Chapter 34
I wasn’t going to answer my phone—until I saw who was calling. “Gyver?”
“Hey, Mi. Meagan told me you were sick. How are you?”
“I’m …” I couldn’t think of an answer to that sentence that wouldn’t require a lengthy explanation. “Will you come visit me?”
“You want me to?” He sounded surprised, like it hadn’t been him avoiding me since last Sunday in my kitchen.
“Of course! Always.” It was the simplest, truest thing I’d said all day.
“I’ll be there soon.”
While I waited for Gyver, I tried not to think about my fight with Mom. Or the tension with Hil. Or my frustration with Ryan. Or the enthusiasm of the crowd, the flip of my cheer skirt, the laughing pulse of the party. Now that I’d decided not to hide, the things I’d sacrificed crushed me with their absence. Like she knew what I was thinking, Ally sent me a photo of them smiling in spirit shirts and cheer skirts. Wish u were here 2!
I was fidgety with emotion that thrummed just under my skin. Annoyed or not, I felt something for Ryan, but it was Gyver’s company I needed right now. He’d help me figure out what to say to the girls and how to fix things with Mom.
“Hey, Mi.”
“Hey!” I knelt up on the bed and held out my arms. “You’re late!”
“Well, Impatient One, we stopped at Scoop’s to get milkshakes and there was a line. I didn’t know if you’d want strawberry or vanilla, so I got you both.” He set them down on the bedside table and hugged me.
“Vanilla, please.” I pulled away. “Wait, we?”
“Hi. It’s okay I came, right?” Meagan stepped from behind Gyver and gave me a hug of her own.
No! I wanted Gyver to myself. I needed his perspective. I needed him to defuse everything in me that was about to combust.
I smiled plastically. “Of course.”
“Meagan!” Doctors and nurses flooded my room and she was engulfed by hugs and questions of “How are you?” All my nurses, even Business Nurse, went out of their way to greet and pet her. I added bitterness and resentment to my internal cesspool—this was my hospital now, not hers.
While Meagan was treated like returning royalty, Gyver relaxed into his spot next to me. He reached over and tapped the IV line. “What good stuff are they feeding you today?”
“Just fluids. They’re going to disconnect me for the night after this bag. My fever’s down and I stopped puking.”
“Not puking’s good,” he answered.
“You sure you don’t mind babysitting me? I’d hate to interrupt.” I looked at Meagan and held out my hand to him.
He took it. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”
“I’m so glad you’re here. It’s been such a—”
“Your hair?” Meagan asked in surprise when her adoring horde had subsided.
“A wig,” I pointed to the foam head on the windowsill.
“It’s a good one; I didn’t know.” For someone who had seen this before, Meagan was edgy and twitchy. She stood awkwardly at the end of my bed and avoided looking at the IV tubes sprouting from my chest. The whole benefit of her friendship was supposed to be that she’d been through this before, yet she was the visitor who made me feel the most uncomfortable.
I tried small talk. “I can’t believe Business Nurse hugged you. I’ve never even gotten a smile out of her.”
“Who?” Meagan stared blankly at the wall above my head.
“Denise,” Gyver translated.
“Oh,” was her insightful response.
“Where are your parents?” Gyver asked.
“Probably at dinner.”
Meagan surveyed the room, her gaze lingering on the door. She was twisting her hands in her lap, miming the process of lathering.
“I’ll try and refrain from kidnapping you while they’re gone.” Gyver smiled and I felt some of my chaos dissolve.
“We’d have plenty of time to make a getaway. They’re staying home tonight.”
“They’re not staying with you?” Meagan was appalled.
“Mom doesn’t sleep well, then I don’t sleep. And she had a major meltdown today.” Gyver met my eyes with a knowing gaze and squeezed my knee through the blanket. I opened my mouth to confess the awful things I’d said—
“What about your dad?”
“He snores,” Gyver and I answered simultaneously.
Meagan shook her head and began to twist her hands again. “I can’t believe you want to be alone here.”
“I’m never alone. Don’t you remember? There’s someone coming in every ten minutes.” I laughed, but she didn’t. I looked to Gyver, but he was also watching Meagan, concern cutting into the line of his jaw.
She chewed her lip, then said in a rush, “I’m sorry, Mia. I can’t do this. I can’t be here.” Meagan was out the door before I could respond.
“What was that about?” I asked Gyver. A part of me, a small, guilty part, was glad to have him to myself.
Gyver tipped his head toward me, his eyebrows converging in a frown. “It’s probably too familiar. Bad memories.”
“Her brother.” Realization began to gnaw at my insides. “You said Max had leukemia and I didn’t need to worry. Did he …” I swallowed the last word.