’ll come right away.”
“We will.”
“I’m first on her call list, right? The first person you’ll call.”
He lifted her chart from a hook on the wall beside the door. “Sutton…”
“Yes.”
“You are… the second.”
I sighed and nodded toward the hall. My mom appeared to be asleep, but she also could’ve been listening. We stepped out of the room.
“Is Charles Scott the first on her emergency contacts?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said.
“That’s my dad and he hasn’t been back here in fifteen years. And he’s not coming back. Can you call me first? And second and third? Can you take him off the list?”
“That part is up to your mother.”
Wasn’t that the truth? It was always up to my mother, and she always seemed to make the wrong choice. I wondered if, after our talk last night, that would change.
“But I will make a note to call you first,” he said.
“Thank you.”
I didn’t know what to do with myself back at the house. I’d already cleaned and organized and done several loads of laundry, full of all my mom’s blankets from her bed and coverings from the couch. My phone had been in my pocket the entire time, in case I got any calls. I hadn’t. I was exhausted, but also, I couldn’t sleep.
