the tongue. “Nothing, I was just talking to myself.”
“I talk to myself a lot too. Is that weird?”
“Not at all, you’re a very interesting person to talk to.”
Nicole beamed up at me. “I think you’re interesting too.”
“Why thank you, I’m glad you think so.” I heard Dr. Stevens clearing his throat and looked over to see him motioning for me to wrap it up. I nodded and turned back to Nicole. “I need to get going, okay? I hope you start feeling better really soon. And keep reading those books, the world needs more clever little girls like you.”
“I will.”
I gave her hand a gentle squeeze, stood up, and started walking off.
“Livia?” she called out.
I turned back around. “Yeah?”
“Are we related?”
Fuck, she really was smart.
I wished I could tell her, I really did. I wanted so much to watch her blossom and grow and do amazing things, maybe even be the one to show her how to use a clutch. But deep down, I knew nothing good would come from me telling her who I was. It would only leave her with a shattered perception of a man she loved. No, I couldn’t be selfish, she didn’t deserve to have to grow up even faster than she already had. Maybe one day Graham would be out of the picture and we could reconnect, but for now, I had to look out for her interests instead of my own.
“No, sweetheart,” I replied. “We’re just lucky strangers. I got tested because a good friend of mine needed a transplant too. And I’m so glad I did, because even though I couldn’t help him, I found out about you.”
“Did your friend find somebody?” she asked.
I smiled at her. “He did, he’s getting his transplant today.”
“Phew!” she exclaimed, jokingly wiping her forehead with her frail little arm.
What a beautiful kid, inside and out. It was truly unfortunate that I wouldn’t be seeing her again anytime soon. I gave Nicole a final wave and followed the doctor down the hallway toward the elevators, presumably on our way to do the donation.
Trying to compose myself, I was standing behind Dr. Stevens when the doors chimed and opened.
“Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Townsend,” he said, purposely enunciating the last name.
My eyes widened as I heard the man greet him back and realized whose voice it was.
Shit.
I kept my head down and scooted into the elevator, forcing my eyes to stay glued to the floor as the doctor stepped in and pushed the third floor button. But curiosity got the fucking best of me, just as the doors started closing.
I looked up, expecting to see the back of my father’s head in the distance, but he’d stopped a few feet away and was looking over his shoulder.
Straight at me.
His face was older and weathered, but that Irish blood ran deep and his red hair and green eyes were as bright as the last time I’d seen them. Thankfully, the elevator slammed shut before the contents of my stomach made their way up.
: 30 :
| LIVIA |
After sitting in a chair for hours, having blood pumped out of one arm and back into the other, I felt a little stiff and tired but no worse for the wear. It was amazing how far science had come and how easy it could be to possibly save the life of another person. Nicole and I weren’t an exact match but we were close enough for Dr. Stevens to be highly optimistic. Or so he’d told me on our way down to the clinic. I really hoped he hadn’t been talking out of his ass and that the little girl’s plight would soon be over for good. It would take weeks for her body to start producing healthy blood cells from mine, probably months for her immune system to recover; but her chances of getting back on that bicycle and getting to work on her first novel were a hundred times better than they’d been a week earlier.
It was mind-blowing to think how interconnected so many events had become. If Scully and the militia hadn’t stolen from the club, there was a good chance Buddha would’ve kept suffering in silence until a transplant wasn’t even an option; if Nadia hadn’t come back to Linwood, he would have been completely shit out of luck either way; and if he hadn’t gotten sick in the first place, I never would have found out about Nicole or been able to help her.
No matter what we’d