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“No need,” I said. “I’m her emergency contact and have power of attorney. I can consent on her behalf.”
“Great. I’ll have someone bring the consent forms in a bit, and I can do the surgery tonight.”
He smiled at me suggestively. I didn’t care if he thought Sara and I were a couple. Right now, the only thing on my mind was getting her better and past this, so I didn’t correct him.
The fact was that even though Dad and I had adopted Sara into our family as an adult, I still wanted to make it official. One year for my birthday, she gave me legal documents, including power of attorney. It would have seemed morbid to an outsider, but to us, it was a binding contract that made us family—officially.
Finding myself in this situation, I couldn’t think of a better birthday gift that I had ever gotten.
Sara’s surgery was a success,and I got to take her home the next day. They’d made two incisions, so she’d end up with two badass scars—the scars of a survivor.
I called Dad and told him what happened.
“Pedaso de mierda,”said Dad—the man who never cursed. I didn’t have the heart to comment about it. He was right. Brian was a piece of shit. But Dad agreed to get my room ready for her. I wanted her safe, and I knew Brian would never show his face at Dad’s.
I was helping her out of the car when I heard athumpfrom the driveway next door. I turned, and Ramiro was jogging to us, several grocery bags abandoned on the pavement behind him.
“Is she okay? Let me help you.”
“Here, take this.” I handed him the duffle bag I had put together with clothes from her apartment. Brian was one lucky slime ball to not have been there when I showed up to get her things. They didn’t live together, but Sara’s apartment was nicer, so he spent a lot of time there.
Ramiro took the bag and was doing his best trying to help but was unable to grab Sara’s arm in a splint. He helped me get her upstairs, and I asked him to leave so I could help her change into pajamas. I gave her two more pain pills and went back downstairs.
“You’re back,” I said to Ramiro who was pacing in the living room.
“Who was it?” he asked, nostrils flaring. A vein in his forehead made its way to the surface of his skin.
“Why’d you stay away so long?”
“Stop dodging!” he growled.
Ramiro had never grown as close to Sara as I had, but they were still friends, and he treasured her as part of my family. There was no way I was going to tell Ramiro, temperamental fool that he was, anything about the person who had hurt Sara. Not until he calmed down.
“I’m not dodging. I’ll tell you, but not until you calm down.”
“I’m calm,” he said, but he was gritting his teeth, and his jaw was set.
I snorted.
“I am,” he repeated.
“First, tell me why you stayed away so long. We missed you—”
“You know why,” he said, interrupting me. “Now,please, tell me what happened.”
“It’s not my place, Ramiro. I’ll give you the gist, but you’ll have to talk with her yourself if you want to know more. Okay?”
“That’s fair.”
“She’s been dating this guy—”
“How come she didn’t tell us . . .?” He narrowed his eyes at me as he trailed off on his question. “Wait,youknew she was seeing someone?”
I nodded. “Yes. It’s been just over six months.”
“How come she never told your dad or me?”
“I think she was a bit embarrassed by him. As you can see, he’s not a great guy.”
