Patience

Chapter 9 - Confessional

Tuesday couldn't have come quicker. I was terrified for the rest of my weekend about James. I've tried contacting my Dad but he hasn't answered any of my calls or even my texts. Luckily, Mike has been nothing but supportive, always trying to make me feel okay. Kate, Dani, and Bernard have been reaching out too. I'm actually so lucky to have such an amazing support group around me, especially because I've only been around for about 2 months now. I'm beyond grateful though. 

It was 10 am on the Tuesday morning and I don't think I've looked at a clock so many times in my life. I don't know when James will be reaching out to me but I hope it's fairly soon. I got paged by the one and only, asking me to come to his office to talk, of course, Cristine tried to insert herself.

"Oh is that Mike? Is he coming down?" She smiled.

"I don't know Cristine. It could be Mike, it could be someone else using Mike's pager because their's broke or better yet, his broke and he doesn't want me to go to his office. I guess I'll find out." I spat coldly at her. I was not in the mood for her. I am in such a nasty mood and I don't care. My brother's dad is coming to see me with potential news that my Dad could be dying. I think I get a legal pass in this situation.

"Your head isn't right, I'll go see what he wants for you." She sneered at me, standing up from her seat.

"Sit the fuck down, Cris. Mike wants to see her, not you." One of the other receptionists, Sean, had raised his voice at her.

"So? She shouldn't be working if she's being nasty, frankly you clearly shouldn't be either." She frowned, turning into a child right in front me, whining like she was 4 years old again. Wow, what an adult.

"Cris. Sit down." He said again. She finally obeyed and sat back in her desk chair. I walked up to Mike's office and knocked on the door. He opened the door with that iconic smile of his. I walked in and sat down at one of the chairs by his desk, he closed the door and sat in his desk chair.

"Dr. Maconochie called back, he wanted me to pass the message onto you that your patient Simone Landrige has had her cardio-thoracic surgery and he has sent the notes to your email address." 

"Oh thanks for letting me know, I'll take a look at those today. I paged you here to check on you. See how you're doing." He leaned on the table on his elbows.

"I could be a lot better. James hasn't come yet, Dad still isn't answering me. I'm just in a really bad mood and I can't shake it away." I sighed.

"I figured. Are you and James close?"

"I mean, kind of yeah. We have a good relationship. I think it's because the only thing we bonded over was my mother. She was the link between us and now that she's gone, he still wants to be there for my Dad and I. If only his son was the same."

"His son being your brother?"

"Yep. Good ol' Tony. I always wonder if he came from my father, would he still be so nasty. He feels special because he's the only child between James and Mama. I'm the only one between my Mum and Dad but Dad has other children with another lady. Kristen and Janette."

"Wow, big family." He chuckled.

"More like fucking complicated." I chuckled, shaking my head.

"Well, I wanted to ask if you wanted to join me tonight on a picnic in the park? I figured you might want some time to wind down after whatever might happen today." He smiled as he reached for my hand across the table, squeezing it comfortingly.

"That sounds really nice." I smiled for the first time today. He got up from his chair and held out his hands, I grabbed them, lifting myself up from the chair and gave him a big hug.