The Art of Starting Over

Chapter 33 - Happy Birthday

The elevator stopped on every floor. We went up, down and up again. I checked the time. It was already eight o'clock. I hoped Ms Atkins hadn't been in to see Millie yet. Romina had said she usually saw her patients first thing in the morning.

Finally, we stopped on the second floor. I walked out with a small luggage full of things for Millie. According to the internet, they should remove the drain and catheter today unless there were complications, and maybe stop the morphine depending on the pain. Millie would want to have it stopped, but I would tell her to keep it if she was still uncomfortable. There was no reason for her to suffer unnecessarily.

I practically ran to her room and sighed out all the pent-up anxiety from my wretched dreams, relieved to find Millie sitting up, her back resting against two pillows and chatting cheerfully with a nurse. The nurse handed her a cup of black coffee and started removing her drip.

"Now, as I said," she told her. "Keep the morphine a while longer, at least until the physiotherapist comes to get you out of bed. Then take a shot and I'll remove it for you. But like that, you'll be covered for the first time you get out of bed."

The nurse noticed me and smiled warmly. She was a tall, blonde, middle-aged lady with kind brown eyes that crinkled at the corners. I thanked her as she walked out.

I noticed that the bed next to Millie's was still empty, which was a blessing considering the amount of stuff I brought with me. I also noticed a pretty, clear vase holding a large bouquet of lilies, sunflowers and irises taking up all of Millie's bedside cabinet. The bunch Sosa had brought yesterday was smaller and had carnations in it.

"I thought flowers weren't allowed in your room," I said curiously as I started unpacking her things.

Nanna Millie smiled mischievously. "Apparently, the risk is not that high if they're brought in by a handsome, young man."

I froze in my tracks. Millie didn't know a lot of handsome, young men. My heart raced as I forced myself to continue unpacking Millie's clothes and placing them neatly in her cabinet.

"You should have seen the girls while he was here," she went on humorously. "Six nurses must have come in to make sure my IV was running okay. I think that's why Agnes removed it."

I gave her a tight smile while I opened her drawer and organised the items inside, adding today's newspaper, her novel and a new box of tissues.

"I'm surprised you didn't bump into each other in the corridor. It hasn't been ten minutes since he left."

"He came early," I commented shortly, not knowing what else to say.

"Yes. He couldn't stay long. Said he has an early meeting," she answered absent-minded. "I told him he doesn't have to visit every day but you know how he is. There's no convincing that man."

'No kidding!' I thought to myself, trying my best to ignore the tightness in my chest. I kept myself busy, hoping that Millie didn't notice my flushed cheeks as flashbacks from my dreams came to me in waves.

I prepared a clean towel and facecloth on her wheelie bed table together with her shower gel, deodorant and brush.

"How's the coffee?" I asked.

She narrowed her eyes at me, evaluating whether I was being serious or funny. Stifling a laugh, I took her cup and washed it in the kitchenette.

I stared at all the flowers in front of the Madonna as I polished the scratched cup. Then, hearing a commotion in the corridor, I turned around just in time to see Ms Atkins and a flock of junior doctors and medical students rush by. I hurried after them to Nanna's room.