She stopped laughing and paused for a moment before asking, “Do you know what Half-Home is?”
I glanced at the picture on the cover of the flyer, a father and daughter hugging each other. There were no other words on it besides ‘Support Half-Home.’ “A father-daughter program?”
She broke out into a fit of laughter again.
“What?” I snapped, even though I couldn’t help but grin. The nurse behind the station looked at me, leaning forward to speak, but I held my finger up at her, telling her to wait a second.
“Half-Home is a drug rehab program! You just…” She tried to hold in her laugher as she said, “You just said you wanted to donate to a program that tries to take away the customers who are making you so very rich enough to donate.”
I couldn’t help the Grinch-like frown that appeared on my face. The nurse stood up, pointing behind me. I glanced back at the families, also on the phone but a lot more panicked, who had photos in their hands. They were scanning around for whom I could only guess was their family members.
“Sweets, I’m going to have to call you back…duty calls.”
“Spending money on obscene shit?” she questioned.
“No, pretending to give a shit,” I said to her in Korean.
“Fighting!” she replied before hanging up.
Taking the Bluetooth out of my ear and tucking it in my shirt pocket, I turned to face the nurse, who was more than annoyed with me. Flashing a smile at her and standing straighter, “Hi—”
“This is a hospital, sir. You should finish your calls outside.”
“Sorry about that,” I said, still smiling while I tapped my fingers on her desk to keep from plucking the eyes out of her little head. “I’m looking for Wyatt Callahan—”
“Do you have an appointment with Dr. Callahan?”
I need an appointment to see my nephew now? “No but—”
“I’m sorry, Dr. Callahan is very busy, and you’ll need to call—”
“Uncle Neal!”
I glanced over to right, somewhat stunned at the man in front of me, dressed in a white coat over a dark red shirt with dark grey dress pants, his hair cut and styled, and a very familiar hidden darkness on his face, even though he grinned from ear to ear.
He’s different.
“Dr. Callahan, is that you?” I grinned, hugging him when he was close, patting him on the back. “I was just being lectured on why us little people must make an appointment to see such an important and busy person as yourself!”
“What?” He pulled back, his brown eyes speckled with spikes of green, shifted to the nurse beside us.
She stood up straighter, eyes wide. And his glance shifted down to her name tag. She noticed. Anyone would have noticed. He made it obvious, and in doing so, she quickly spoke up. “I’m sorry, Dr. Callahan, I didn’t realize he was family.” She looked over to me, and I just leaned on the counter. “If you had said that you were—”
“Ms. LeRoy,” Wyatt cut her off, speaking to the older nurse who only came to the desk to place a tablet back down. She looked to him. “I know you are busy. I apologize, but you get Nurse Alice here some help. She’s seems a little overwhelmed, and a line is forming.”
“Yes, doctor,” she replied, flashing a glare to the younger nurse before moving to speak to the doctor behind me.
“Let’s get brunch, Uncle,” Wyatt said to me, no longer paying attention to the nurse beside me. He’d discharged her without even acknowledging her, already moving away.
“I’m always in the mood for brunch,” I replied, taking only one step before leaning back to look at Nurse Alice, who looked to be having a mental break down. Tapping the flyer, I dropped it on the counter, getting her attention. “If you’re still positioned here later, you might want to talk to people about these flyers. I know it’s a new age and everything, but you still have to have information on them.”
“Uh…I’ll let them know.”
“She won’t be there later, Uncle, let’s go,” Wyatt replied aloud, not giving a shit if she heard him.
I followed him as he walked down the hall, taking the path of the purple hearts. He rolled his neck and yawned before asking, “How are you, Uncle? Is Aunt Mina with you?”
“I’m good as always. So is your aunt. She’s moving our stuff back into the mansion…which is shocking because Ethan made it clear that he needed space.”