Page 62 of My Merry Mistake
To be fair, I’m the worst offender. I take my big sister role very seriously, and I sometimes stick my nose where it doesn’t belong.
Not sometimes. Often.
I have strong opinions, and I’m not afraid to voice them, which is probably why everyone feels like they should have a say in what happens to me.
Payback. How fun.
A nurse walks into the room. “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” she says. “What is going on in here?” She scans the room. “Everyone needs to vacate this room.”
“Can we really call it a room when the walls are made of fabric?” Finn grabs onto the curtain as the nurse peers at him, brow quirked. He quickly turns sheepish and flashes her that smile—the one he uses like a Get Out of Jail Free card.
She is not impressed and turns to me. “Would you like any of these people to stay with you until we get your paperwork finished?”
I look around. “I’m fine, you guys. I promise. I just need someone to take me back to the office to get my car.”
“You’re not driving yourself home, though, right?” Finn asks.
My dad shifts, then signs, “No, I’ll drive her. Mom can follow us.”
Before he leaves, Dad hugs me. When he pulls back, he signs, “You don’t have to be a hero. Take care of yourself.”He places a well-worn hand on my forehead.
“I know,” I say quietly, signing. “I will.” I then hold up a pinky, and he takes it with his. A silly childhood thing that’s stuck all our lives.
Poppy and Eloise both hug me, their moods melancholy and somber.
“Hey. It’s not my funeral,” I say.
Eloise turns over her shoulder and sticks her tongue out at me, making a face. Poppy starts to push her out of the room, and gives me a weak smile.
“Oh, Justin called.” Eloise stops and pulls my phone from her pocket. “He said he hopes you’re okay and to call him when you feel better.”
My eyes dart from her to Poppy to Finn and then to my hands, folded over my stomach. “Thanks.”
“Raya, he didn’t even ask what happened,” Eloise says.
I take the phone. “It’s—really new. And we’re still figuring things out.”
Note to self: Explain to Justin that he needs to crank up the concern if I end up in the emergency room again.
Eloise draws in a breath, and I can practically hear the words she’s not saying. Thankfully, she must think better of launching into her speech on why this man is all wrong for me.
“Okay, Ray,” she says. “Go home and rest.”
Before she walks out, she looks at Finn, who is still standing in the same spot in the corner. “Coming?”
He nods. “Yeah, I’ll be there in a second. Maybe you could drive me back?”
She looks at me, then back to Finn, a strange expression on her face. “Okay, lover boy.”
He rolls his eyes as they leave, then looks at me, throws a thumb in her direction, and makes a face likegetta load of her, huh?
I try to sit a little straighter in the bed.
“So . . .?” He moves into the space where my parents had been standing moments before.
“So . . .?” I look at him. “What?”
He cocks his head. “You’re not seriously going to pretend that everything’s fine.”
