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“That’s just smart.” Lainie lifted her nose and pasted a snooty expression on her face. “But if y’all can’t handle the competition, then...”
“Ugh. Fine. Bring the game.” Allison frowned. “Seriously, if you guys want to leave me behind for another time—and a different kind of excursion—I’m fine with that. I don’t want to be a spoilsport.”
“Hey, I gave you all options with the links. And Jesslyn said if she could make it, she’d choose glamping too.”
“Really?” Allison’s eyes lit up. “I knew I liked her. What about Kristine?”
“She said as long as it was on the ground, she was fine.”
“And Kenzie?”
Lainie groaned. “Glamping,” she muttered. “Stephanie too.”
Allison laughed, a deep belly laugh that echoed through the area, turning heads and bringing smiles to faces. She clapped her hands. “Oh goody. I can’t wait.”
Lainie’s phone buzzed and she checked the text. Then sighed and dropped her chin to her chest.
“Your mom?” Allison asked with another knowing look. Allison was veryknowingtoday.
Lainie grimaced. “Yes.”
“When are you going to help her?”
“Maybe next Friday. If she’ll let me in.” Her parents lived in one of the nicest parts of town in a massive home that her architect father had built before Lainie was born. While her father kept the outside of the home immaculate, the inside was another matter altogether. And her mother wanted Lainie’s help in cleaning it because she was too embarrassed to allow someone else to do so. “You know how she is. I may get there and she’ll have some reason why we can’t clean.”
“I’m sorry, Lainie.”
“Me too.”
“What about your brothers or sister?”
Lainie tilted her head. “You know they don’t do much of anything. I mean, my sister has done more, I guess. She did drive Mom to a doctor’s appointment two weeks ago, but I had to beg her to do that. Nothing since then, so overall, even she avoids the issue—and our parents—at all costs. What makes you ask?”
“Because I’ve been praying and I expect God to answer.”
“Well, when he does, you’ll be the first to know.”
“So ... that’s a no.”
“Exactly. Mostly.”
“I’ll just have to keep praying.”
“You and me both, my friend.” She shrugged. “It is what it is for now.”
“Yeah, but—” Allison’s phone buzzed and she glanced at it. “Gotta go. I’ll be adding fresh prayers for you and the situation with your mom.”
“As opposed to stale prayers?” Lainie pressed her lips against a smile.
Allison pursed her lips. “Girl, you better watch yourself.”
“Thank you, Ally,” Lainie said with all seriousness. Grateful tohave the prayer warrior on her side, Lainie hugged her, then watched her disappear down the hall and around the corner.
Which left Lainie alone with her thoughts once more. Since that wasn’t a pleasant place to be, she checked her schedule and headed up to Trauma Room 3 to check on the woman who’d found herself on the wrong end of her husband’s fist. Lainie shuddered, gripped the little key on her necklace for a brief splash of comfort, and prepared herself to tell her story.
She’d lived through a betrayal of the worst kind. If sharing that with just one other person gave them the courage to walk away, then it was worth the uptick in nightmares she’d be sure to experience.
She hurried to the elevator, skirting the visitors and other hospital workers in the area.
