Need Someone | [Complete]

Chapter 19: Never See Him Again

Ziggy kept getting better by the hour. I stayed with him for two full days and nights after his surgery, fearing that a sudden complication would take him from me if I looked away. But there was nothing of the sort. He was fine. Better than fine.

His biopsies came back clean, his initial scans looked amazing. He was well out of the woods and I could not be more relieved. He was in remission.

When I had to get back to work, I spent any time I could find to come down and see him. I sat next to him as he flirted with me, holding my hand in one of his and placing the other on my bent knee. "They're weaning me from the morphine now, which sucks, but I'm starting to feel things again. So . . . whenever you feel like giving me a hand . . ." he made a stroking motion in the air.

I cackled. "Absolutely not."

His smile widened. "You look so fucking beautiful when you laugh. You should do it more often." He grimaced. "Sorry, I said it, and then heard how misogynistic that was."

We both laughed. He was becoming more of his old self every day.

"Mr. Ziegler, you have a visitor," a nurse said from the doorway.

Surprised, I turned around and see an older woman walk into the room.

She looked a little destitute, her clothing an ill-fitted sweatshirt and jeans. Her hair was a disheveled bob, giving the impression she was younger than she looked. "Mom," Ziggy said. I turned to him in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"They called me. Said you just had surgery for. . . for cancer."

Ziggy looked at me in question. I shook my head to tell him it wasn't me who called He looked back to his mother and pondered her presence for a moment. He squeezed my hand. "Give us a minute?"

I nodded and got up to leave.

She walked in and I lingered by the station. I watched him talk to her. He seemed hesitant at first, but then started to smile. A few minutes later, he pulled her into a hug and kept her there. I wanted to keep waiting in the wings in case something went wrong, but he seemed okay. I needed to get back to work.

They moved Ziggy back to our floor for the last stint of his recovery. In just a couple of days, he would be a free man.

Ever since his mother had come to visit, he had been a bit distant. He didn't talk to me about it, I hadn't received any nighttime calls or texts, I barely gained an extra glance when I passed his room. He knew I hadn't been the one to call her, or at least I thought, so I wasn't sure why he was suddenly acting so different.

I spent my morning helping out in oncology, dealing with awkwardness from the other staff, but a warm welcome from the patients. The ladies asked about Ziggy the moment I walked in. Though I couldn't tell them much, the smile on my face said enough.