Roommate Wanted

Chapter 9

One week later

Shelby's Point of View

The past week has gone by really slow. Karlie had to travel to Chicago for some architecture conference, and was getting back tonight. I was super excited to see her and actually looking forward to coming out to her. I got her favorite Italian take out food and her favorite bottle of wine, so we could catch up over dinner. As soon as I finished setting the table, she walked through the door. 

"Welcome Home - " I started to say, as she ran to her room and completely ignored the meal I had set out

Something had to be wrong. I went to her room and saw her frantically dumping the contents of her suitcase on the ground and throwing different clothes inside. She was so hyper focused that she didn't even notice me watching.

"Karlie, what is going on, is something wrong?" I asked.

She turned and looked at me. I noticed her eyes were watering and red. "My mom just called about 15 minutes ago, my dad had a heart attack. I need to get back home now."

I pulled out my phone and started looking up flights to Sante Fe, NM, which is where Karlie is originally from and her parents currently live. There soonest flight available wasn't until tomorrow morning. I looked up the drive on google maps and it was about five and a half hour drive. 

"Karlie, there are no flights until tomorrow morning, and that's too long of a drive for you to make alone, I am coming with. I'll drive" I stated, then I went to my room and started packing.

Karlie didn't fight me at all on me coming. I think she was just so hyper focused and wanted to get home she didn't have the capacity to think about anything else in the moment. We threw our stuff in the backseat of her truck, and I started driving. Karlie was getting text updates from her mom. Her dad just went into bypass surgery, with us still having about 4 hours and 45 minutes of driving left. That would likely get us there before his surgery was over.

"How are you holding up?" I asked Karlie, who had been pretty silent minus keeping me updated on what her mom was texting her.

"I don't know. I'm scared and I'm worried. I'm exhausted from my trip home from Chicago so I am struggling with even fully processing everything right now." Karlie responded.

"Why don't you take a nap. I'll drive the entire way. Typically those surgeries take 4 - 6 hours so you probably won't hear any updates from your mom now that he's back there, might as well get some rest now." I said. "I worked at the hospital for about a month that your dad is in right now. It is well known for its surgical staff, trust me, he is in great hands."

"Thanks, it does make me feel better. Ok, I'll try to sleep for a bit so I am more alert when we get there. I put my phone on ring incase my mom calls." Karlie said. Then she closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat.

Once we were about 10 minutes from the hospital I woke Karlie up. I told her that her mom didn't text her at all while she was asleep so it was likely her dad was still in surgery. Once we got to the hospital I dropped her off at the front so she could get a head start while I found parking. I wanted her to have a few minutes alone with her mom before I showed up. It was pretty late, and I'm sure that her mom wasn't sleeping, so I stopped by the cafeteria and grabbed her a coffee and Karlie a tea, since I just discovered she isn't really a fan of coffee. I followed the signs to the surgical waiting room and saw Karlie and her mom hugging. I walked up once they sat down and offered them their drinks.

"Oh thank you so much, I was really wanting a coffee but didn't want to get up and get it incase the doctor came out." Karlie's mom said. "You must be Shelby. Karlie just told me about how you drove her down here. That was very sweet of you. I am Karen, Karlie's mom."

"It's nice to meet you Karen, I am sorry it had to be under these circumstances." I responded.

We sat there for about 30 minutes, before a doctor came out and greeted Karen. He told her that the surgery was successful and they were getting ready to transfer him to the ICU for the recovery process. We went down to the ICU and waiting until we were instructed we could visit. They were only allowing family back at this time, so I waited in the lobby. 

About 45 minutes later Karlie and Karen came out and we went back to Karlie's parents house. I was interested to see what Karlie's childhood home looked like and her room. You can learn a lot about someone from their childhood room.

"Shelby, I apologize. We are redoing the guest bedroom right now and got rid of the old bed that was in there and was going to replace it when we were done since we weren't expecting company anytime soon. Do you mind sleeping in Karlie's room?" Karen asked.

"No that's perfectly fine." I said and then followed Karlie to her room.

Her bedroom had a full size bed in the middle with a picture of some mountains hung over it. Her walls were painted a dark blue and she had various pictures hung up with her and what I am assuming were her high school friends. She didn't have too much else in the room, it was very tidy. I'm not surprised, she was a very clean, minimalistic person.

We got ready for bed and laid down. I wasn't sure if Karlie wanted to talk or just go to bed so I just laid there staring at the ceiling, waiting to see what she wanted.

"I have to admit, I'm kind of glad you are staying in here tonight. I don't really want to be alone." Karlie admitted. Then she started crying a bit.

I rolled over and hugged her and she berried her face into my chest.

"I hated seeing him like that. I am glad the surgery was a success but I could just tell he wasn't feeling like himself," Karlie said. "I feel terrible. I haven't been home much the past few years because I've been busy with work and haven't made it a priority. I don't want my dad to think I didn't care"

"I'm sure he doesn't think that." I assured her. "You are here now and that's what matters."

She didn't pull away from me, so I kept my arms wrapped around her. Next thing I knew we were both dozing off to sleep.