Chapter 7 - The Hours He Could Not Buy
Lucy followed the bed until a nurse stopped her at the double doors.
"You can kiss her here."
She stood on tiptoe. Olivia managed to turn her face.
"No more running off," Olivia whispered.
"Then come back and ground me."
Olivia's mouth moved into the smallest smile.
Ethan leaned down next.
There were a hundred things to ask. A hundred things he wanted to take back.
"We'll be here," he said.
Her fingers brushed his wrist.
Then the doors closed.
The waiting room clock read 8:17.
Lucy sat with both feet tucked beneath her. Ethan brought her dry clothes from the hospital gift shop and crackers she didn't eat. Mrs. Alvarez helped her change, then called a relative who had been waiting for news.
By ten, Lucy had checked the door so often that Ethan knew which small movement meant hope and which meant panic.
"You can sleep," he said. "I'll wake you if anyone comes."
"Mom says that when she's doing laundry. Then I wake up and she's still doing it."
"She works a lot?"
"At the diner. And she fixes clothes. She can fix almost anything."
Lucy rubbed her thumb along a crack in the envelope.
"Except this."
He looked down.
"This wasn't yours to fix either."
"Somebody had to."
He had no defense against that.
At eleven, Dana called. Olivia had authorized her to retrieve a tin box from the apartment with Mrs. Alvarez. It held the returned letters and more financial records.
"Go ahead," Ethan said. "I'm staying here."
Lucy watched him put the phone away.
"Don't you have work?"
"I can miss work."
"Mom can't."
He let that sit between them. His freedom was another thing she'd never had.
Near midnight, she opened a little spiral notebook.
Inside were school dates, a spelling certificate, and a drawing of three people beside a crooked house.
"Who's that?" he asked, pointing to the tall figure.
"You. Before I knew what you looked like."
The drawing had no face.
Ethan pressed his palms together so she wouldn't see them shake.
"Would you still want me if Mom got better?" Lucy asked.
"Yes."
"Even if she doesn't want to be your girlfriend?"
"Lucy, you aren't part of a deal."
For the first time, she moved closer on the couch.
At 1:36, the surgeon came through the doors.
May you like
Ethan stood so quickly his knee struck the table.
"The operation is finished," she said. "We need to talk."
