Inferno Anthology (74 page)

The anesthesiologist came over, talked to me about what he would do and also about the epidural he would administer in the middle of my back once we got into the operating room. After he left, I watched the clock more—there was nothing else to look at. I tried closing my eyes, but there was no way that I would fall asleep.

Finally, a nurse came and wheeled me to the operating room. I saw the anesthesiologist and after they transferred me to the operating table, he had me sit up and asked me if I knew what Propofol was. I responded, “Michael Jackson’s milk,” and that was all I remembered about going in for surgery.

Easton

“W
hat are we going to do if she has cancer?” I asked Avery and Nicole. The longer I waited in the waiting room for Brooke’s surgery to be over, the more I worried. In front of Brooke, I tried to keep myself together for her sake. I knew she was freaking out and when she finally admitted to me that she was scared on the way to the hospital—I almost lost it.

If I was scared, I knew she was one hundred times more scared.

“Stop freaking out. If you freak out, then I’m going to freak out and then I won’t be able to sit down and it will be your fault as I pace for hours,” Nicole said, not catching a breath.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to lose her.”

“We won’t, man. Let’s go get some coffee or something,” Avery said and stood up.

They were right, I needed to distract myself. We had at least five hours to kill. Nicole was Brooke’s emergency contact and they would call her if anything happened. We went to the cafeteria, got a nasty cup of coffee and sat down. We were all quiet. We weren’t supposed to be thinking about the surgery, but it was all we could think about.

“I think we should tell him,” Avery said to Nicole.

Nicole’s eyes became wide.

“Tell me what?”

“It’s too soon,” Nicole said.

“He’s my best friend,” Avery replied.

“Um…I’m sitting right here,” I said, looking at them across the booth style table.

“Fine, go ahead,” Nicole said, giving Avery the okay to tell me something that made me nervous.

“Nicole’s pregnant.”

“Oh, shit!” I gasped.

“Yeah, but it’s too soon. There’s still the chance I could miscarry.”

“Oh shit,” I said again.

Avery was smiling at Nicole. I knew for years he wanted to start a family, I just didn’t think he would knock someone up before he got married.

“How far along? Can’t be too far, right?” I asked.

“I’m not sure. I missed my period and took the home test on Monday.”

“Does Brooke know?” I asked.

“No, we—well I haven’t told anyone. I didn’t want to tell her because of her surgery. I wanted to wait until after and when I knew for sure.”

“Dude, you’re going to finally be a dad,” I said, leaning over the table and punching his arm.

“Hope so,” he kissed the side of Nicole’s head and had the biggest smile that I’d seen on his face.

“Anyway, let’s wait and tell Brooke after she gets out of the hospital, okay?” Nicole asked, looking between Avery and me.

“Yeah, of course,” I agreed. I knew once I saw Brooke, I wouldn’t be thinking about Avery and Nicole’s baby—I would be thinking about
my
girl.

We talked more about their plans for the baby. They just found out and wasn’t exactly sure what would happen, but Nicole would move to New York and in with Avery—she wanted to even if she wasn’t pregnant. Brooke would be left in Boston—alone. I wanted her with me in New York anyway and with Nicole moving to New York, it would make Brooke’s move easier in my opinion.

Brooke and I hadn’t talked about her moving in, but when I told her that I loved her in the pouring rain, I blurted out that I wanted her to live with me. She didn’t say anything to protest the matter and she even made suggestive comments about living in my house with my kitchen. I just didn’t want to make anything happen too soon, before she was ready.

I already had a plan to have her stay with me until she recovered from her surgery. I didn’t care if she was going to object. I could take care of her a hell of a lot better with her staying with me rather than almost five hours away—and maybe she would stay forever.

The three of us tried to eat our late breakfast, but none of us could eat. We were all thinking about Brooke although we tried not to. Actually, we were thinking about her surgery. I tried to just think about her smiling face. I needed this day to be over. I needed the surgery to go smoothly and I needed her to not have cancer.

“Aw shit, we’re in trouble,” Nicole said, looking at her phone.

“What do you mean ‘we’re in trouble’? What’s wrong?” I asked.

“You’ll see in…” she started to say.

