Chapter 4
1502 Words
Mia
The smell of disinfectant hits my nose as soon as I walk into the facility. The regular nurses sit behind the desk, waiting for family members to check in.
With a smile, I walk over and ask Mandy, “How was she last night?”
She’s a lovely woman in her early fifties. She takes good care of my mother on the night shift. If I could choose her to be my mother’s carer around the clock, I would, but she needs rest. I’m sure this job gets tiring with the number of people who need care in here. I bet she can’t wait to clock out.
“She was good,” she says. “Had a little trouble with her oxygen, but besides that she took her meds and fell right to sleep. Woke around four asking for some water, but went straight back to sleep. She’s looking forward to seeing you today—kept talking about it all morning.”
So much happiness fills me at her words. I think this is the happiest I’ve been in a while, actually.
“Is she awake?”
“Yeah, come on,” she says, passing me the clipboard to sign the visitors log. “I’ll take you to her.”
I nod, scribbling my name quickly before handing it back. She guides me down the corridor, past her room, to the lounge area where they usually host daily activities.
As soon as I step through the threshold, I hear, “Mi-Mi.”
When I spot my mother, she’s sitting with her close friend, Brenda. They built a friendship when she first arrived. Knowing how lonely it can get, Brenda offered to be her roommate, and now it’s rare to see them apart.
“Hi, Ma,” I say, taking in her appearance and noticing the tubes still in her nose.
Brenda throws down the cards in her hand. “Well, well, if it isn’t Lily’s twin. How’ve you been, sweetheart?”
I nod, hugging my mother tightly before taking a seat and letting out a long breath. “I’m good. A little tired, but good.”
Mom takes my hand. “Have you not been sleeping well, honey?”
You could say that. “We got a new bed, and it’s taking some getting used to. You know how I am with change.”
She nods, seeming satisfied with my answer.
“How are you both doing?” I ask before she can question me. “Mandy said you had a rough night last night.”
She rolls her eyes, her brown curls falling into her face as she shakes her head. “That woman is always making you worry.”
“Ma, you know when I ask her something, she won’t keep it from me.”
She waves a hand dismissively. “Oh hush, I’m fine. My tubes kept coming out, and I just needed a little water. All the medication makes me thirsty.”
I nod. “So, any news on the transplant?”
She shakes her head, eyes returning to her cards as she lays down a queen of hearts.
“Not yet, but don’t start worrying. I still have a lot of life left in me.”
She says that, but I can see how much her health changes every day, and sitting in this wheelchair proves it.
“I wish you would let me give you my lung.”
She ignores me, focusing instead on the cards on the table.
“Your mother is doing just fine, Mia. I promise—you know I wouldn’t lie to you.”
Brenda wouldn’t. She’s a lovely woman who tells things as they are, even when the truth is hard to hear or someone wants to hide it.
Knowing Mom wants to move past the silence, I say, “How about we go for a little stroll in the garden? It’s about the time we usually do. I’m sure the birds will be out.”
She looks at me guiltily, biting her lower lip. “Sorry, baby, but I don’t feel like going out today. My body aches. We can watch something instead.”
Anything my mama wants, she gets. I’m just happy to be with her.
“Sure.”
She grabs the remote from the side table and flicks through the channels, stopping a couple of minutes later when a chick flick comes on.
Not my kind of movie, but it will do.
“You playing, little Lily?”
That’s been my nickname for Brenda since I met her last year. She couldn’t believe how much I looked like her.
“Sure, but I don’t know if I’ll play it right. I’ve never been into card games.”
“When you’re in here twenty-four seven, you learn,” she says. “It’s the only thing that keeps us sane.”
I laugh. “I’d probably be glued to that thing.” I point to the tiny TV.
Brenda shakes her head. “Go fish.”
I give her a guilty look. “Sorry.”
She laughs. “Don’t worry—we’ll teach you.”
Then she turns to my mom. “Young folk these days.”
For the next two hours, we enjoy each other’s company—playing card games I didn’t quite understand but tried my best at, then watching a series on the TV after the first movie ends.
It’s after the gin game that Mom asks, “So, how is my son-in-law?”
Ah, the very question I was dreading. “Fine, Ma. He’s busy with work.”
“You’ve been saying that a lot lately.”
“What can I say? He’s a workaholic. You know how Damon is—once he starts a project, he can’t stop until it’s finished.”
She nods just as a nurse enters the room and heads straight for Mom with a smile. “Time for bed, Lil.”
Mom looks up at her and smiles back. “Yes, honey.”
She cups my cheeks and kisses my forehead. “Come and see me tomorrow, baby, will you?”
“Of course, Ma. You can’t keep me away even if you tried.”
The nurse smiles at me and begins to wheel her away as I step aside.
Just as she disappears from sight, my phone rings—Damon flashing across the screen.
What could he possibly want? Shouldn’t he be busy with his mistress?
Taking a deep breath, I answer, letting it ring longer than necessary.
“Hello.”
His voice is furious. “Where the hell are you?”
“Huh?”
“The gala is tonight. You knew this. We have to leave soon.”
After what he did this morning, he really believes I’m going to a gala with him. How stupid can this man be?
“I’m not going with you, Damon. Why don’t you take Anna instead, seeing as you act like she’s your wife instead of me?”
He sighs. “So that’s why you won’t come—because I took you food? For God’s sake, Mia, grow up.”
He’s never treated me like this—not until she came back. “I am grown, and that’s why I can make my own decisions. And my decision is that I’m not f*****g going.”
“It’s food, Mia. Stop overreacting.”
“That’s not what this is about.”
“Then what is it?”
I throw my hands up in the middle of the hospital while nurses nearby glance over, their eyes briefly drawn to me. I force myself to lower my voice—this is probably the most entertainment they’ve had all day.
“You kick me out of our bed, ignore me all night as if I don’t exist, then you f**k her while I’m right underneath you. Do you not understand? I could hear everything.”
He falls silent for a moment, finally realising. “Mia…”
“No, Damon. You went back on your promise of not bringing anyone home. You broke our marriage vows. So you can suffer tonight, because I won’t be seen dead with you.”
“You agreed to this arrangement, did you not?”
My voice rises. “Because I thought it would make you happy. I thought somehow it would fix us—but it didn’t.”
Tears I swore I wouldn’t shed again begin to fall. “It doesn’t matter anymore, Damon. You can do whatever the hell you want, because I’m done.”
“What do you mean you’re done?”
When I don’t answer, he says softly, “Mia… Mia.”
I hang up, not wanting to hear his voice for another second.
I glance around the room, relieved to see the nurses looking elsewhere.
Instead of heading home, I decide to go to a salon. If I go home now, he’ll think I gave in—and I’m never giving in again. Not for him.
- Writer
