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“That was because, despite you being in here and sick, you still have a cholesterol problem, and you still have high blood pressure. You also are on the verge of high blood sugar since you’ve been in here, and a goddamn milkshake isn’t going to help that,” my mother said stubbornly from the chair across the room.
She looked like she’d set up shop over there. There was a pillow, blanket, books, her phone charger, and even her laptop.
“What the hell, Mom?” I said. “Did you move in?”
She scrunched up her nose at me.
“I’m still working,” she admitted. “I’m just doing it not from my office.”
My mother was the ER director for the hospital that we were currently in.
“They couldn’t let you be free for a couple of days?” I asked curiously.
“We’re in the middle of a hospital merger,” she admitted. “Some big wigs out of Dallas are buying us out, and they want a full case workup of the workings of the ER. I would’ve normally said ‘I’ll do it when I can’ but I’m fairly sure they’re going to cut my department budget in half, so I want to make sure they know that I need everything that I have, and more.”
I smiled. I loved that my mother fought for those that worked under her.
“Have you thought about working for me?” she asked.
I shrugged. “I guess I could.”
She snorted. “Don’t sound so excited.”
“I’m not really excited,” I admitted. “I don’t want to work in the ER, but then again, I don’t really want to work anywhere.”
Dad started chuckling beside me. “Welcome to life, kid.”
What I really wanted to be was a stay-at-home mom, one that took care of her children and her husband all day. But, seeing as not only did I not have the kids, but the husband either, I didn’t think that was in the cards for me any time soon.
“Were you able to get a refund on your car auction tickets?” I asked, changing the subject.
Dad grimaced. “Nope.”
“Shit,” I said. “Those cost a mint.”
“Which is why you’re going to the auction without me,” he said, brooking no room for argument. “We were going to go, and you’re really excited. I’ve volunteered your mother.”
I was already shaking my head. “I’m not going with her,” I disagreed. “In fact, since everyone’s working, I’m going to go by myself.”
I didn’t want to go by myself.
But I would if it meant that I’d get to bid on the car that my dad had been dying to have. It just meant that I’d have to take a flight to Vegas, by myself, and that terrified me as it always did.
“You don’t have to go,” he all of a sudden said. “I don’t need the car.”
I waved him off.
“I’ll be fine,” I promised.
He grinned and pulled me down to sit on the side of his hospital bed.
“Tell me about this new apartment,” he said. “I never got a chance to go and look at it.”
I hadn’t gotten a chance to sign the lease, either.
“Shit,” I said, standing right back up. “I gotta go over there and sign the lease! I was supposed to do that two days ago!”
His eyes sparkled.
“Mom, can I borrow your car?” I asked.
She tossed me the keys. “Be careful.”
I ran out of the hospital room like my ass was on fire.
And when I arrived at the apartment complex where I was planning on living—hoping that I could still live there—I was sweating.
Pulling into the nearest spot to the front office, I bailed out and ran inside, smiling at the woman behind the desk.
“Hi, my name is Piper Mackenzie.”
The woman’s face went flat.
“Hello,” she said, sounding annoyed.
She’d been quite bitchy sounding over the phone. She was worse in person.
“I’m here to sign my lease paperwork,” I said hopefully. “I apologize for being late. My father was…”
“I’ve already signed the lease with someone else,” she interrupted me. “I can put you on the list, though.”
I wasn’t one to argue when I knew the point was moot, but I had to try.
“Ma’am,” I said softly. “My father was in an accident. I just spent the last two days traveling here from Germany. I know that you said it needed to be turned in quickly, but I had extenuating circumstances…”
She didn’t even bat an eyelash.
“Do you know how many ‘extenuating circumstances’ I have to deal with?” she asked bluntly. “I have a chick in 4B that I’m going to have to kick out here in a couple of days because her mother died and she’s two months behind on rent. I have someone in 3F that her dog got hit by a car, and she has so many medical bills that she’s now a month behind. I have a man in 2D that’s dying of cancer. He has two months to live, and he’s three months behind on rent. Trust me when I say, you’re nothing special.”
