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That afternoon, I did a job for a guy who needed some shelves built for his garage. Turned out, I was getting pretty good at putting things together, doing something with my hands that was building instead of breaking.
At home, I fired up a frozen dinner, watched some TV, then took a shower. I was drying off when my phone rang. My phone never rang unless it was for a job or Nelson calling to bitch orders at me. The number was local but no one I recognized.
“Yeah?”
“Ronan, it’s Shiloh.” Her voice sounded breathy and tight. “I’m sorry… I got your number from Bibi’s papers, from when she hired you. I don’t know why but…you’re the first person I thought to call.”
I’d never heard her so undone. So scared.
Frankie fucked with her. Or Mitch. He got Mitch to harass her…
“Shiloh, what is it?”
“Bibi,” she said, swallowing down her panic. “God, Ronan, it’s Bibi.”
Chapter Fourteen
I paced the waiting room, hugging myself in my cardigan. Hospitals were always so cold. I remembered when I had my appendix out. Twelve years old and scared to death and shivering under a thin blanket before surgery. But Bibi was with me the whole time, holding my hand, stroking my hair, and telling me they were going to “fix me up, good as new.”
A sob rose in my throat, but I swallowed it down.
She’s going to be okay. She has to be.
I paced and gnawed my lip. A string was unraveling at the cuff of my sweater. I felt like I was unraveling too, waiting for the doctors to finish their tests. Helpless. No plan, no checklist to tick off that would get me through this.
Then Ronan strode through the door.
He didn’t stop at the front desk but came straight to me. I didn’t have to say anything; he enveloped me in the safety of his arms, and I closed my eyes and clung to him, letting him hold me up. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d shared a burden with anyone. Ronan took it wordlessly, and for a few precious moments, I stayed in the shelter of him; he smelled fresh from a shower and clean. Warm. His heartbeat in my ear was steady.
When I stepped back, the fear and anxiety swooped in, but I felt more like myself and ready to face whatever lay ahead. As if Ronan had leant me some of his strength.
“What happened?” he asked as we took a seat in the waiting area.
“We were watching a movie,” I said. “She seemed fine. But when she got up to go to the kitchen, she stumbled a little. I jumped up and tried to hold her steady, but she kept falling, slowly, slipping out of my grasp.” Tears gathered in the back of my throat. “She fainted or…collapsed. I don’t know. Her eyes were fluttering, and she was mumbling a lot. I called an ambulance and now I’m just waiting. God, the waiting…” I dragged my hands over my hair, my elbows on my knees. “If something happens to her…”
I closed my eyes, unwilling to think of a future without Bibi.
Not yet. Please. I’m not ready yet…
Ronan said nothing but when I looked up, his face was drawn with worry, his lips a thin line.
“I know why I called you first,” I said. “Because you care about her too. And because I was kind of falling apart and I knew you’d hold me together.”
“Shiloh…”
“I never do that. Let anyone help. Thank you for being here.”
He started to speak and then a tall doctor with dark hair and a kind face stepped in from the double doors. “Barrera?”
I shot to my feet…and so did Ronan.
The doctor strode forward in blue emergency room scrubs and a white coat. “I’m Dr. Fenton. I understand Bibi is your grandmother?”
“Great-grandmother. How is she?”
“She’s doing fine. Resting now.”
A sigh of relief miles deep gusted out of me and I tipped sideways into Ronan. His arm went around me, reassuring and strong.
