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My sister comes out from the hallway followed by my brother in law. I won’t lie, Ben is hot in his uniform. “Hey girlie.” My sister wraps her arms around me. “Thanks for coming.”
“Of course.” I look at my brother-in-law, who pulls Abby away from me playfully, and wraps his arms around her. “Hey Ben.” He lets go of his wife, and gives me a hug.
He takes his daughter from me, snuggling her close to his chest. Abby takes my duffel bag and disappears down the hall, and I take my book bag into living room.
Ben says goodbye to us and Abby follows him outside. “Where are my two favorite boys?” I call. My nephews come running into the living room, tackling me to the floor. “The tickle monster is going to get you.”
They both scream as I tickle them. When my sister comes in she just shakes her head and takes the baby into the back—probably to nurse her before bed.
“Okay, guys. I want you both to pick two books for me to read to you at bedtime.” They disappear down the hall to their bedroom.
Natalie uses their absence as an opportunity to get some snuggle time. “The boys are driving me crazy.”
I wrap my arm around her shoulders, hugging her into my side. “It won’t be that way forever. I promise.”
After story time and tucking in the older kids, I sit on the floor with Paisley lying across my lap, fast asleep. Abby’s folding laundry and I’m calling my patients for tomorrow. My scheduler tells me I have a new hospice patient. As I listen to the information, the name sounds familiar, but I can’t place it.
I only have three people to see and that takes no time at all.
I call the new patient first, a man answers. “Hello?” God, he sounds tired.
“Hi this is Haddie, the bath aide from the visiting nurses. Your wife Madison is on my schedule tomorrow.” I open my mouth to speak, but he interrupts me.
“Haddie? Haddie Carmichael? You’re Joe’s sister.”
“Uh…yes. I am. Do I know you?” I stroke my hand over Paisley’s belly.
He clears his throat. “My son is Chris.” I try not to roll my eyes because Chris is a mega douche. He and my brother were two peas in a manwhore pod until Joe met Chloe. The douche, on the other hand, will never change.
“Oh yes. I’m sorry, Mr. Anderson. How is Mrs. Anderson doing?” Chris’s parents are wealthy, but they’ve always been down to earth, always welcoming. They always invited all of us kids to Chris’s parties when we were younger. I don’t know how they raised such an a-hole.
“She’s hanging in there. We’ve stopped chemo, and are just working on keeping her comfortable.”
I couldn’t imagine losing my mom or dad, heck I hate the thought of my grandparents getting older. “Will she feel uncomfortable having me help with her bathing tomorrow? I can have them send someone else.”
“No, I’m kind of glad it’s you. I think it’ll make her more comfortable. She’s lost so much weight she doesn’t like me looking at her.” His voice laced with sadness.
“Okay, I’ll keep her feeling comfortable. I’d like to come at noon tomorrow, if that’s okay. I’m in class in the morning.” Abby comes back in from putting the laundry away and sits down, smiling at her daughter asleep on me.
“That sounds perfect. Thanks, Haddie.”
“You bet, see you tomorrow, Mr. Anderson.” I disconnect and call my other two patients, and once I get them scheduled, I toss my phone on my bag.
“I know you can’t talk about it, but it’s sad about Chris’s mom. She’s got pancreatic cancer and they caught it too late. They tried two rounds of chemo and then she said no more. I can’t believe you didn’t know that. Joe says Chris is not handling it well.”
I pick up Paisley and snuggle her to my chest. “I’m sure that’s not easy to deal with. I’ll take this one to bed.” I get up off the floor with her in my arms and carry her down the hall to the room she shares with her big sister. I lay her down and she rolls to her side. I shut the door and head back to the living room.
“Did she fuss at all?” Abby asks before taking a drink of her water.
“Nope, she was perfect.” I pull out my textbook and study for a little bit before I start nodding off.
Abby locks up and we head to bed. I crawl into her bed with her following behind. We’ve slept together on and off since I was little—I know that sounds weird, and she’s ten years older than me, but we’ve always been very, very close.
In the dark she rolls over to face me. “Tell me what’s going on in your life.” See…this is why we lay in bed together—late night heart to hearts.
“Umm…not much. I pretty much just have school and work. I don’t really have a life.” I sigh because I hate to admit it. “Lance invited me to a party at his apartment this weekend and I’m supposed to tell you hey.”
“All that boy needs is a makeover and he’d be totally cute.” His clothes are always big and baggy on his slim frame and his hair is wild and crazy, but we are strictly friends. Abby gets quiet for a second, and then she surprises me. “Are you still a virgin because of what happened to me?”
