Page 80 of Baby Love

Wait a minute.

Opening my eyes, I see Anya standing by Pear’s hospital bed.

“Are you sure, P’Pear?”

“I’ll be right as rain before you know it, Nong. Your brother is taking care of me.” She squeezes my hand, and I look down at the bed to find it still securely entwined with hers. Then I look up because if Anya’s here, that means…

“She woke up crying this morning about you not being there and about P’Pear’s accident. So I brought her here. I hope that’s okay.” Spin’s face is unreadable and he’s not meeting my eyes.

Tugging hard, I extricate my hand from Pear’s granite grip and stand from the chair, every muscle in my body protesting after being in the same position for hours.

“Of course it’s okay.” I look over at the vacant couch.

“Khun Anong went to look for some coffee,” Spin informs me.

“You have a big bruise on your arm,” Anya says to Pear. “Is that one broken?” She points to the arm encased in a cast.

“Yes, unfortunately,” Pear says. Her eyes keep leaving Anya and going to me and Spin.

“Does it hurt?”

“Not when they give me medicine,” Pear says. “But I haven’t had it yet this morning, and it kind of hurts now. Your brother has been so sweet and attentive, holding my hand all night.”

“I’ll get your nurse,” I say, then look at Spin, hoping he’ll accompany me, but he sits down in the chair I vacated.

I find the nurse and tell her that Pear is in pain, then run into Auntie on my way back to the hospital room, and I tell her that Spin and Anya are visiting Pear.

“Have a cup of coffee and sit with me,” she says, handing me a Styrofoam cup. “Thank you for staying with us all night. I saw you in that uncomfortable chair when I woke up this morning.”

“Of course I stayed, Auntie. Pear asked me to, and I wanted to make sure you were all right.”

“I’m fine. I had a good night’s sleep, unlike you. You need to go home. If you’ll come by later and bring me these things from my house, I’ll be fine staying here as long as Pear needs me, as long as you don’t need me for Anya.” She pulls a folded piece of paper out of her pocket and hands it to me.

“Of course, Auntie. And don’t worry about Anya, I’ve got her covered.” Not exactly true, but I’ll find a way.

We finish our coffee and go back to Pear’s room.

“The nurse gave her an injection,” Spin tells us. “She said Pear will sleep for a while.”

Pear looks like she’s fighting a losing battle with the drug, her eyelids repeatedly closing no matter how many times she opens them back up.

“Park,” she murmurs.

“Get some rest, Pear,” Auntie says, patting Pear’s good arm. “I’ll sit with you now. Park needs to go home and rest.”

“I’ll bring your things later,” I promise Auntie. Then Spin, Anya, and I leave the room.

“I’m glad P’Pear is okay,” Anya says, holding my hand as we walk to the elevators.

“So am I, Nong. Were you good for P’Spin?”

“Of course. P’Kiet and P’Cushion watched a movie with us.”

Spin is being extremely quiet, and I’m uneasy. Is he upset because I was holding Pear’s hand? I wish I knew what was going through his head.

“We took the BTS here,” Spin says when we reach the parking lot.

I nod, unlocking the doors to my car. We climb in, and I’m not happy when Spin gets into the backseat with Anya, but I don’t say anything.

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