Page 54
“To hold on. Stay grounded.” She pauses for a moment, before taking another drag and staring off. “I got a son. Lives with my sister. Been busting my ass to get him back.”
“Does he live far?”
“California. That’s where I’m from. Why I decided to come out to this shit island, I’ll never know, but here I am.”
“Was it school that made you move so far away?”
She runs her tongue across the bottom of her teeth, seemingly lost in quiet contemplation. “I was an addict for five years. Alcohol, pills, coke. Whatever I could get my hands on, I did it.”
A part of me isn’t surprised. Call it radar I’ve picked up from having a junkie mom, but this woman had former addict written all over her face. Just strange that she chose to be a nurse, administering drugs.
She scratches her chin with her thumb. “Keep that to yourself. I’ve passed all the drug tests, and I don’t have any criminal history. I’m just an LPN right now. Still going to school.”
“I think that’s great. Takes a lot to turn things around like that.”
“Yeah. It’s been rough sometimes.” Her eyes fall to my wrist, and she juts her chin toward it. “What’s yours?”
I run my thumb over the word inked on my arm. The tattoo I got a few months after things started to settle down a bit, and I was finally able to get out of bed. “I’ve been through some stuff, too. Not drugs, but … personal stuff.”
“I didn’t tell you my shit to get all personal. You asked. I answered.”
“I’m sorry. It’s not an easy topic for me.”
“It’s okay. I get it.” Stuffing her cigarette butt into the cup beside her, she blows off the last of her smoke. “Look, I wanted to ask you, I have something going on this evening. I don’t want to make a big fuss and have them call in another nurse. Any chance you can keep an eye on her tonight? Just until about ten, or so?”
“What if she has a nightmare? I mean, I don’t even know what to give for medications.”
“Half her medications are sugar pills.”
“Seriously?”
“She had a bad addiction to Valium for a while. Sometimes, there’s just no reasoning with her. When she has those nightmares? It’s mostly me settling her down. Haven’t had to give her anything in months.”
“Here I thought you guys were over-medicating her, or something.”
“If we don’t give her anything, she freaks the fuck out. One sugar pill?” She smacks her hands together. “She’s down like it’s the real deal.”
“That’s crazy.”
“So is she. Anyway, is it cool if I sneak out a couple hours?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“If she has a nightmare, you mostly just have to hold her down, so she doesn’t hurt herself. But watch yourself, too.” Her lips twist with a smile. “Woman’s got a nasty left hook.”
“Okay.”
“I’m gonna go now.” Pushing up from the chair, she grabs the cup full of cigarette butts from the railing of the balcony. A day’s worth, I’d bet. “If she asks where I went, tell her I had to run out to renew a script, or something. That’ll make her giddy. And thanks for this,” she says, before slipping back inside.
“No problem.”
Shit. There are a number of things I suck at, but lying certainly takes the cake. As Nell makes her great escape, the door to what I presume is Laura’s bathroom clicks, and I head back in.
“Nell, please help me to bed!”
Awkward smile plastered to my face, I enter her room and stride toward her. “Nell went to grab a script. She asked me to help you.”
“She’s supposed to tell me when she leaves. Suppose I had a heart attack just now. Or a stroke. Are you equipped to deal with that? Certainly not.”
