“Fuck.”
“What? What is it?” Kane’s voice is weak and strained.
“She thinks it’s your appendix, buddy.” Sitting next to him, I rub his back.
His pale, sweaty face scrunches in pain.
“Do you think you can stand?”
“Hurts… so… bad,” he cries.
“Ezra, hang up. Text me which hospital. It’s going to be okay.”
We nearly miss the Uber I order because it takes so long to get downstairs and out of the building. Once we arrive in the emergency room, everything moves quickly. Kane’s blood-curdling scream when the physician presses on his abdomen pierces my heart. Blood and urine tests rule out infections, and a CT confirms the appendix has not yet ruptured.
After he’s wheeled back for surgery, my mom rubs ahand on my nervously bouncing knee. “He’s going to be fine. It’s laparoscopic. Recovery won’t be bad.”
I hyperfixate on the cacophony of noises in the waiting room. The rerun ofCSIplaying too loudly, the rustling of cough drop wrappers, and whispered conversations all make me want to crawl out of my fucking skin.
I’m so dysregulated that when my mom speaks again, I flinch. “Is Millie okay? She was looking forward to this weekend.”
My heart plummets. “Shit.” I startle the middle-aged couple in the corner. “I forgot to call her.”
Ignoring the sign that readsNo Cell Phones, I dig the device out of my pocket.
She answers on the first ring. “Hi. I just checked into the Airbnb. I had no idea it was on the water.”
Fuck if this isn’t going to make it that much harder.
“Hey, honey…” The words come out in my middle school teacher voice. Dammit.
Mom pats me again on the knee.
“Listen. There’s been an emergency.”
“What?” Distress wraps around her voice like a vine.
“Kane had to have an appendectomy. I’m so sorry, baby, but I can’t make it out this weekend.” My voice hitches and my heart constricts at the thought of her precious but disappointed face.
She gasps, the line between us crackling. “Is he okay?”
“He’s in surgery now, but he should be. I’m so sorry, Mills.”
“Why are you apologizing?”
My throat goes tight. “Because I?—”
“No,” she stops me. “I’m fine. The most important thing is Kane. Yeah, sure, it sucks that I won’t see you, but you need to be there.”
The way she’s putting Kane’s needs above her own makes me fall in love with her even more.
“What about next weekend?” I ask.
“Can’t. We’ll be flying. I think I’m free the weekend after that. Could you come to New Orleans?”
“I have that thing for work.”
“Hmm. We’ll figure it out.”
