Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 87771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
“Doing good, and you?”
“Doing as well as I can these days. Feels like mercury is in permanent Gatorade for me.”
I chuckled at her silly joke. “And how’s Lily today?”
“She’s doing better than all of us, I think. Much better than this weekend. Thank you for coming on such short notice. Today, she had a big breakfast and then got to go on a field trip to Walmart. She was very excited about your visit today. She kept mentioning it on the shuttle ride.”
That made me happy to hear, especially with how upset my sister had been over the weekend. I’d gotten the call early in the morning from Ginny, saying that my sister was having another episode. Sometimes the medication could sedate her long enough for the spell to pass, but other times she fought right through it, spiraling and spiraling with her schizophrenic thoughts. When that happened, the only thing that could pull her out of it was me.
“Awesome. Do you know if she’s in her room or the TV room?”
“I think I saw her in her room.” Ginny smiled, twirling her finger around her ponytail. She batted her lashes a little extra hard in my direction. “You know, all the nurses here got some free tickets to the orchestra this weekend. Do you like classical music?”
I could tell where this was headed. I politely shook my head. “Never really my thing. I’m more of an alt-rock kind of guy.”
“Oh, okay, okay. Well, if you’re bored on Saturday and looking for something to do, let me know. Maybe you’ll like it.” There was a flirty tone to her words. This wasn’t the first time I had to dodge a woman’s advances. Over the years of being a professional hockey player, there were plenty of girls who tried their luck at getting me to sink my puck in their net while having no idea I played for the other team. It didn’t make me feel good doing it, but I certainly wasn’t going to string someone along just to sell the fact that I was “straight.”
So I became a pro at coming up with excuses and politely declining the advances. “Thank you, Ginny. I’ve got a busy weekend with some home projects I want to wrap up, but if anything changes, I’ll let you know.” I gave a gentle knock on the desk and left the nurses’ station, grateful that my sister had such kindhearted and friendly nurses taking good care of her. It helped ease a lot of the stress I felt over needing to leave her here in the first place. If I could, I would have moved her into my home and taken care of her there. But my sister needed around-the-clock care, and that wasn’t something I was physically able to provide. I couldn’t leave her alone without worrying she would have an episode and hurt herself or someone else.
At least here, I knew she couldn’t run out into a busy street because she was sure an alien invasion was coming or that someone was spying on her through the television.
I walked down the hall, passing a couple of residents in their wheelchairs either being taken to the common areas or wheeling themselves to their rooms. The smell of bleach and cleaning product was strong in the air. A door to one of the rooms opened, and a familiar face appeared, surprised to see me.
“Whoa, hey there, Gabe.”
It was Harrison, our GM. “Hey,” I said, surprised as he was. I’d never seen him around here, and we’d never really talked too deeply about our personal lives before. “I’m just headed to see my sister.”
“Oh, I had no idea. My mother’s here. She was at Ridgewood, but her unit flooded, so they temporarily moved her here.”
That made sense. Ridgewood was where the families with money went. Its nickname was Ritz-wood. I wanted to move my sister there, but the price was just unfeasible for me. It would be nice for her to have an actual bedroom and bathroom that felt more like a home than a hospital room, and their rehabilitation and recreational facilities were out of this world. They had a VR room, a hydrotherapy spa, a gym equipped with only light weights and mobility machines, and a round-the-clock gourmet kitchen.
Still, my sister was in great hands here, and that’s what mattered most. “It’s not as fancy around here, but the nurses are absolutely incredible.”
“I picked up on that.” He looked a little off to me without his suit on. Like I had stumbled on a turtle without a shell. “Well, I’ll be at practice tomorrow, so I’ll see you then.”
“See you tomorrow,” I said. Harrison was never a conversationalist, and it looked like he was busy by the way he glanced at his phone like he was checking the time. He gave me a smile and left, still checking his phone on the way out.