“How can none of you tell me that my sister has a fucking tumor?” Bailee asked, storming into the cafeteria.

“Bai, calm down. You’re lucky I told you at all. Your sister didn’t want to worry you,” Nicole said, standing to go to Bailee.

“I don’t give a shit what she wanted. That’s my sister, and none of you decided to tell me that she had a tumor and we don’t know if it’s cancer?”

“It wasn’t our call. We were just doing what your sister said and I only called you because I knew you would want to be here. So please, just calm down and let’s wait until she gets out of surgery. Okay?” Nicole said, placing her hands on both of Bailee’s shoulders.

“Alright, well how much longer?”

I looked at my cell. “At least another hour. We should go to the waiting room again,” I said.

“Easton, it’s good to see you again,” Bailee said. “My sister told me you two were together now. Good riddance to that fucker Jared.”

We all laughed.

“Yeah, good riddance is right.” I smiled.

We sat in the waiting room for a few more hours. We were all checking our phones, the clock on the wall. Nicole and Bailee each took turns pacing. My mom called me when Cheyenne got out of school and I talked to each of them and told them that Brooke wasn’t out of surgery, yet.

My parents were bringing Cheyenne after her softball game the next day and then going back home. It was a long drive, but Cheyenne really wanted to see Brooke. She had the early game, so they could get in town by early evening and see Brooke before visiting hours were over. Cheyenne was going to stay with Avery at Nicole’s while I would stay at the hospital with Brooke.

I was also going to call Cheyenne’s school and tell them that she would be out on Monday. I didn’t like Cheyenne missing school, but this wasn’t just a hooky day and it meant a lot to me that she wanted to visit Brooke in the hospital.

We watched a few nurses come out and tell other people that their family member was ready—but nothing on Brooke. I didn’t know what was taking so long and I was starting to panic, but I didn’t want to tell anyone because I didn’t want them to panic, too.

Nicole walked up to the nurse’s station when it was her turn to pace. I wasn’t sure if the girls knew they were taking shifts, but it gave me something to do and I was tired of watching the news on the TV that I couldn’t hear anyway.

Nicole came back a moment later and huffed while she sat next to Avery. “She still knows nothing.”

“I’m getting tired of this,” Bailee said and walked over to the nurse’s station.

I watched her as she talked with her hands, catching a few words here in there. “I don’t care…yes, I’m next of kin…we’ve been here for hours…I flew in from California…yes, why don’t you?…I’ll be right there where I have been for the last few hours,” she said and pointed to our group.

“What did you say?” Nicole asked.

“I told them that I flew in from California and they need to go find something out instead of just looking at their fucking computer.”

A few moments later, the nurse returned and called Bailee over. “They said she is out of surgery, sleeping and in recovery. Only one of us can go back for a few minutes,” she said looking at me.

“Go ahead, you came from California and haven’t seen her,” I said, giving Bailee a tight smile.

“Thank you,” she said and leaned down to hug me.

“How long is she here for?” I asked Nicole when Bailee was out of earshot.

“She leaves Sunday early afternoon…I think the flight I booked is leaving at one in the afternoon.”

“No wonder you knew she was coming. You know Brooke is going to kick your ass, right?” Avery asked.

“I don’t care. I thought Bailee should know in case something happened.”

“I’ll protect you Nic. I think you did the right thing,” I said, trying to lighten the mood.

“Thank you,” she replied and stuck her tongue out at Avery. He leaned over and kissed her and I was jealous—I just wanted
my
Superwoman.

Bailee returned a few minutes later and we all stared at her, waiting for her to speak.

“She’s sleeping, but the attending nurse said that everything went as planned.”

“Why didn’t they tell us she was out?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Apparently, she’s been out an hour or so. They said they are waiting to move her to a room.”

“An hour? And no one told us?” Nicole shouted and stood up.

“Baby, sit down,” Avery said. “Nothing we can do about it. Let’s think of the positive—Brooke made it out of surgery and everything went fine.”

She stared at him for a few beats and then sat back down. “You’re right. It just pisses me off that we’ve been waiting here.”

“Me too. Did they say how long until she gets into a room?” I asked.

