if both of them had a hundred things they wanted to say to each other but could never find the words.
Olivia was never mean to Juliet and vice versa, but they were always überpolite. Kind of like when Caitlin’s friends Allie and Emma got in a huge fight then made up and were way too nice to each other for weeks.
Though she looked kind of out of it from the medication the nurse had given her, Juliet tried to sit up. “I told you not to come. Oh, honey. You must have driven all night.”
“I’m glad I made it before they took you for surgery.”
“I am, too. But you still didn’t need to come.”
Much to Caitlin’s dismay, a tear leaked out of her grandmother’s blue eyes. Juliet reached a trembling hand out, and after an awkward kind of moment, Olivia reached for it and squeezed.
“How are you feeling?”
How did Olivia think she was feeling? Jeez. Juliet had a grand total of four broken bones, including her hip and her ribs.
“I’ve been better,” Juliet said, forcing a smile. “How are you? How was the drive?”
“Good. There’s not a lot of traffic on the interstate at 3:00 a.m.”
Before Juliet could answer, the door opened again. This time it really was the anesthesiologist, Dr. Zane, a really nice middle-aged man who had come in earlier to introduce himself to Mimi and Caitlin. She still wasn’t sure if Zane was his first name or his last. Or maybe he was like Beyoncé or Drake and only needed one name.
“Are you ready for this?” he asked with a kindly smile.
Mimi suddenly looked nervous. “Do I have a choice?”
“Not if you want to heal properly. I’m sorry.”
With a sigh, her grandmother nodded. “I guess I’m ready.” She squeezed Olivia’s hand again then released it, and Olivia stepped away.
“Bye, Mom. I...I love you.”
Caitlin wanted to roll her eyes. It wasn’t really that hard to tell someone going into surgery that you love them, was it?
“I love you, too, my dear.”
“Everything will be fine,” Caitlin said briskly, stepping forward to give Mimi a genuine hug. “You’ll be back on your feet and getting things done at the garden center before you know it.”
Her grandmother hugged her tightly. “You still should have been at school, but I’m glad you’re here, too,” she murmured.
Dr. Zane spent a moment unhooking the bed from the wall, set a chart at the foot of the bed and started wheeling the whole thing out of the room.
“You two can come as far as the door of the surgery unit, if you want,” Dr. Zane said cheerfully. “We have a waiting area for family members that’s closer. You’re welcome to wait there or you can come back here and wait in the room. Either way is fine. The surgeon will find you after she’s done and let you know how things went.”
He pushed Mimi in her bed and they both followed after him like they were in one of those crazy New Orleans funeral processions she’d seen in a documentary once.
After a series of hallways, they reached an area of the hospital with a big sign hanging from the ceiling that said Surgical Suite.
“The waiting area is just through those doors,” Dr. Zane said, pointing. “This shouldn’t take long. Maybe two hours from start to finish. You’ve got plenty of time to go get something to eat, if you need to. We can page you overhead throughout the hospital if we need you.”
They said their goodbyes to Mimi again and the look in her eyes made Caitlin’s stomach hurt all over again.
Mimi looked scared. Really scared. And her grandmother never looked scared.
What if something happened to her during the surgery? She had heard about those things. Yeah, complications were rare, but they did happen.
Dr. Zane scanned his ID badge on a sensor on the wall and a door swung open.
Once he’d pushed Mimi through and the doors swung shut again, Caitlin felt like she was going to throw up.
“Don’t worry,” Olivia said gently. “Mom is tough. She’ll be okay.”
Caitlin was suddenly furious, all the hurt and betrayal and fear tumbling together in her chest into one thick, nasty ball. “What the hell do you know? You’re never here. You don’t even know her. Don’t try to pretend you give a shit what happens to her.”
She stalked off, needing desperately to be alone.
6
OLIVIA
What had she said?
Olivia stared after her niece as Caitlin stomped down the hall.