Page 16 of Through the Snow Globe
Rochelle:I’ll be there with bells on. Literally.
Diana shoved her phone back inside her purse and climbed out of her car. She hurried to the building, exhaling only after she was warmly inside.
“Merry Christmas Eve!” Ernest said as she entered. “Love the elf ears!”
“Oh. Thanks.” She hadn’t realized she was still wearing them. The light-up necklace too. All her patients had loved them today, which was the point.See? My bedside manner is fine. She stripped the headband and necklace off as she continued toward room fourteen, passing the nurses’ station. The staff was huddled around something sweet that a patient’s family had likely given them. Probably cookies. A lot of Diana’s patients had given her baked goods as well. Baked goods but no Glow Cards, which were what she really wanted this year. That, and for Linus to wake up.
Ducking into room fourteen, she closed the door behind her and turned to face the bed in the room. Linus’s eyes were closed. His body was lying in the same position as yesterday.
“Hey, sleepy man,” she said, stepping toward him. She missed the way he’d always woken her up with nearly those same words. “Merry Christmas Eve.” She leaned over him and carefully placed the elf ears headband on the crown of his head where his brown hair was disheveled and in need of a cut. “These ears look better on you.” She took a moment to add more tinsel to the tree on his bedside table and then a couple of miniature ornaments from inside the bag she’d carried in yesterday. “Your tree is looking good,” she told him. “You should open your eyes to see it.”
She waited a moment, in case he did. Then she moved to the foot of the bed and took hold of his leg, gently lifting it up and bending it at the knee. She held it for a prolonged stretch and repeated on both sides as she talked, giving him physical therapy the way she would one of her patients.
“I’m meeting Rochelle tonight for drinks. Or one drink,” she amended. “I don’t really feel like going out—too cold—but you know Rochelle. She doesn’t take no for an answer.” Kind of like Joann Grant. Diana doubted Linus wanted to hear her complain about his mother right now. He also wouldn’t be pleased to know Diana had been avoiding most of Joann’s calls.
Diana lowered his leg to the bed and stepped over to the head of the bed. She took hold of his arm and lifted it up, giving it a decent stretch like she’d done every day since he’d arrived here. The movement was good for him, even if his muscles weren’t the ones doing the heavy lifting. She didn’t want him to be as stiff when he woke up. He’d want to get on his bike first thing. Not a day went by when he didn’t ride it. As she stretched him, she watched his face, waiting to see any sign he knew she was here. There was nothing.
Beep. Beep.
The sound of the monitor beside him was at least proof that his heart was still beating. The ache in her chest, deep and painful, was proof that hers was too.
* * *
At 6:00 p.m., Diana pulled into the parking lot of Sparky’s Tavern and cut the engine. As she was gathering her scarf and purse, someone knocked on her driver’s-side window, making her nearly jump out of her skin.
Rochelle could be heard laughing hysterically outside. “C’mon! It’s freezing out here!” she said in a muffled voice. “My tits are going to fall off!”
Diana rolled her eyes at her friend’s crassness. She collected her bag beside her and then stepped out and,whoa, Rochelle wasn’t kidding. The temperatures were dropping exponentially.
Rochelle wrapped Diana in a quick hug. “Now let’s go in and get our drinks.”
They hurried inside the hole-in-the-wall bar owned by a woman named Sparky. Both Diana and Rochelle had gone to school with Sparky, who’d been somewhat of an artsy loner growing up, despite being well liked. Now her bar was a town favorite decorated on the outside with artistic graffiti and on the inside with sketches and paintings from local artists.
Sparky waved from behind the crowded bar. It was a packed place tonight, but thankfully two men were getting up to leave just as Diana and Rochelle walked in. They beelined in that direction and took a seat.
“What’ll you have?” Rochelle asked Diana. Tonight her dark, wavy hair was pulled back in a messy bun. “I’m buying.”
“You don’t have to,” Diana protested, but Rochelle was already shaking her head.
“It’s my gift to you.”
“But I didn’t get you anything,” Diana said, just like she’d done with Mrs. Guzman last night. Where was her Christmas spirit?
Rochelle shrugged. “You showed up. That’s gift enough for me.”
Diana had never missed a single Christmas Eve outing with Rochelle since they were sixteen. Back then they’d gone for hot chocolates instead of alcohol.
Sparky stepped in front of them with an expectant look. “Hey, ladies. What can I get for you?”
“Two of your most festive drinks, please.” Rochelle was wearing tiny Santa-face earrings tonight. She was also wearing a red long-sleeved top that shimmered under the bar’s accent lighting.
“The Jingle Bell Hopper is tonight’s special,” Sparky told them.
“Sounds perfect.” Rochelle glanced at Diana. “Yes?”
Diana nodded. “Sounds good to me as well.”
“You got it. Two Jingle Bell Hoppers coming right up,” Sparky said. “Good to see you, ladies.”
