A door bangs against a wall, and Daniel’s voice cuts in. “Hey! Don’t yell at my wife like that—watch your tone.” He turns towards her, saying gently, “Let’s go, Gracie girl. Tessie’s being mean to us.”
My eyes almost roll out of my skull.
Grace strokes his hair. “We’re really glad you’re okay, Tessa. Stay safe over there!”
Giovanni reappears in the room, thick eyebrows furrowed, probably at my panicked expression.
“Gotta go, hate both of you, bye,” I whisper-scream, ending the call.
At this point, we might as well call this whole arrangement off. I won’t be able tolookat Giovanni again, let alone work closely with him on my line.Fuck my life.
Gathering my bearings, I pull one of the purple flowers out of the vase on my bedside table and breathe it in, hoping it provides me with the zen I need. “Where did all these flowers come from? Were these from the previous patient’s room?”
“No. If you can believe it, similar to America, hospital rooms here are cleaned in between patients,” he replies dryly.
“So, then it’s… a welcome thing for foreign patients?” I weakly guess.
“No. They’re from relatives.” He sits down in the chair next to my bed.
“…my relatives?” I talk to exactly two blood relatives, if I don’t count my deadbeat dad (and I never do). I know Daniel and my mother love me, but convert-the-US-dollar-to-Euros-to-purchase-flowers seems a little much.
“Myrelatives.” He starts pointing to the various bouquets in the room. “These,” he says, gesturing to dusty pink dahlias, “are from Mamma and Papa.” He points to a bunch of vibrant yellow roses. “And those are from my cousins.” Motioning loosely to the remaining flowers, he casually adds, “The rest are from neighbors or friends.”
My stomach drops. “Exactly how long have I been here?”
“Overnight. We came in after dinner, and it’s morning now.”
We.Giovanni’s been here the whole time. He runs a hand through his messy curls and heaves a sigh. Dark circles shadow his eyes, making him look utterly exhausted. A soothing heat unfurls in me at the thought of him by my side in the hospital. I allow myself to linger in that knowledge for only a few moments before my mind wanders back to the flowers. I’m still trying to figure out how all of these strangers had time in between dinner and breakfast to send them.
Curiosity gets the best of me, and I can’t help but ask, “How do all of these people know I had an allergic reaction?”
He shrugs. “Mamma, of course. She’s beside herself. Thinks you’ll hold a grudge forever.”
Pressure builds in my chest as I think about his poor mother. “Oh my God. I hope you reassured her that I’m totally fine. I’ve forgiven worse people for way more, honestly.”
“You’ve forgiven people forway morethan near involuntary manslaughter?”
I nod. “One time?—”
“Why don’t you rest? The doctor will be in shortly.”
As if on cue, a doctor walks into my room. He’s about our age, on the shorter side with light blond hair and dark brown eyes. Not my type, but definitely attractive. As I direct my attention to him, a human wall steps in front of me and blocks my view.
Giovanni turns back to face me and angry-whispers, “You might want to close your mouth. If you drool, they’ll commit you.”
If the allergy doesn’t kill me, this man might do me in.
The doctor peers around Giovanni’s body. “Ciao, Tessa. I’m Doctor Accardi. Nice to meet you.” His Italian accent is thicker than anyone I’ve spoken with since I’ve been here.
“Ciao. Nice to meet you, too.”
“Ciao, Doctor. I’m herboyfriend, Giovanni.”
I doubt the doctor is going to reveal our pretend relationship to the world, but it’s kind of nice that Giovanni is keeping up with the ruse. It makes me feel like I have someone in my corner.
Dr. Accardi sits by the monitors next to the hospital bed and clicks through my information. He pauses for a moment and lifts his phone, reading what I assume is an English translation for what he wants to tell me.
“We’ve been monitoring you overnight due to the severity of your anaphylactic reaction. We administered intravenous fluids to combat your drop in blood pressure.” After a few additional clicks on the screen, he gives me a once over. “We took yourvitals and ran some blood tests, which came back clear of any underlying conditions. The reaction appears to be solely from the hazelnut. You’re doing well. If you’re comfortable with it, we can discharge you today.”
