Page 68 of Cover Up

It was easier to just let himself think—to get lost in the feeling of his grief instead of trying to say it aloud. He bowed his head and felt the air flow in and out of his lungs as her hand warmed beneath his.

And nothing happened.

The sound of the door startled Dei upright, and he let out a small sigh when Ethan appeared in some scrub pants, white shoes, and a very tight T-shirt that might have had Dei looking twice under entirely different circumstances. It was the first time Dei had seen his bare arms, and he noticed a flowers-and-vine tattoo going up from his inner forearm to his shoulder.

“When did you get in?” Ethan asked.

Dei let his mom’s hand go and rubbed his sternum. “Ten minutes ago? Twenty? I think I dropped off a bit. Jet lag’s a bitch.”

Ethan nodded and stepped closer. In the light, Dei could make out a few streaks of grey in his dark hair and just the barest start of crow’s feet in the corner of each eye. He wanted to believe that it was from smiling because Ethan was a good guy—one of the few doctors there that Dei believed actually gave a shit about his patients as people.

“Did she wake up for you?”

Dei shook his head and wrapped his arm around his middle, leaning forward a bit. “Nah. Should she?”

“She’s been up and down a few times today, but she’s pretty medicated right now. We got a little liquid in her, but we do need to talk about the next steps regarding hospice treatment.”

“Because she’s dyin’?”

Ethan sighed. “This is the trajectory of her disease, and it’s always a thousand times more heartbreaking when it’s someone so young.”

Dei wasn’t quite sure that was true. He was pretty goddamn sure it would hurt this bad no matter what age his mom was, but he knew what Ethan was trying to say. He rubbed the back of his neck. “She gotta transfer out of this place?”

“Not at all. But she’s going to need different care. She’s at risk for infections and becoming severely malnourished from not eating. We can keep her on an IV, of course, and we will. Our main goal is her comfort as things start to shift.”

“Shift how?” Dei said. He was pretty sure he’d been given all this info when she was admitted, but his brain felt like white noise.

“Decrease in mobility and bodily functions,” Ethan said plainly. He clasped his hands in front of him. “She’s already lost most of her speech and the ability to eat. As time goes on, some patients can forget how to breathe. Most of them sleep all day, and some of them will go days without any sort of rest.”

“She’s already a risk for wandering. And that sundowning thing you told me about at the beginning,” Dei said. It had been a while since he’d gotten a call that his mom wasn’t where she was supposed to be, but if she got a wild hair now?

“Which is why we want to adjust her care,” Ethan said. He walked over and dropped a hand to Dei’s left shoulder. The pressure always felt strange when someone squeezed all his scarring, and it wasn’t nearly as nice as when Felix did it, but he didn’t mind right then.

He looked down at Ethan’s ink, and he realized it looked fresh. “You get that done here?”

Ethan blinked, then laughed. “Yeah. My…fuck, I don’t know what you’d call him. My sister’s husband’s brother?”

Dei snorted. “Right?”

Ethan’s eyes crinkled in the corners with his grin. “He met some guys here that opened a tattoo shop a year ago.”

“Irons and Works,” Dei said.

Ethan’s smile widened. “You know them?”

“I’m the chef at Midnight Snack. We share a parking lot.”

Ethan’s brows shot up. “I know that place. I eat there!”

Dei laughed. “Good to know my momma’s doctor has tried my hot, sweaty balls.”

Ethan burst into a fit of giggles, covering his mouth with his free hand. “Oh my god, okay. We cannot have this conversation here.”

Dei chuckled but agreed, though it felt good to laugh in spite of the situation. After a beat, the mood sobered again, especially when he realized his mom hadn’t moved at all. “Look, just…tell me what we need to do here, okay? Money and time don’t matter. I’ll figure it out.”

Ethan gave him a careful look. “Let me put together a treatment plan for her. Can you come by tomorrow around two? I’ll be done with my rounds then, and we can sit and go over everything.”

Dei nodded, hating that he had to agree. A part of him wanted to just let Ethan and the rest of his team do whatever they wanted to do so he could bury his head in the sand. But his mom deserved better than that.

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