“I’ll take care of anyone I’m assigned. I don’t care who they are. Though, if I’m honest, I wasn’t anxious to deal with all the extras that come with treating a celebrity. Shooing people away, dealing with the extra security. Being incredibly careful about not letting anyone overhear when discussing patient care.”
“Have people been lurking?” I didn’t want the stupid media poking their noses where they didn’t belong. I didn’t want to end up in a news article. Again.
Claire shook her head. “Security is doing a good job and now that he’s settled in a room, this area will be tightly controlled. Things should be fine.”
I nodded to myself. “Good.”
“Don’t worry,” she said as she finished up and headed toward the nurses’ station. “We’ve got things well in hand.”
♪♫♪
I parked myself in the waiting room during Sean’s surgery and fell asleep on one of the couches. There was a crick in my neck when I woke, and I sat up, trying to rub it out. When my eyes focused, I saw the lady from the night before sitting across from me, a coffee cup in hand. She held it out to me. “You should have gone home to sleep. Rookie mistake.”
I blinked in surprise, then took the coffee from her and murmured my thanks.
“I’m Naomi, by the way,” she volunteered.
“Libby.” I took a sip.
“Nice to meet you.”
“You’re back early,” I commented when I realized the sun hadn’t been up for long.
She shrugged. “I have a day job, which means I have to check on him during my ‘free’ time. Is your friend okay?” she asked.
I looked around, catching the eye of the nurse behind the counter. She said nothing. I shrugged. “I think he’s still in surgery.” My leg bounced up and down, worried that it was taking so long. Or maybe he was done, but no one had told me.
“Um…” I stalled, trying to decide what to do. “Maybe I should go make sure he’s not back yet.”
“Okay.” She kept her seat, sipping from her own coffee cup.
My body faced the direction I needed to go to get to Sean’s room, but my feet wouldn’t follow. Eventually I checked my phone and then sat down. If he was out of surgery, Randy would have texted me.
Naomi’s mouth lifted in an understanding smile. “You really love him, don’t you?”
“Yeah.” My sigh was resigned. “No matter how much it hurts.”
She looked me over, her eyes assessing, then tilted her head down the hall. “Come on. Let’s get you something to eat.”
I drifted mindlessly beside her, allowing her to steer me down corridors and elevators until we reached a larger waiting area with a coffee cart and vending machines. “Sit,” she commanded and I took up residence on one of the couches, while she set her purse and jacket into the seat next to me. The presence of her personal items finally registered. “Your dad doesn’t need you?” I asked.
“He’s asleep. You don’t mind if I eat a little something with you before I go, do you?”
I shook my head.
She smiled and excused herself.
Left once again with my own thoughts, my mind quickly spiraled into the realm of worst-case scenarios. Possible complications with the surgery. Sean not gaining back full use of his hand. Not being able to play the guitar again. He would realize this life was killing him and he’d finally hate me for pushing him into it. He’d push me away and then he’d nose dive and there would be no one there to pull him out.
Naomi came back with a random assortment of vending machine items, piling them on the table in front of me.
“Hopefully I picked something you’ll like,” she said as she took her seat.
A wisp of a smile crossed my face. “This is great. Thank you.” I found a granola bar and pulled it open.
After a couple minutes of silence, Naomi spoke up. “He’s going to be fine,” she assured me.
I huffed, feeling slack and tired. “He doesn’t have great luck.”
“Maybe not, but he has great surgeons.”
I looked at her, trying to decide what her angle was, especially since my gut seemed to think she didn’t have an angle. “How do you know?” I asked as I swallowed the last of my granola bar and reached for a bag of chips.
“He’s in the unofficial VIP wing. Home of rich people, celebrities, and politicians. Trust me, his surgeons are the best they have.”
I nodded, still mostly numb.
“He must be a good friend to you,” she said.
I looked at her, waiting for her to explain this random assertion.
“For you to be so loyal. He must be a good friend.”
I wanted to say yes. I wanted to say he was one of the best. Loyal, always there for me. But it would have been a lie. He used to be that friend. He’d stood up for me, protected me and made me laugh every day after we had met. High school had been a big, fun adventure with him by my side. But now…
“Or not,” she said quietly.
“Like you said.” I tossed the chip I’d picked up back into the bag. “His life is complicated.” I wanted to blow her off. I wanted to tell her it was none of her business. But despite my suspicions that sprouted anytime another female was around Sean, I couldn’t help but like Naomi. Somehow her nosiness came off as endearing instead of annoying.
“Then why do you stick around?”
I thought through all the reasons that I couldn’t put into words. So instead I turned to her, shrugged, and simply said, “He’s family. It’s just what I do.”
“But he’s not family,” she pointed out.
“He’s as good as.” And I was pretty much all the family he had.
She gave me a sad smile and then focused on her food.
♪♫♪
Naomi left after we ate, but instead of going back upstairs, I stayed away. Somehow it felt easier to sit in the empty waiting room two floors down than to go up and wait just outside his door. I sat there a long time, mindlessly scrolling through social media, succumbing to every clickbait headline I came across.
My phone buzzed with a text from Randy.
He’s out.
When I got upstairs, Randy was waiting for me in front of the nurses’ station. “Sean is out of surgery. I told them to let you know when he’s back in his room.”
I nodded, numb. “Okay.”
“I’m going home for a while. Give me a call if I need to come back here.”
I nodded, grateful that tomorrow (or today, I suppose) was Saturday and I didn’t have to worry about missing work. “Go ahead. Tell Gina hi for me.”
“You’re an angel, Libby,” he said as he walked away.
“Yeah right,” I muttered to myself. Then I remembered I had questions for Randy. “Randy!”
He turned back and I walked closer to him, out of earshot of anyone else. “What happened last night? Why did he break the glass?”
His smile was pitying. “I was trying to get him to leave. You know that never goes well.”
I blanched. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“Sean told us not to do that anymore.”
“Yeah, but…”