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“Mom?”
I listened carefully. My mom was okay. But Grandmother was in the hospital, and I should get there as quickly as possible. Signal was weak, so I couldn’t ascertain how bad it was before the call dropped.
I turned to Forest in alarm. He’d been graciously looking the other way to give me some privacy. I grabbed him gently by the arm. “Forest – I know we’ve just got back into the city, and the last thing you probably want is more family drama – but we’ve got to get the car to take me home. My grandmother’s had an accident. That’s all I know.”
Forest nodded and waved his driver over. “Take us to Ria’s, please.”
“You’re coming?”
“Why not? You came with me. Unless you don’t want me there, of course.”
I surprised myself by finding I did want him there. At my side. “No, come. Just don’t listen to anything my Grandmother says.”
Forest gave me a reassuring smile. “I’m well practiced at not listening to you. It shouldn’t be so different.” He said it gently. I appreciated him keeping things normal as per our verbal sparring.
His warmth, when it came out from behind his natural reserve, was just as compelling as his darkness.
I wondered which would win in the end.
FOREST
We found Ria’s Grandmother in the nearest hospital. As soon as we entered her hospital room, she practically tried to spring out of her bed, and was wrestled back down by a woman I presumed was Ria’s mother.
“You need to stay put!” Ria’s mother held her own mother down by the shoulders. “Ria, tell her.”
Ria immediately snapped into stern mode. “Grandmother! Stay there, right now! Do not move a muscle until we have say-so from the doctor!”
“Oh, Maria, you are a worrywart. I just had a little fall.”
“Yes, but you’reancient, Grandmother, so a ‘little fall’ lands you in hospital. And you’ll be here permanently if you try and push yourself.”
Ria’s Grandmother relaxed somewhat sulkily back into the bed. “Fine.”
“Thank you!” Ria was exasperated. I got the sense that her family always made her instantly exasperated.
Then Ria’s Grandmother perked up again. “Who is this dashing young man you have with you?”
I almost forgot I wasn’t invisible, surveying the scene from a safe distance.
“He’s not so young, Grandmother.” A harsh judgment from Ria, but true.
“Oh, everyone’s young to me. Come closer, young man. Did you know I have the sixth sense?”
I found my voice. “I may have heard something about it.” I drew warily closer to Ria’s Grandmother’s hospital bed. “My name’s Forest.”
“Forest, is it?” Grandmother peered curiously at me. “Give me your hands.”
It didn’t seem like Grandmother was someone I could disobey. I started to reach out my hands. But Ria swatted them away and stood in between the two of us, which I was admittedly grateful for.
“None of your nonsense now, Grandmother! Give your sixth sense a rest too. Lest I start speaking in tongues.”
Grandmother smiled wickedly but relaxed back into her bed. “Go and speak to the doctor then,quite contrary. Find out when I can get out of here. Then you can wash your hands of me.”
“I wish I could!” Ria stormed out to find the doctor, leaving me alone with her family.
No one seemed particularly ruffled by this angry exchange. I supposed this was typical for their household.
Next to the bed, Ria’s mom was observing me, in a quieter way than Grandmother was. “Are you a friend of Ria’s, then?”
