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“Hey, squirt,” Tom said, and I heard the smile in his voice. “I just saw her. She’s still in ICU, but she’s awake and doing okay.”
“How does she look?”
“She’s wearing an oxygen mask, so she can’t talk much, but her eyes are bright and she’s serious about getting through this. Rachel is still in there and she’s not going down without a fight.”
I let go of a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.
“What did the doctor say?”
“She’s not responding to the blood thinners they’d way they like, so they want to take her in for an operation. I’ll sign off on that, of course. Then we’ll see what happens after that.”
I swallowed hard. “Do you think she’s strong enough to make it through an operation?”
“Come on, Mackie, you know what us Fryes are like.”
“Weeds,” I said with a grin.
“Can’t kill us off for shit. It’s going to be fine, okay? We’ll find a way to make this happen.”
I frowned. “What do you mean, ‘To make this happen’?”
Tom hesitated. “Did you know she doesn’t have health insurance?”
“No,” I said. “Why the hell doesn’t she have health insurance?” I’d known things were bad, but I hadn’t realized they werethatbad. We were all tight on cash but Rachel had it tough having to look after the three kids, too.
“I don’t know,” Tom said. “I didn’t get a chance to talk to her about it after I found out. I spoke to the doctors after seeing her. The operation is going to be expensive, and we can’t cover that kind of cost ourselves.”
“Shit,” I said. My savings had run desperately thin the past while.
“Yeah. I’ll talk to Randall about it tonight, and when Aaron comes back to civilization, we’ll see what we can do—maybe we can all put some funds together.”
“Count me in,” I said. “Whatever it takes. I don’t have much to offer but I can help.”
“We’ll see what we can do,” Tom said. “Just keep your chin up, okay?”
“Okay,” I said, nodding. “Thanks, Tommy. Are you coming here? I’m at Rachel’s with the kids.”
“I booked a hotel for the night. Lydia tagged along, and she has a conference with China that will run through the night. She doesn’t want to impose.”
“You know you’re always welcome,” I said. “We can pull out the couch or something, you know?” All the rooms were taken in the large house, but we could figure it out.
“We’ll come tomorrow, and we’ll tag-team the kids,” Tom said. “Lydia doesn’t want to bother anyone with her calls.”
“Okay,” I said. “We’re doing a school run at seven.”
“We?”
“Oh…” I blushed. “A friend’s staying here with me, helping me out with the kids.” I was scared Tom would ask more about Troy. I guess tomorrow, he’d meet him anyway.
Tom didn’t ask. Instead, he said, “I’m glad you’re not alone tonight. It’s going to be okay.”
“Yeah,” I said, and we ended the call.
I sighed.
“Everything okay?” Troy asked.
I nodded and explained to him what the doctors had said and what would happen next. I was getting emotional again.
