It was Liz who had driven me to the hospital earlier, following the ambulance. Kasey and Lana were behind us in thetruck, while Clark and Ben hung back to help finish up the sale. For something so important just an hour earlier, though, now it was the last thing on my mind.
It had been bad enough seeing my mom down, weakened. Sitting in the small ER waiting room in a plastic chair with no updates was even worse.
“… to loop in her doctor in Timlee,” Kasey was saying. She and Liz were huddled by the nurses’ desk. Of course they knew the guy on duty. “I’ll contact her assistant. Maria?”
Marella,I thought.
“Marella,” Liz said. “I’m sure it was just the heat. And she’s barely been eating.”
I swallowed, going back to the blaring TV that hung overhead. Where they were doing a story about a local cancer fundraiser. Of course.
Lana, who was beside me, got to her feet and climbed up, changing the channel. Movie. Informercial for knives. More news. Finally, she landed on three women at a table, wineglasses between them, then climbed back down.
“You likeBig New York?” she asked, settling in again.
I turned back to the TV. One of the women appeared to be angry. “It’s a show?”
“Thebestshow.” I must have looked as skeptical as I felt, because she added, defensively, “What do you watch?”
Sports with Colin. Cartoons with my little siblings. Documentaries. “Not much,” I admitted.
Just then, I heard Liz’s voice. A doctor had joined her and Kasey. I started to get up, but before I could, he was pushingback through some double doors. They watched him go. Then Kasey put her hand over Liz’s and kept it there.
“Okay,” I said, turning back to the screen. “Fill me in.”
“Right.” Lana pointed a finger. “Leslie is on the left. Her BFF is Kika. That’s her in the fur shorts.”
I nodded. It looked like she was sitting on a squirrel. “Who’s the other one?”
“With the huge boobs and the tiny dog? Gretel. Her house has twenty bedrooms.”
Another ambulance pulled up, two paramedics jumping out. As they went around back, pulling out a gurney, I felt that lump in my throat again.
“Now, Leslie is on her third marriage, to Berkeley. He’s a celebrity Realtor,” Lana continued.
“He sells celebrities?” I asked.
“Ha. No. High-end properties to famous people,” she replied. “Kika is in a long-term relationship with an NFL player. But he won’t commit.”
“What about Gretel?”
“Sleeps around,” she replied. “Also, has a skin-care line.”
I nodded, trying to clear my throat. It came out more like a sob.
“Don’t cry,” Lana said, which only made it worse. “It’s agoodskin-care line!”
And just like that, I was laughing. Somehow. At least until Liz walked over.
“Finley,” she said. “We can see her now.”
Only two of us, as it turned out, so Kasey and I followedanother nurse down a winding, shiny corridor while Liz called Clark to give him an update. My mom was behind a curtain on a narrow bed, an IV drip in one arm. I’d worried about her looking weak, but instead she just seemed annoyed.
“So ridiculous,” she said when she saw us. Kasey immediately took the seat beside her, but I hung back. “I told you not to call an ambulance.”
“Cat, you passed out cold. I worried you’d hit your head.”
My mom rolled her eyes. “Is that why they’re insisting on all these scans?”
