Baby averted her eyes elsewhere. “Uh, he said no, she doesn’t.” She stayed on the phone for a few more minutes before she hung up. “Paramedics are in route. They should be here in less than five minutes.”
“Should we move her to the living room?” she suggested, coming to stand near me. Biting down hard into my lip, I stared at Auntie praying over mama.
“Nah, we don’t know what’s wrong with her. Ain’t tryna cause no more damage.”
“Love, sit down,” Auntie demanded. “You making me dizzy with all that damn pacing.”
“Fuck!” I shouted, my hands folded together at the back of my head. It wasn’t long before we heard beeping from outside. I asked Baby to go open the door to let them in.
“In here, we’re in here!” Auntie cried out after hearing voices coming down the hall. Two paramedics rushed in with a medical bag. One of them walked around the bed, then leaned over to listen to her heartbeat.
“How old is the patient?”
I continued to pace the floor. “She’s sixty. What’s wrong with her?”
Standing over him, I watched him look at his watch with the stethoscope to her chest, checking her vitals. The other one was questioning my auntie.
“How long has she been like this?” There he goes with all the fucking questions again. I thought we got past all this.
“I came in about twenty minutes ago and saw her.” I looked back and forth between them. Neither one of them would give me a straight answer. “My mama gone be alright?”
“We’ll do what we can, sir. Let’s get her to a hospital.” Another paramedic came into the room to move us out as they worked to get her on the stretcher. Auntie Delia rushed off to grab her shoes.
“I’ll ride with you, Love,” she announced.
Baby rubbed her hand on my back in a soothing motion.
“Come on, let’s go,” she told me, leading me towards the door. “She’ll be okay.”
Shit, she better be. Me and mama ain’t on good terms right now, but I don’t know what I'd do without her. We already lost my pops. I can’t lose her too.
33
BABY
Everything was just spiralingout of control. Love’s mama was rushed into the emergency room thirty minutes ago, and he’s been pacing the floor since we got to the waiting room. Not even I could calm him down.
“Love, please sit. You making me nervous,” His auntie Delia scolded him, rubbing her fingers across her forehead.
“Why they ain’t tell us anything yet?’ he blurted out, waving his hands. “The fuck they doing to mama back there?”
He started to walk towards the counter, but his auntie called his name. “Love Hamilton, I said take a seat!”
Huffing out a breath, he ran his hand down his face in frustration before stomping to the chair beside me. “You ain’t have to yell at a nigga in front of company.”
She dismissed him. “Boy, please.”
Spreading his legs to get more comfortable, he grabbed my hand. I knew this wasn’t the time to admire the way his muscles bulged outta his t-shirt, but I couldn’t help tracing my eyes up his torso, then back to his face. He caught me in the act when he fixed his eyes on me, and smiled knowingly.
I tried to hide my blush, but he pulled me closer. “I know this not what you expected. I appreciate you being here, but you ain’t got to stay.”
Crossing one leg over the other, I leaned my head against his chest.
“I’m fine,” I whispered, peering up at him apprehensively, “...unless you want me to leave?”
I know he invited me to come with him, but that was before his mama had to be rushed to the hospital. I wouldn’t wanna intrude on something so personal.
“Nah,” he admitted. Chills ran down my spine when he bent to kiss my forehead. “I need you here.”
