Drained (Edgars Family #6) - Suzanne Ferrell Page 0,42
shelter?”
“Sometimes he said he didn’t like the vibes of someone sheltering in the factory and he’d go to his second place. It’s another abandoned building he’d stay in when the weather was bad. It’s down on Cedar a few blocks south and east of The City Mission, across from the nursing home there.” Paula got a little grin on her face. “Sometimes he said he’d go into the nursing home and say he was there to see someone just around mealtime. The old folks were a little forgetful and they’d think he was an old friend or war buddy and he’d get a hot meal.”
Brianna smiled. “That was pretty clever of him.”
“He said he didn’t really feel like he was taking away from anyone. He’d sit with the older men and they’d trade war stories. Said they’d laugh sometimes and sometimes they’d cry over lost comrades.” Paula face softened. “He felt he was giving them something back in exchange for the food.”
Art sounded like a man she’d have liked to know. Brianna wrote both places on her list of Art’s regular haunts. “Anywhere else?”
“He liked to go down to the food pantry on Friday’s and get food for a few days. Nothing much, some rolls and bologna. Cheese if they had it…Just enough to tide him over the weekend. He said…he said, he didn’t like taking food…meant for families and kids.”
She was getting wheezy. Time to stop the questions, again.
Despite her frustration at the limited information she could get out of Paula, Brianna set the laptop on the windowsill by the chair and stood up. “Your water pitcher is empty. Why don’t I go fill it up with fresh cold water while you rest a moment?”
“I can keep…going,” Paula said, but her breathlessness belied her words.
Brianna picked up the big water pitcher and headed to the door with a wink. “I know you can, but I don’t want nurse Teri mad at me if she comes back and finds you worse than before lunch.”
Just as she was headed back into the room with not only a fresh pitcher of water from the unit’s patient refreshment center, where she’d also scored a couple packages of cookies and some jello from the fridge, she nearly ran smack dab into the dreaded nurse, coming out of Paula’s room, once more rubbing her hands with sanitizer.
“How’s she doing?” Brianna asked.
“Better than this morning,” the nurse said, glancing back into the room. “But the doctor wants her to spend another night in the hospital on IV antibiotics and getting breathing treatments. Even after she goes home, she’ll be weak for a while. Does she have any family to stay with? Someone to look after her? The last thing she needs is a relapse.”
“As far as I know there’s no family, but she won’t be going home alone,” Brianna assured her. If she was right, Aaron planned to house Paula in a clean and safe environment, probably with round the clock security.
“Good,” the nurse said with smile as she moved from the doorway. “Plan on her being discharged in the morning. Will you be staying the night?”
Brianna shook her head. “I believe there’s someone else coming to stay with her.”
“The older lady who made cookies for the night shift? I heard they were delicious.”
“That would be her.” Brianna smiled. “And knowing Nana she may arrive with more tonight.”
“I hope I get to see her before I leave then,” Nurse Teri said with a laugh and moved on to the next patient room.
Brianna smiled as she went in the room but it died on her lips as soon as she saw Paula’s sad face with tears rolling down her cheeks. She hurried over to the bed, set the pitcher of water and her snacks on the bedside table, then wrapped Paula in her arms, hugging her tightly.
“What’s wrong?”
“I hate having…to stay another…night in this place,” Paula said with a hiccup on the end.
Brianna leaned back and cupped her friend’s face between her hands. “Oh, sweetie, I understand that. Believe me, I do. I spent a week in the hospital every time I had to have another surgery.” Paula knew her history. They’d talked about it over the months since Paula began working for the shelter and they’d become friends. “I was terrified of the needles, the pain, the treatments, being alone and vulnerable, even though the staff did nothing but help me get better. So, no matter what, you won’t be alone. I promise. In fact, I