When it’s obvious no one is going talk, she turns on the radio. I song I recognize is playing. As I hum with the song, Becca maintains a white knuckle grip on the steering wheel. I wonder if it’s because the roads are snow covered and slick or if she’s grief-stricken to find out Andy’s off the market. I’ll keep on wondering because there is no way I’m going to ask.
The hospital isn’t far. When she parks, an older Nick Jonas song, Jealous, starts to play. It’s almost funny how fast she turns the car off killing the song midsentence.
Andy takes my hand as we walk into the building. He tries to be nice and make small talk with Becca, but her clipped answers are indication enough she’s not happy.
When we reach the ward, Becca takes off her jacket and introduces me to the other nurses sitting at the station.
“Hey everyone. This is Doc Drew’s girlfriend, Cate.”
I get a few smiles. A few others trade glances between Becca and me. I’m starting to wonder if Becca is a former girlfriend or fling of Andy’s. She does know where he lives.
“Weren’t you here earlier, Doc?” A male nurse with dark hair and a round face asks, easing the tension and cutting off my thoughts.
“Yes. I’m back to see Tasha. Her mom wasn’t here earlier and has asked to speak to me.” He lays his coat on a chair and steps back over to me.
“Well aren’t you nice? Must be the southern upbringing. Doc Chad, the ass, wouldn’t ever come back in for a patient.”
The other nurses laugh at the guy’s comment. Andy shakes his head and steers me away from the station.
“I shouldn’t be long.”
We walk down a hall that isn’t as sterile looking as the hospitals I’ve been in. The walls are paneled in a medium wood grain color and have colorful pictures of puppies and kittens on them, making the place look much more cheerful than it is. The glass fronts of patient rooms are bright with hanging blinds that can be opened or closed for privacy. The hallway is large and there are only rooms on the one side.
“Wait right here.”
We stop on the opposite wall from a room where a little girl lies in bed. “Tasha” is written on a white board outside her room.
I nod and try to breathe through the anxiety. It all rushes back to me despite how everything looks different.
“Doc Drew,” a nurse calls before he can enter the room.
Her hair is blonde and swings around her shoulders as she bounces over to him.
“I thought I wouldn’t get to see you today. When I heard you came back, I had to come up to see you.”
She reaches out, but he holds out a hand and steps back. His face shifts and he almost looks angry.
“You have stop or I’m going to go to human resources again. I’m not interested. My girlfriend over there can attest to that if you need to hear it from someone else.”
Andy points at me and I straighten. So this is the girl I saw kissing him. Then who is Becca?
Her hands fall to her sides. “Fine, you don’t know what you’re missing.”
She spins on her nurse’s shoes and they squeak in protest. She clomps off and Andy glances up and me and shrugs. I give him a thumbs up and he smiles a little. He glances away from me when a little girl tugs on his lab coat.
He kneels down to be at her eye level. I’m given a clear view of the small, pretty girl with brown skin and a bald head. She has a pink headband on with a bow. She looks so tiny compared to the IV pole she walks with.
“Doc Drew,” she says in a tiny voice. “They shaved off the rest of my hair. Do you like it?”
Andy’s smile couldn’t have been bigger. He reaches up and touches the side of her face. “You are beautiful.”
Her baldness is another reminder of how Andy is so much stronger than I am. He’s ready to slay the cancer dragon, while I’m ready to be consumed by its fire.
Her eyes dip. “You think so even without my hair?”
His finger gently lifts her chin. “Absolutely.” Then he leans in and whispers something in her ear.
She smiles but it doesn’t exactly reach her eyes.
“Is your mom around?”
She nods. “She went to get something to eat.” Her face changes immediately. “I’m not feeling so well.”
“Let’s see what we can do about that.”
He picks her up like he’s her knight in shiny armor. It’s hard for me to stop the tears from spilling over that well up in my eyes.
He carries her in one arm and pushes the pole with his free hand. Just as he lays her down, she tosses her cookies all over him and the bed. He doesn’t look disgusted at all. The fact is, he never even blinks, or misses a beat. He calmly reaches for a plastic basin on the side of the bed and holds her while she finishes vomiting.
Two nurses come jogging over. One has fresh linens and the other takes the girl from Andy while they remake the bed and get her cleaned up. He doesn’t leave her though. He continues to talk to her with what can only be reassuring words. I can’t hear them, but the way he looks at her is telling.