“You’re a little nuts, you know that?” I chuckle softly under my breath.
Her smile deepens. “Oh, I’m a lot crazy. In the best possible way.”
The elevator dings, and the doors slide open. There’s an elderly lady inside. Sadie glances up at me.
“Thank you. For being there for that…meltdown.” I nod. She just stares up at me. “It won’t happen again.”
“It’s okay if it does,” I say.
“I wish that were true.”
The doors start to close, and she jumps through them so quickly, they bounce back a bit. The elderly lady frowns. Sadie just gives her a dazzling “I’m sorry” smile. I start to walk on too, but Sadie looks up at me, and her eyes are like a brick wall, right up in my face, telling me no. So I stop and watch the doors close, cutting her off from me physically. Mentally, she’s already started to do that too.
23
Sadie
My heart sinks when I open the front door to the house and hear what sounds like a million voices. I had a hard overnight shift after a giant car accident and the vicious flu running rampant through the city right now had our ER overflowing. But it was a bit of a blessing in disguise because I was so busy I could almost ignore that aching in my chest over…well, everything. My life makes me ache. I’m not a psychiatric nurse, but even I know that’s not good. Not even close.
“Hey! How was work?” Jude asks. He’s the first to notice me as I toe out of my shoes and hang my coat on the rack in the hall. He looks at my scrubs. “Gross. What is that?”
I look down at a yellowish-brown stain on the front of my shirt. “Bodily fluid of some kind. Maybe multiple kinds.”
“Okay. Again, gross.”
“Kidding. It’s mustard from my hot dog at lunch. But stop being a baby. You get blood on your jerseys all the time,” I remind him as I walk past him. He turns and follows me as I go into the kitchen. It’s the room farthest away from all the voices. I think the whole family is in the den, and I don’t feel like joining them.
“Yeah, but it’s like a badge of honor, because I’ve earned the bloodshed, either mine or someone else’s,” Jude explains. “Badge of honor, battle wounds and all that.”
“I’ve earned this.” I point to the stain and start to sniff. Something smells incredible, and I look to see the oven is on. “Because I saved every life tonight. No flatlines.”
Jude lifts his hand, palm out, and I high-five him. “My sister, the real hero.”
“Damn fucking right.” I smile back and then crack the oven door. “You got Winnie to make her shakshuka?”
He grins. “She volunteered. I guess miracles do exist.”
Winnie is an incredible cook, just like our mom, and this savory Middle Eastern egg dish she perfected is a family favorite. But since we moved here, she hasn’t even turned on the stove. She also used to love to knit and took Zumba classes every night, but now she doesn’t do any of that. She doesn’t teach either, because she swears there’s no point getting her California credentials when she’s heading back to Toronto, and Ty, the guy she can’t stop bickering with, eventually. She tutors kids after school with a private company, but she doesn’t even have a spark for that anymore like she used to. So this change in her behavior brings me a smidgen of relief.
“Everyone is in the den, and Win said the food will be ready soon,” he says. “Why don’t you grab one of those gross juices you like and join them and eat with us before you hit the hay?”
Okay. He’s acting weird. Normal Jude would make some snarky remark about how I should go straight to bed so I didn’t eat all the shakshuka.
“I’m not in the mood for a Braddock family function,” I say and yawn. “I have a brutal shift so I’m probably going to grab a kombucha—which FYI isn’t gross, and does more good for your body than your stupid salt lamp—and head to bed.”
“Come on, Sadie. Give us a little love,” Jude begs, and again I’m weirded out. “We’re all just relaxing. Nobody’s off the rails, needy or bitchy. Give us a chance.”
“What the fuck is up with you?” I can’t help but ask.
He opens the fridge and hands me a kombucha. Winnie pops up in the doorway from the hall and smiles at me brightly. Too brightly. “Hey! Glad you’re home. I just have to warm up the naan and we should be ready to eat.”
She pushes us both gently out of the way and starts to zip around the kitchen. I survey the scene, growing more and more skeptical. Out of the corner of my eye I see movement through the arched doorway in the dining room as the rest of the family gathers. Eli and Dixie go to the buffet hutch and start laying out dishes and utensils, and Mom wheels Dad up to his place at the head of the table, and Zoey gets Declan situated in his high chair. They all call out happy greetings when they see me.
“Hey, Sadie, when is your next day off?” Dixie asks.
“Day after tomorrow,” I reply.
“I’m booking a girls’ day,” she replies.
