like shit, and it’s not okay.”
Abby didn’t trust her voice, but she was able to push back the lump in her throat enough for one word.
“Thanks.”
Chapter 9
Audrey’s eyes had been locked on Chris all night, and Abby was hoping her sister didn’t have a crush on him. He had taken Abby and her sisters out for pizza before his Tuesday night shift and was driving them home.
“Chris, have you ever seen guts?” Sara asked from the back seat.
“Yeah,” he said, smiling. “Sometimes I even have to touch guts.”
Sara groaned with disgust, smiling at the same time.
“What’s the grossest thing you’ve ever seen?” she asked.
“Sara,” Abby chided.
“No, it’s okay,” Chris said. “I’d say the grossest thing was when this little boy drank green paint and when we pumped his stomach he puked bright green.”
“Eww,” Sara said, looking impressed. They had pulled into the driveway, and Chris walked inside with them. Kathy was lying on the couch, and Abby cringed.
“There’s my doctor!” Kathy said, smiling brightly at him.
“Hi, Kathy.”
“Hey, I could use some more of that medicine you prescribed me,” she said nonchalantly.
“You’ll have to see your doctor for that,” Chris said. Kathy narrowed her eyes and looked back at the TV.
Chris had to leave soon to make it to work by seven, and Abby was holding her breath, wondering if she was actually going to survive this.
“Thanks for dinner,” she said.
“It was fun. Come see me later if you’re up late.”
“Don’t you have to go whore yourself out tonight?” Kathy said, not looking away from the television.
“No, I don’t work at the club Tuesdays,” Abby said.
“You do know she’s a whore, right?” Kathy asked Chris. His eyes widened and he looked into the kitchen, where Audrey and Sara sat together at the table, within earshot.
“Mom,” Abby said.
“Well, he should know. Does he know you fucked your own stepfather?”
Abby buried her face in her hands, mortified.
“She tried to steal my husband,” Kathy said to Chris, as if talking about something completely normal. “It’s why my other daughters don’t have their father here anymore.”
Chris leveled his eyes at Kathy, looking more shocked than angry, and led Abby outside without saying anything.
“What the fuck is wrong with her?” he asked. “Does she treat you that way all the time?”
“Pretty much. I’m used to it. I’m sorry she said those things in front of you.”
“Abby, the problem is that she says them at all. What kind of mother treats her daughter that way?”
She shook her head, looking away. Chris kissed her forehead gently, rubbing his hands up and down her arms.
“Come see me at work later, okay?” he said.
Chris’ face fell as he glanced at his pager. He gave Abby an apologetic look and tossed the last handful of sunflower seeds he was eating into his mouth. They had been talking on the couch of the lounge where the hospital staff took breaks.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I need to get home to bed anyway, it’s after midnight.”
As they made their way down the hall to the main area of the ER, Abby was alarmed by the panicked sound of a screaming man, mixed in with the shouting voices of others.
Chris moved past her and Abby shrank back with uncertainty. She didn’t know any other way out of the ER, so she put her head down and made her way along the wall, trying to be inconspicuous.
“That’s my wife! That’s my wife!” a man was yelling, his voice angry and forlorn. Abby’s eyes were drawn to his stout figure crouched over a bed.
“Sir, you have to move away so the doctor can work,” a young nurse in blue scrubs said, gently nudging him. He clung to the edge of the bed in terror.
A security guard made his way over, taking the man’s shoulders and helping him step back. Abby gasped when she saw the woman on the stretcher, whose head was covered in blood. Her hair and face were soaked with it, and she lay immobile.
“Gina!” the man screamed, sounding as if he was in pain.
Chris climbed atop the bed, straddling the woman and doing compressions on her chest. Abby pressed herself back into the wall, absorbed by the scene around her. She felt like she shouldn’t be there, but it seemed impossible to just walk out.
She scooted along the wall toward the door as the despondent man paced frantically, pulling at his hair and crying. He stopped at the wall and Abby found herself right next to him. Her heart pounded as she stood, frozen.
As