For the Love of Friends

I picked up Alex’s hand, barely realizing I was doing it, and held it in mine for the entire drive. We didn’t talk.

The Uber driver dropped us at the emergency entrance, and we ran inside to the desk, where we were directed to the cardiac unit. There, in the waiting room, Alex dropped my hand, which I hadn’t realized he was still holding, and embraced an older woman with a tear-stained face. I didn’t need to see that she had the same eyes as Alex to know she was his mother.

“How is he? What happened?” He turned to the younger carbon copy of his mother and hugged her as well.

Sam wiped at her eyes with a tissue. “We were at dinner and he just dropped.”

“What did the doctors say?”

“He’s in emergency surgery right now. We don’t know anything yet.”

“What about the stent from last time?”

“I don’t know.” His mother sank back into her chair. “I don’t know anything. I just told them to do whatever they needed to do.”

Sam noticed me standing there and eyed me warily. “Who’s she?” I felt suddenly selfish for intruding on their family crisis.

Alex flinched. “Sorry. Sam, Mom, this is my friend Lily. Lily, this is my mom, Angie, and my sister, Samantha.”

Samantha shook my hand limply, apparently less irritated now that I was a friend and not more, and told me to call her Sam. His mother nodded in my general direction, but was understandably too distracted for much else.

“I’m going to see if I can get an update,” Alex said, looking around for the nurses’ station.

“They said they’ll tell us when there’s news,” Sam said.

“Well I need to do something.”

“There’s nothing you can do,” Angie said quietly. “Just sit. Please.”

Alex sat down heavily next to his mother. I took the seat on his other side, trying to be unobtrusive. His hand was on the armrest between our chairs and I put mine over it. He turned his over to hold mine, and our fingers intertwined, which sent a small jolt of entirely inappropriate excitement down my spine.

No one spoke. My phone vibrated and I slid it discreetly out of my pocket with the hand that wasn’t in Alex’s. It was Becca, asking how the date went. Good, I assume, since you’re not home?

Terrible, actually.

Then where are you?

I texted slowly, left-handed. At Sibley. Alex’s dad had a heart attack.

Oh no! Let me know what happens.

I told her I would and slipped the phone back into my pocket. Alex looked over at the motion. “Everything okay?” he murmured. “You don’t need to stay.”

“I’m fine right here.” I looked over to his mother and sister. “Can I get anyone anything? Water? Coffee?”

They both shook their heads. “I could use a coffee,” Alex said. “I’ll go.”

“Stay,” I told him, standing and untangling our fingers. “You don’t want to be gone if the doctor comes out. I know how you take it.” He nodded and leaned back in the chair, rubbing his eyes. He looked older in the harsh fluorescent lighting, and there was a hint of gray in his sideburns that I swore hadn’t been there earlier.

I followed signs to the café, which was closed, but there was a vending machine that served coffee. I got a cup for Alex and paused as I passed the food machine. They had Skittles, so I got a bag for him as well. We had joked when we went to the movies that his preference was perfect because I wouldn’t steal any—I maintained that the calories weren’t worth it if the candy wasn’t chocolate.

By the time I got back, a doctor was talking to the family. I hung back, not wanting to interrupt, but tried to catch the drift of what he was saying.

“—an excellent prognosis, assuming surgery goes well. It’s a very common procedure.”

“How long?”

“Probably two more hours. He only needs a single bypass because the stent is holding, so we think it should be uncomplicated.”

Sam and Angie were holding on to each other, and Alex shook the doctor’s hand and thanked him. I waited until he turned to leave before I returned to them and handed Alex his coffee. “What did he say?” I asked quietly.

“They’re doing a bypass now. The doctor thinks he should be okay, assuming there are no complications in surgery.”

“That’s great!”

“Yeah.” Alex sat down shakily and took a sip of the coffee. “This is horrible.”

“There was only a vending machine.” I held up the bag of Skittles. “But I figured these would make a decent chaser.” I sat down next to him. “And I won’t even steal any like you did with my M&Ms after swearing you wouldn’t.”

He smiled weakly. “I’m like that blood type that’s a universal receiver, but with candy. I’ll take any of it.”

“Hospital humor, I like it.”

He put his hand over mine on the armrest. “Thank you.”

I laid my head on his shoulder. “Obviously, I hope there’s not a next time, but anytime.”

He leaned his head on mine and we sat like that for a long time.





CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE


Sharon texted me the Tuesday after Alex’s dad went into the hospital.

Do you want to go to dinner Friday night?

I hesitated. I was exhausted. I was broke. And I kind of, sort of wanted to keep my weekend open in case Alex needed me. His dad was scheduled to come home either Thursday or Friday, and I got the feeling he might need some extra support.

But Sharon never asked to hang out anymore. We had been inseparable in college—when you’re actually friends with your roommate, you tend to do everything together. Once she moved home after graduation, though, our relationship shifted to being conducted largely through texts and social media. She always came out for my birthday, and we would grab lunch from time to time. But the asking began to feel one-sided long before she even met Josh, and I’ll admit, I stopped trying so hard because of that. We still texted multiple times a week, so the conversation never ended, but sometimes she felt more like a pen pal than one of my closest friends.

So I said sure and asked where she wanted to go.

The three dots appeared and stayed for an inordinately long time, making me worry this would be some family event with her mother and that I had been invited solely to be the bearer of bad news. Again.

The message finally appeared. Yay! Wear something cute—I mean, you always look cute, but look EXTRA cute. Josh’s cousin Seth just broke up with his girlfriend and you two are going to be the perfect match. He’s a doctor and he’s even taller than you! Just don’t wear heels that are TOO tall. He’s a groomsman in the wedding too so if you two hit it off, you have a date and everything. And if you get married, we’ll be related!

My shoulders sank. She was still typing.

Was I opposed to being fixed up with a doctor? No, of course not. But ugh, had I reached the spinster stage where this was a thing? Yes, I had filled her in on the whole Tinder debacle, so she was just trying to help. But I still wondered if it was too late to bail and hang out with Alex instead.

Ok, I replied eventually. If Sharon noticed my lack of enthusiasm, she didn’t mention it. And either way, I was happy to see her away from her mother. She turned into such a timid mouse around Mrs. Meyer, and I missed my friend.



I wrinkled my nose at my reflection in the elevator of my apartment building as I went down to catch my Uber to dinner. I had sent a picture of my outfit to Megan and she said it was perfect, but I wasn’t so sure. What did one wear to look cute, but not desperate, when a friend decides to set her up on a date? Plus Megan seemed a little too excited about this whole situation, telling me that of course I could bring the doctor as a date to her wedding. Which was one hundred percent about Justin and I knew it.

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