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Watching him rationalize and ramble, she realized she had never asked him if he was okay. “How are you doing with all this?”
“I don’t know.” He shook his head; his face scrunched up in confusion. “I mean, he’s my dad. This isn’t supposed to be happening. I shouldn’t be sitting in a hospital waiting to see if my dad is going to be okay. None of this is how it’s supposed to be.”
An older woman approached them. “Noah.” She wore the same worried expression that Noah did.
“Mom.” Noah quickly stood and grabbed her shaking hands.
“Honey, you should come wait with us. The nurse said we can wait in the surgical waiting area.” His mom looked at her, a slight smile slid across her lips. “Hello.” Turning to Noah, she asked, “Who’s your friend?”
Jordan couldn’t read the tone of his mom’s voice. Was she unhappy that a stranger had appeared? This was not the way she had wanted to meet his mother.
“Sorry.” Noah shook his head as if he were clearing out the cobwebs. “Mom, this is my friend, Jordan.”
Jordan stood and moved to shake his mom’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Rodgers. I’m just sorry it’s under these circumstances.”
Noah’s mom disregarded Jordan’s hand, and instead pulled her into a hug. “Thank you for being here for my son. Apparently, you are a very good friend.”
The young woman leaned forward. “Hi, I’m Noah’s sister.”
“Jordan, this is Tracey, my older sister.”
“Nice to meet you.” Jordan smiled at the young woman who reminded her of his mother.
Tracey looked at Noah. “Mom is right. Come wait with us, please?”
“Noah,” Jordan nudged. “You’ll be able to hear what the doctor has to say as soon as your dad comes out of surgery. That would be the place to wait.”
Noah nodded. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
Jordan hesitated, not wanting to intrude on the family. If they wanted privacy, she could always book a hotel room and come back later. She looked toward the exit. “Should I…?”
Without a word, Noah took Jordan’s hand, and they followed his mom and sister to the smaller waiting room.
There in the corner sat a younger version of Tracey. The girl appeared to be about eighteen. Her knees were pulled up and tucked to her chest, her arms wrapped tightly around her ankles, as if she were protecting herself by keeping the world out of her little bubble.
Not only did she have dirty blonde hair like Noah, but she also had the same serious scowl he got when he was thinking, and the young woman looked as though she pushed people away just like her older brother as well.
She was a beautiful young woman. Her flannel, torn black jeans, high top sneakers, and slouch knit beanie were reminiscent of emo fashion.
Noah tipped his head in the girl’s direction. “That’s my little sister, Lexi.”
They followed his mom over to where his other sister was sitting. His mom and Tracey sat on either side of Lexi. Jordan followed Noah and sat down across from them in a chair made to seat two.
“Lex, this is my friend Jordan.”
Jordan waved. “Hello.”
The young girl looked over her knees at Jordan. She smiled and mumbled a hello.
Noah’s mom wrapped her arms around Lexi and sat holding her.
Grabbing Noah’s hand, Jordan sweetly smiled up at him.
Noah attempted a half smile, then sat back in his seat with a heavy sigh.
A yawn crept up on her. It had been a long day. She’d had her hands full changing gears from opening the bar, breaking up with Noah, then racing to catch a last-minute flight to Canada, and now at almost eleven o’clock at night, sitting in hospital waiting room. The long day had caught up with her.
Wishing she had something more motivational to say, all that came out was, “Do you want to tell me about your dad?” It seemed like a good way to keep him in the moment.
