Flight Risk

Capitulo Veintidos

Kristy had to stick around the hospital for three and half hours after her shift so she could be present for the discharge teaching and so she could ask the Intensivist additional questions about my respiratory rehabilitation. They say doctors and nurses make the worst patients, but I’d have to argue and say patients with doctors and nurses as close friends and family make even worse ones. I say that because when they’re the patient themselves, they only expect you to do your job right. When it’s someone close to their heart, they expect you to be the best.

When I got home, as in the one I left to avoid Sam, I almost cried. The kids had set up a little “Welcome Home” bash for me and everyone that mattered to me was there, emphasis on everyone. Vince and Cody, who I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of since their return were standing in the back with Brad, who looked leagues better than he had the last time I had seen him in the hospital. There was a twinkle in his eye that I hadn’t seen a very long time, which made me wonder how long he had been using before spiraling out of control. The always elusive Joe, owner of Cup O’ Joe’s, was sitting on the couch talking one hundred miles an hour to my long suffering real estate agent and neighbor, Bill.

Old Mrs. Rodgers was sitting at the coffee table playing bridge with her favorite old biddies Tara, Christina, Denise, Nika, Shannon, Simmone and Betty. Brian was off in a corner talking to someone whose face I couldn’t see because his back was to me, and I could hear mayhem occurring in the kitchen.

The moment I shuffled through the front door all conversation stopped and they scrambled like little mice for their “Surprise!” shout that came out as a pathetic disjointed mess because none of them had been expecting me to walk through the door just yet. As unsynchronized a greeting as I received, it still touched me beyond words and my smile was so huge it hurt my face.

“Dang it Mom!” Tyler grumbled, “You were supposed to warn us!”

“Yeah,” the twins complained.

Kristy ran a hand through her hair and had the sense to look slightly abashed. “Sorry.”

“Trini!” Rissa shouted barreling through the kitchen door and toward me. I was already wincing and bracing for the painful impact when she hugged me so gently, it felt like I was a fragile butterfly that she was scared to hold for fear that she would break my wings.

“Hey Snoopy,” Andy greeted from behind me, “I knew you’d be back. Who else would be around to act like the peanut gallery and comment on my crazy, awesome stunts.”

“Doofus,” I returned, giving him a firm hug. Like his sister, he held me like I was something to be broken, but since I was still sore I didn’t protest.

Sam, having been with us for the car ride back to the house ambled off silently to let me greet the masses. He’d been abnormally quiet all morning though I suspected it was because I’d made it no secret that I needed time to myself. His confession or rather his confessions, had left me feeling really confused. But Kristy had made an excellent point and I was done blaming myself.

Sam was a grown man and if his love was for the stage, I wasn’t about to compete for it. He’d always be a musician first and if he picked it over me, I felt comfortable in the knowledge that it wasn’t my fault that we didn’t work out, but his. Heck, maybe Cameron the gay pharmacist from San Francisco would consider going straight for the foreseeable future, and then I wouldn’t have to keep looking for a man to call my own.

When I chuckled to myself for no apparent reason, Joe frowned at me. Apparently whatever he was rambling about at the moment was not funny and I had picked the wrong moment to laugh out loud. I gave him my best apologetic look to which he patted me on the arm and continued talking about whatever I hadn’t been listening to from the start.