Page 581 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

Maria stares at him for one long second,

eyes slowly narrowing.

“Allison, amore mio,” she says, eyes never leaving Andrew. “You take a walk for me, si? I need a word with my son.” I glance between the two, standing. “Just to the end of the hall,” she adds, turning her gaze to me, her eyes doing all the real talking. “Near the bathrooms. You do arm workout.” She winks. “Then you come back in five minutes.”

Paola covers her laugh with her tissue.

Maria lifts a finger.

“And don’t forget your wallet.”

Andrew falls back into his chair,

staring at her.

“Why she need her wallet?”

Maria’s face deadpans on him. “Niente.”

A laugh escapes me as her room shuts behind me.

By this time, the sunrise pours warmth into the hospital, pure gold bleeding through the buildings outside the window.

At the end of the hall, near the bathrooms, the vending machine sits with a halo around it. I walk toward it, slipping my card from my pocket, eyeing the peanut M&Ms on the third row.

I tap the card against the reader,

press C2.

The bag drops,

and I grab a second just in case,

pocketing them in my jacket,

when Andrew appears in front of me.

He leans a shoulder against the side of the vending machine. “Yo,” he says, gazing down at the yellow bag behind the glass. “What did you just put in your pocket?”

I don’t look at him, turning. “Niente.”

“Nah. Absolutely not,” he catches my arm, pulls me back into him. “She’s NPO. You’re not feedin’ her candy before a transplant.”

I fall back on my heel. “Andrew. I bought them for after the surgery.”

But when he looks back at me, his gaze is doing everything at once—shining, darting, begging, avoiding. I glance down at his hand that’s shoved in his pocket, seeing that it’s in a fist.

He’s not okay. Not at all.

I’ve seen him like this before.

He’s trying to strangle a panic attack,

one that’s refusing to die.

I glance over my shoulder.

Nurses move up and down the hall,