“No, but they said they would come and tell us.”

“Yeah right,” Nicole huffed and crossed her arms. “I’ll be checking in every thirty minutes. This is bullshit.”

Now that Brooke made it out of surgery, I took a few minutes and called my mom to update her and Cheyenne. I was relieved, but I wanted to see her. While I talked to my mom, I went to the cafeteria and got our group a few sandwiches. We still hadn’t eaten much all day and now that Brooke was in recovery, I thought that maybe we would all get our appetites back.

“Chey wants to talk to you,” my mom said as I looked at the menu.

She put her on the phone. “Daddy, what kind of flowers should I bring Brooke?”

Jesus, my daughter knew how to pull at my heartstrings. “Any that you think look pretty.”

“Well, all flowers are pretty, but what does she like?”

“Well, I know she likes roses,” I smiled, trying to keep my emotions in check.

“Okay, I’ll have Grandma take me to get red roses on the way. She told me they mean love.”

Brooke

“Y
ou mean to tell me that my sister has been out of surgery for over an hour and no one told us?”

Bailee? When did my sister get here? How did she know?

*~*~*

“She’s in here, but she’s still sleeping. I’ll let you all see her for a few minutes, but visiting hours are over. You’ll need to come back in the morning.”

“Can I stay with her?” Easton asked. I could tell that it was Easton, but I didn’t know who the lady was because I was still drifting in and out of sleep.

“She’ll probably just sleep all night. It’s best for you to go home and get a good night’s sleep.”

*~*~*

I woke to the sound of people talking. I looked to my right and saw that a door was open and nurses were talking in the hall. I put two and two together and realized that I must have been in my hospital room. My mouth was dry and other than that, I felt good. I wasn’t in pain like I thought I would be from having a tumor removed the size of a bouncy ball.

I looked to my left and no one was in the room with me. I thought that Easton was going to stay, but I guessed he changed his mind or maybe the nurses didn’t let him.

“Oh, you’re awake,” a nurse with a Filipino accent said as she walked towards me.

“Y…ye…yes.”

“Would you like some ice cubes?”

I nodded my head “yes”.

I sucked on a few ice cubes and lay there, staring at the dark ceiling. I wanted to ask about the surgery—ask if they got the entire tumor, but my throat was killing me. I looked down at my chest and it didn’t look like they needed to go through it. I sighed with relief; I was dreading having a scar there.

A few minutes later, the nurse came back. “How are you feeling? You think you’ll be able to keep the ice down?”

Ice down?

“I think so,” I said, raising my eyebrows in confusion.

“In a few minutes, I want to see if you can keep some apple juice down so your blood sugar doesn’t get too low.”

“Okay.” I was pretty sure I could keep liquids down. I mean, apple juice and ice? Why wouldn’t I be able to?

The nurse turned on the TV and flipped to the channel that I told her to stop on. I had no idea what I was watching, but it wasn’t ESPN or some news channel, so I didn’t care.

She returned and handed me a tiny box of apple juice. I took a few sips and watched as she imputed things into the computer in my room.

“I think I’m going to throw up,” I said after a few sips.

She handed me a tub and I
did
throw up the little bit of apple juice.

What the fuck?

“It’s normal to not be able to keep anything down with the medication you were given during surgery. Just rest and we’ll try again in the morning.”

*~*~*

When I woke the following morning…or should I say later that morning, I smelled his cologne before I saw him sitting in the chair next to my bed. I smiled to myself—I missed him.

“Hey, Superwoman. How’s my girl feeling?”

“Eh…worse than I did last night,” I said, trying to turn a little to face him.

“Careful. You have a tube in you,” Easton said.

“I do?” I asked and looked down at my right side. All I saw was a bandage.

“Yeah, I asked the nurse and it’s a drainage tube for your lung.”

“Gross,” I said, wrinkling my nose.

We both laughed. It was gross and to think it was just lodged in my side and draining liquids without me knowing.
Eww!

A nurse came in a few minutes later and told us that it was time for my morning medication. She also looked at the bandage and told me that it was looking good, but it would need to be changed the next day. She administered medication through the IVs in my hands and left Easton and I alone again.