AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I walked the few steps to Jazmín, peering into the darkened patient rooms as I went. All of the littles were asleep by then, their adults also sleeping soundly despite the constant beeping of the machines and the noises in the hallways.
The door opened with a creak, and Francisco’s face lit up, immediately boring into me. He swallowed, then stood from his spot in the corner chair, where he had been sitting and watching his sleeping sister. I smiled, then took two steps and closed the door behind me.
“I thought that was you,” I said, smiling wider at his grin. “You are not as inconspicuous as you think you are.”
He laughed and immediately covered his mouth with one palm to stifle it. It was in those moments that he looked like a boy: no worries, no sick sister, no messed-up parents. Just there, passing the time and enjoying my company.
“How is she?” He walked to me and squeezed my bicep before immediately turning towards his sleeping sister on the bed. “Are the labs back?”
“Sonia was just on the phone with the lab as you were sneaking in.”
“What did they say?” He was impatient, always checking in on her first. “How is she looking?”
I turned to look at him, my whole body facing his. We were so close, I could see the flecks of green in his eyes, even in the darkened room. It took me a moment to collect myselfbecause we did, indeed, have good news. She would most likely leave the hospital within the next few days—I just needed to confirm that with my attending.
“Looks good,” I said and grabbed my notepad from my coat pocket and looked up. But I wasn’t ready for that smile, a blindingly spectacular display of joy. “Oomph.”
The next thing I knew, he was hugging me, pressing his body against mine,hard,in the most unexpected way. And his happiness was contagious, so I hugged him back, my arms hooking under his and wrapping around his shoulder blades. His whole body shook with laughter, and the only reason there wasn’t a sound coming from him was because he was using my shoulder to hold it back.
I was frozen but burning at the unexpected contact. I was scared to move because I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay in that spotforever.But Ihadto. This is a patient’s brother!my brain screamed.My body wasn’t responding to my commands, and my heart was yelling at me, asking for more. I licked my lips once, then took a big breath, not ready to take a step back.
And then, a soft knock at the door startled us, and he jumped back three meters and straight to the chair in the corner, his hands running nervously through his hair. He peeked one last time through his lashes, then turned back to face his sister. Sonia was at the door, holding a phone to her ear, apprehension on her face as she listened to whatever was being said on the other end of the line.
“Dr. Williams?” she whispered, popping her head intothe room. “We need you in room 203, please.” She spun her body around and started walking fast to the opposite side.
I blinked, and just like that, the moment was over.
The lights flickering at my parents’ house brought me back from my thoughts. The cat was cuddled against my hip, her furry body tickling the bare skin where my jean shorts had ridden up. We were on day six or seven—or who even knew at this point—of consistent power interruptions, no rhyme or reason. Because it happened on even the mildest day of summer, when not everyone was inside sheltering in front of their air conditioning units or maybe running their fans at full blast.
“Lucía,” my brother Charlie said. He was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, just watching me. He looked at the cat, then looked back at me. He was sweating, drops running down his face and dropping on the tile floor beneath him. “What are you doing?”
I blinked, still fuzzy and in my thoughts. “What are you doing here?”
“Do you want to go have lunch?”
I cocked my head, not following the conversation. This was common with this brother, taking a lead and never bending from his objective. He wanted to go to lunch and wouldn’t answer my questions until we were actually sitting, facing each other.
“Sure.” I stood from my perch on the sofa in the family room and put my shoes on. The cat lifted one eyebrow and watched me for a second with an uninterested look, thentucked her head between her legs and started purring. “Your house?”
He scoffed. “No, the mountain.”
I rolled my eyes. “No, Charlie, it’s going to be packed with people.” And I didn’t want to run into any of the locals, who would find me immediately among the crowd and expect free medical advice.
“You love people.”
“Not when I’m on vacation,” I admitted. “And it’s getting a little out of hand with the amount of people stopping me and flashing me their phones or sending me pictures of their rashes.” I chuckled at his grunt, his face annoyed at me.
“I told you, boundaries.”
“Shut up.”
We ended up settling for the restaurant hotel because it was a more popular spot for dinner and not as crowded for lunch.
“I thought you were going to Mendoza with Mom and Dad,” I said as we walked towards the town square, where Santiago’s hotel was. He had purchased the property from our aunt and uncle, who were ready to retire, as he needed a break from his law practice. It had worked out perfectly because the job he decided not to take at our family’s firm went to Victoria, who moved to our town after things with her family imploded.
Another grunt. “I’m a grown man. I don’t go on vacation with my parents.”
“Okay, grumpy.” I smiled at him, this one reaching my eyes because this teasing had quickly become one of my favorite things. “What’s eating you up?”
