Sister Mother

Chapter 40

Leo

Gabe and Beatrice said that the worst thing to do in the waiting room is wait, so we played Go Fish for over an hour. One of the scrub nurses had Gabe's number, and he got messages telling us that Addie was under, intubated and that the surgery had officially started. Gabe texted me all of these updates, along with the message, "Beatrice likes to know when they send updates, but she doesn't like hearing any updates except for the one telling us Addie's closed."

After the ninth game of Go Fish, we wandered off to the gift shop, where I found Addie's credit card in my wallet, where mine should have been. Gabe was also missing his card. We all laughed, probably harder than we would have if Addie were laughing with us.

Beatrice visited four different vending machines until she found one with a red Mountain Dew. I didn't even know that was a thing until Beatrice told me that Addie told her to get the soda with the most sugar in it. She took that as a solemn oath.

Gabe paid for the soda with cash.

My hands clasped around the back of my neck as we sat back down in the waiting room. Gabe and Beatrice started another game of Go Fish without me. The bottle of Mountain Dew sat on a table. Every now and then, Beatrice would touch it, but she wouldn't open it.

"Still cold?" Gabe asked.

"Yup. How long has it been?"

"Only two hours."

It felt like it had been two years. I closed my eyes and heard Addie's voice in my head.

"If it gets too much, don't let Gabe or Beatrice see it."

"Where's the bathroom?"

Without looking up from his cards, Gabe pointed down a hallway. "Down there, to the left."

"Let me know if—"

"Last update was less than thirty minutes ago," Beatrice said. "There won't be any for a while."

"Right." I rose to my feet and left the room as fast as I could, trying not to make it obvious that I was running.

No, I'm not running. If I am, it's only to the bathroom.

I ran right past the bathroom, having no destination in mind. Sitting in one place didn't do me any good. I needed to stretch my legs and get rid of the adrenaline. My emotions were threatening to spew out of me. Pacing helped me work through them rather than act on them.

I walked down so many hallways—all that were either multicolored or had animals painted on them—that I lost count. When my legs began to shake and my heavy breath got the best of me, I leaned against one of the walls.

Please let her be okay. She has to be. I need her to be. My phone buzzed in my pocket.

Mags: News?

I wiped sweat off my brow before I responded.

Leo: She's still in the OR.

Brennan: How much longer?

Leo: At least 3 hours.

Vance: You're kidding, right?

Mags: Lay off him. He's there, we're not. If you don't update us every 30 min, I'll drive there myself and rip you to pieces.

Leo: You could have come here yourself

Mags: Your girlfriend wouldn't let me