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“Of course,” she says. “Is Georgie okay?”
“She is now,” I say, letting her hear the seriousness in my tone. “It was close. Real fucking close. But she’s good. She’s just here for observation now.”
“Fuck,” she breathes, her voice shaky. “Okay. We’ll come straight down.”
“How’s your face?”
“Fine,” she grumbles, clearly not fine at all. “I’ll give the boys a call and let them know what’s going on.”
“Thanks, kid.”
“No problem,” she says. “We’ll be there soon.”
She ends the call and I dial my secretary next. I let her know about Georgie’s condition and ask her to reschedule all of my appointments for later in the week. And as soon as that’s out of the way, I head out to the nurses’ station and hand Mel her phone. “Thank you so much,” I tell her, relieved to have that over and done with.
Once I’m back in Georgie’s room, I turn the television to the kid’s channel for her, and after such a long night, we settle in for an even longer day.
Cassie and her bruised face come and go, and the theme song to Sesame Street gets stuck in my head. When lunch comes around, Georgie and I choke down the awful hospital food, and by afternoon, the sound of Georgie’s monitor beeping away has given me one hell of a nasty headache.
Today couldn’t be any worse, but I’ll take it a million times over having Georgie not able to breathe.
The doctor comes and goes but gives me nothing in the way of actually helping my daughter. Though at this stage, there isn’t a lot we can do. She’s been on every type of medication. We’re just going to have to wait out the winter and hope it sorts itself out.
It all changes the second Gigi appears in the doorway. Seeing her leaning against the door with that beautiful smile is like seeing a ray of sunshine in the deepest pits of hell. “Hi,” she whispers as she takes in Georgie fast asleep in her bed. “Mel let me know you were here.”
I pat the space beside me on the couch and she instantly comes over and falls in next to me. “You doing okay?” she asks as I put my arm over her shoulder and pull her into me.
I shrug my shoulders. “Exhausted,” I tell her honestly. “Sorry I didn’t tell you we were here.”
“That’s fine. I get it,” she says. “Do you mind if I check her chart?”
“Go for it.”
Gigi gets up and crosses the room to Georgie’s bed, and I can’t help but watch her, my eyes trained on her ass in her scrubs. She grabs the chart and starts looking it over, her lips pressing into a hard line as she takes it all in.
“I left her to get a glass of water,” I tell her. “I was gone for two fucking seconds, and it nearly cost me my daughter.”
Gigi hooks the chart back onto the end of Georgie’s bed and makes her way over to me, her hand on my thigh as she sits down beside me. “You can’t blame yourself for this, Sean,” she tells me, adjusting herself on the couch to look at me. “How could you have possibly seen that coming?”
“She was having asthma attacks all night. She’d already had three.”
“Stop. You’re an amazing father. Anyone can see that, especially Georgie. You need to give yourself some room to breathe. You’re not Superman, Sean. You’re a regular human, just like the rest of us, only you allow yourself to bear the weight of the world on your shoulders.”
I let out a sigh and think it over. I know deep down that she’s right, but it’s going to take a while to come to terms with it. If I hadn’t left to get a drink, I could have avoided it. I would have heard the change in her breathing and gotten her medication before the attack could progress. Instead, my baby was left struggling in her bed while I took my fucking time pouring a glass of water.
Seeing my resignation, Gigi starts to relax. “You’re just here for observation now?” she questions before getting up and checking Georgie’s monitor.
“Yeah,” I tell her. “How’s she looking?”
“Looks good,” she says. “You’ll be out of here before you know it.”
“Thank God,” I sigh. “Are you on your break?”
“Yeah.”
Shit, I’m sure she doesn’t want to spend her break in a hospital room. She spends her whole day in them. She deserves to get out and rest. “Why don’t you go enjoy your break?” I say, getting up and moving in behind her, my hands resting on her shoulders.
She shakes her head and turns, those big eyes coming up to mine. “Why don’t you go have one? I’m almost positive you haven’t eaten properly. I’ll stay with Georgie, and besides,” she adds with a sparkle in her eyes. “I am enjoying my break.”
