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Lee interrupted me, “Primary objective for Nightingale Investigations right now is your protection. You’re okay in this waiting room but once you leave it, you have cover.”
“But ”
He turned to Indy. “She doesn’t leave unless she has cover.”
Indy nodded.
“I can’t ask you to—”
He interrupted me again, “You didn’t ask.”
“Lee…” I tried.
His eyes cut to me and I shut up.
Yep, I was wrong about Lee not being scary.
Indy obviously didn’t think he was scary. Indy was grinning.
* * *
Eddie,Lee and Bobby left and we settled in for the long haul.
Lavonne went outside every twenty minutes to have a cigarette.
I considered joining her. Even though I’d never smoked, the situation seemed to warrant it. Though I pictured the Nightingale Investigation Team swooping down on me in black SWAT clothes, rappelling off the side of the hospital, shackling me and taking me to the safe room if I even stepped foot out of the waiting room. I decided to start smoking the next time someone I loved was flung out of a moving vehicle.
Eddie obviously made a couple calls himself and Blanca and Elena showed up and took turns with Indy, Ally, Daisy and Ada getting us coffees and making certain no one was alone with their thoughts for too long.
I spent most of my time sitting with Lottie and holding her hand.
“I wasn’t very nice to him the last time I talked to him,” she said to me.
I squeezed her hand. “Stop it. There’s no use to it so stop.”
She squeezed my hand back.
“Love you, Jet,” she whispered, looking at the wall.
I swallowed my tears. Again.
“Love you too.”
A couple of hours later, the doctors came out. They told us a bunch of stuff about Dad’s injuries and what they did to him, but all I heard was that he was alive.
He was in ICU, in critical condition. We were allowed to go in, one by one. First Lottie (because she had things to say), then Mom (because I suspected she had things to say) and then me.
I didn’t say anything. I just held his hand for a while. He was asleep but he looked better. Mainly because there wasn’t blood all over him anymore.
I walked out of ICU, away from everyone and down a hall.
I called Eddie.
“Yeah?”
“Alive, critical, ICU.” I didn’t have it in me to use fancy language, like verbs.
He was quiet a beat then he asked, “You stayin’?”
