“They’re trying to stop the internal bleeding. He was unresponsive when they arrived with him. God … we’re just so lucky someone happened to see him go over the edge, otherwise …” Her voice cracks.
Otherwise, he would have died and it would have taken days if not longer to find his body. Those lines I can read between.
“Where’s Roman?”
“He’s at home with Julie’s mom, Peggy. Come on.” She takes my hand and pulls me to the other side of the waiting room.
Kent gives me a sad smile as Lori introduces me to Eli’s sisters, Kendra and Molly, and their husbands and children. Julie is on the other side of Kent with red eyes and a tissue wadded in her hand. I smile at her. She glances in the other direction and wipes her eyes. Kent rests his hand on her back and rubs circles on it while she leans into him.
“Sit, Dorothy. I’ve sat far too long. I think I need to take a walk. Kent, message me if you hear anything.” Lori releases my hand and points to the seat on the other side of Kent.
“My mom’s here. She drove me. She went to get coffee. I’m good. I don’t need to sit right now.”
Lori nods. “Okay. I’ll be back in a little bit.”
Here I stand … in front of Eli’s family and Dr. Hathaway, who is either really sad about the accident—too sad to even smile at me—or she’s still upset about the farmer’s market incident. I can’t blame her either way.
“Hey, here you go.” Mom hands me a cup of coffee. I turn toward her and take a few steps back to distance us from Eli’s family.
“I guess you’re not going to introduce me, huh?” Mom gives me a look. The you-have-poor-manners look.
“Lori took a walk. Dr. Hathaway is on his dad’s right, crying. I know Kent’s name, but I already forgot Eli’s sisters’ names and the names of their spouses and kids. I would epically fail the introduction.”
“Fair enough.” Mom nods.
“I should have just gone to the cafeteria with you. We’re just going to wait here now for who knows how long, and eventually a doctor will come out and either say he’s dead or alive. Either way, I won’t be allowed to see him very soon, so …” I shrug.
“He’ll be fine. We have to believe that.”
I nod.
During the three remaining hours of surgery, I take the opportunity to introduce my mom to his family. After Lori comes back, we grab an early morning breakfast sandwich and a Dr. Pepper, and take a long walk around the block. Then two doctors come out to let his family know that they stopped all the bleeding. He has two fractured ribs, a broken fibula, a multitude of cuts and puncture wounds, and cerebral edema.
It’s a miracle he survived the fall. At least that’s the chatter going around the waiting room. And as bad as the list of injuries sounds … in the larger scope of things, they are minor injuries. He doesn’t need surgery for the fractures. And as long as the swelling in his brain goes down without any complications, he should make a full recovery.
The doctor said it will be another hour before family can see him, and even then, he probably won’t be conscious.
“I’m going home. I have school. I’m here if you need me. Just let me know. I can help with Roman or … whatever.” I nail my exit speech after practicing it during the last hour of surgery because I knew I wasn’t staying. In fact, I’m dying to get out of this waiting room.
“You should come back with us.” Lori gestures toward the ICU.
“I’m not family.”
“Dorothy …”
“I’ll check in tomorrow after school.”
Lori frowns. “Okay. We’ll make sure someone contacts you if anything changes.”
“Great. Thanks.”
I power walk straight out of the hospital.
“I noticed Dr. Hathaway was next to Eli’s dad, getting ready to go back with them to see Eli. Is she really still family?” Mom asks.
“I don’t know. I don’t care. He probably won’t wake up while they’re there. No need to stand in the corner of the room, watching a machine help him breathe.”
“Why was he planning on visiting you so late?” She follows me out the door.
“He wanted to talk. At first, he made it sound like he wanted to talk about my date with Dr. Warren. But I don’t know why that would be. I think it must have been something else because his messages seemed urgent.” I get in Mom’s Ford Escape.
“Wait … you went on a date with Dr. Warren?” She closes her door and starts the car.
“Yes.” I lean my head against the headrest. “I was going to tell you about it, but you were asleep, and then I just forgot about it, more like blocked it from my memory. He took me for fondue. I just couldn’t. It was so gross. I can’t believe those restaurants are even legal. It’s just a melting pot of nasty germs. A haven for chronic double-dippers. I’m not gonna lie, my stomach hasn’t been right ever since. I think I caught something. Tomorrow I’m going to request blood and stool tests. Legit, I ate one bite, the first one, but you know they don’t wash those pots between customers. They just pour in more milk and cheese, crank up the heat, and assume it will self-decontaminate from the heat. Wrong!”