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Finally, a nurse came over to me. "Mr. Macintyre, your brother was taken into surgery from the radiology department because they discovered internal bleeding and needed to do emergency surgery. I'll let you know more when we have any updates. There's a lounge with some recliners down the hall, in case you want to sleep."
I thanked the nurse and went to the hallway, finding a dim room with four recliners, each walled off by a sheet from the others. I took one recliner and spread the blanket over me, glad to have the place to myself.
My only hope was that when I woke, the news I got would be that David had come through surgery well and was in recovery.
I closed my eyes and tried to blank my mind, but sleep was a long time in coming. With Grant's recent suicide and now this accident, my emotions were all over the place. I realized that I had to get control over myself, so I could be there for David.
He needed me to be strong, so I pushed my sadness into a corner of my mind and tried think only about how to help my brother recover.
7
Ella
When I woke Wednesday morning, I saw a new text from Josh that he'd sent sometime during the night.
JOSH: David had emergency surgery due to internal injuries. I don't know what exactly they did but I'll let you know as soon as I find out. David's friend Terry is in critical condition. Not sure if he will survive the night. I'm sleeping in the hospital lounge on a recliner, with one of those hospital blankets on me. Talk later.
I sent a text right away.
ELLA: I'm so sorry about David needing surgery and about his friend Terry. How terrible. Let me know when you hear more.
I didn't hear back right away, so I assumed he was sleeping. It was only four a.m., in California.
It was terrible, but I was so glad Josh was fine. Relieved but at the same time, it sounded like the crash was bad enough that their friend Terry might not make it. I felt a sense of doom at the thought of how fragile we all were and that at any minute, it could all change. I was a nervous driver at the best of times, preferring public transit to private cars, and this just made me even happier to be in Manhattan and using the subway and busses instead of driving. I was even nervous in taxi cabs, but you had to take them sometimes.
I finished getting ready for work and then left my apartment, glancing around it one last time before I left. I was so lucky to be living in Chelsea in this tiny studio, with a sexy and very handsome new boyfriend, with a job I dreamed of.
The accident and the danger David's friend was in made me appreciate it even more.
Work was busy, and I met with Sharon to discuss some of the books I'd selected for review the previous week. My father and mother were going to pop up later to see me for lunch. My father insisted he wanted to see my office -- probably not really believing I had a job and an office and was really working, so I agreed. I'd show them around, introduce them to Sharon and then we'd go out.
When noon rolled around, I tidied up my desk in wait for them to arrive. Sure enough, at just after twelve o'clock, I got a call from the front desk that a nice couple was waiting for me, claiming to be my parents.
I went down to the main floor to meet them, and together, we rode up in the elevator. On the way up, the elevator stopped and on got Keith, who I had used as my stand-in for Josh when talking about meeting someone and dating. I used Keith's name just to shut my mother up, never thinking that they'd ever actually get to or want to meet him.
I cringed internally, regretting that I ever mentioned his name to my parents, but that was my life.
"Hey, Ella," Keith said and smiled. He glanced over my parents and I knew that he recognized my dad immediately. He probably already knew my story and so recognized my father. He was a hard man to forget with his eagle nose and salt-and-pepper hair.
"Hi," I said and felt my cheeks heat immediately.
"Governor Carter," Keith said and extended his hand. "Nice to meet you, Sir. Keith Johnson." They shook, and I saw that my father was pleased to be recognized in Manhattan of all places.
"Good to meet you, young m
an. This is my wife, Mary."
They gave each other a smile.
"Ella's told us all about you," she said. "You're the bicycle courier she ran into on her first day at work, if I recall the story correctly. Isn't that right, Ella?" she asked and turned to me, smiling, her eyes wide and pleased. "This is the Keith you mentioned? I thought he was a bicycle courier."
"She told you about how we met, did she?" Keith said and gave me a knowing smile. "I really want to work in publishing, so being a courier is just a side gig."
He winked at me. He must have figured out that I told my parents that I was dating him instead of Josh, not wanting them to know the truth.
Oh, God.
I half-wished that the elevator floor would open up and I could fall to the bottom of the shaft and end my misery, but he didn't say anything else and played along. He stepped closer to me and made some joke about my first day in Manhattan -- he obviously knew the story of how Josh and I almost ran into each other that first day and recounted it.
