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“Well, she’s beautiful and so sweet. Come look at the pictures I took.”
She stood and gathered her things for a shower. “Maybe later,” she said when she finally met my disbelieving stare. “I need a shower while no one else is in there.” She went into our closet for her robe, and when she came out, she asked, “What time is your appointment in the morning? So I’m ready.”
“First thing. Eight, I’m pretty sure.”
“Ugh, are you serious?”
“When I made the appointment, I was obligated to be at school, so I was trying to miss as little as possible.”
“I’ll make it work. Anything is better than being trapped here all day,” she sneered. “See you in the morning.” And with that last comment, she left the room.
I was too tired to deal with her and her moods, so I kicked the whole conversation to the mental curb and drove off. Already nestled in my bed, I sank down deeper beneath the covers and fell asleep immediately.
It was an unusually dreamless night, and before I knew it, the alarm was waking me the next morning. My entire body was stiff from not moving for so long, but I felt incredibly well rested and hopped out of bed and went to find my mom. I wanted to wash my hair and wear it down, knowing I’d be seeing Andrew after my appointment. With the cast on my arm, it was so much easier when someone helped, and who better for the job than my mama?
In the kitchen, she was saying goodbye to someone on the phone, so I waited until she ended her call.
“Was that Hannah?” I asked and grabbed a mug for some coffee. “How is the baby?”
Her smile answered my question, but she added, “They’re all doing good. Long night while baby Elanor figures out a routine. The first few weeks are always that way.”
I smiled and asked, “Can you wash my hair this morning? I have a doctor’s appointment for this thing.” I hoisted the cast higher as visual aide “And then I have to meet up with Andrew and work on the grant proposals.”
“I thought you said he was in some sort of accident?” she asked. Honestly, I was surprised she absorbed that bit of information. Yesterday, while we were all at Hannah’s, I told my sisters about what was going on with Andrew. How we’d had that one night of fooling around, and then of course about what happened with the accident.
My mom was in and out of the room so many times, I thought she wasn’t paying attention to what we were talking about. Just more proof—mothers really do hear everything.
“He was. I spoke to him last night on my drive home, and he didn’t sound too good.” I told her the story while we got everything ready to wash my hair at the kitchen sink. I’d be so glad when this damn cast was off. If I hadn’t been so busy the past few days, I would’ve gone to a salon again to have it washed and blown out. I did that once last week, and it was glorious. Not only having my hair done that day, but not having to deal with it for a total of three days. But, here we were, my head hanging over the stainless-steel farm sink and my mom doing her best to work the shampoo through the mass of long hair.
When we were finished, she asked, “Do you want me to comb it out for you? It’s pretty tangled from washing it that way.”
“No, I can do it. I know you probably have a Pilates class to get to. I appreciate the help, though. I couldn’t imagine how I would’ve handled that myself.”
“Isn’t your sister still here? It’s awfully early for her to be up and out the door already.” Whenever someone said your sister to me in a particular way, I knew they were talking about my twin, not one of the others.
“She’s still here. I didn’t want to wake her, though. You know how she can be first thing in the morning,” I explained with an eye roll.
Nodding, my mom said, “Yeah, I sure do. Makes perfect sense. Well, good luck at the doctor’s appointment. Let me know how it goes, okay? I better get moving myself.” And then she gave me a quick kiss on my cheek before bustling off to her room.
Just as I walked back into my room, Shepperd’s alarm was sounding. She pulled the covers down from over her head—the girl slept that way every night—and squinted at her phone. She searched the room until she found me standing by my dresser, watching her.
“Fuck that,” she grumbled and burrowed back beneath the covers.
“I’m leaving in twenty minutes, Shep. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. I can’t be late for the doctor. They’ll make me reschedule.”
“Just go without me. Need more sleep.”
“No worries. Have a great day when you do get up. I’ll be quiet so you can sleep.”
Of course, she didn’t respond to anything I said, so I grabbed my makeup bag and went to the bathroom to finish getting ready. Honestly, I was glad she wasn’t tagging along. I hated having to share a car with her and didn’t want to have to worry about where she was and what she wanted to do all day. I just wanted to spend the day with Andrew and not think about anything else.
The doctor cleared me to drive, and it was a good thing since I drove there myself that morning. The pain was nearly gone, and now the cast was just a nuisance. He said I probably had another four weeks to go before I could get it removed, so I made up my mind to deal with it with a better attitude.
Again that morning, Andrew seemed reluctant to give me the name and address of the place he was at. Now that I’d had some sleep, I knew I wasn’t misreading his demeanor about the topic, either. It made sense that people didn’t like attention or visitors when in a compromised state, but he also said he missed me and was anxious to see me. Mixed signals or not, I made up my mind to stay upbeat and cheerful while I was there, and if it came up again, we could talk about it face-to-face.
I found the place easily, signed in at the front desk as visitors were required to do, and walked through the long hallway on quiet feet. It was late morning by the time I arrived, so I’d picked up some lunch for us at a sandwich shop nearby.
The place was lovely inside and out. Modern decor and super clean and quiet. So quiet it was unnerving. I paused in front of his door and took a calming breath. I couldn’t pinpoint why I was so nervous to see him, but my heart was beating double time.
