There was a quick knock at the door before it swung open and some tall guy in scrubs poked his head into the room. “Hey, I’m supposed to take her down for a CT, but I’ve got one giving me some issues in three, can you take her down forme?”
“No Problem, Mike,” Hannah said, disconnecting the lines from the heart monitor. “We’re going to do a quick CT on you, Ms. Greyson.” She kicked at something on the hospital bed. “Standard procedure.” She grabbed the bed rail and started to push. I took the other side, and Hannah stopped rolling the bed. “You can’t dothat.”
“Why not?” I shrugged. “It’s mygrandma.”
“Hospital policy.” She hit the door open button on the wall and smiled before she wheeled the bed through the doorway. “I’ll be back in just a minute.” And with that, the door closed behindher.
I fell back onto the uncomfortable hospital chair, pulled my phone from my pocket, and scrolled Facebook. A smirk crossed my face when I typed in: Hannah Blake. We had exactly one hundred friends in common, and in a small town like Rockford, I have no idea how I’d never run into her before. Her page was nothing but pictures of her family. Pictures of the beach. Inspirational quotes from Marilyn Monroe and Mother Theresa. Her college graduation.Ahhh… I see why.Because she’s a good girl—at least compared to the Britney Swinsons I was used to. She had aim and purpose and she came from a goodfamily.
A few minutes later, the door opened, and she stepped back inside. “You’re Grandma’s something,” shesaid.
“Yeah, that’s thetruth.”
“She tried to bribe me to let her go, said something about whiskey and that you need toeat.”
I laughed. “She thinks whiskey cures everything. She keeps it in her medicinecabinet.”
Hannah smiled before pulling something from the front pocket of her scrubs. “I snagged you an energy bar from the staff lounge. Hopefully, that’ll hold you over until they get hersituated.”
Something so simple, yet so sweet. Thoughtful. Outside of Grandma, I wasn’t really used to people like that. I pushed up from the chair and took a step toward her, taking the bar. There was something like gravity pulling me in. Something familiar. Something about her that felt right even though I knew I’d ruinher.
A tendril of her hair slipped free and I brushed it behind her ear, purposefully letting my fingers trail along her jaw. Small touches like that only made me wantmore.
She timidly glanced down, the softest blush staining her cheeks. And it was that innocence that got to me, that made my stomach anxious. Most girls I’d met—most girls that were interested in me—they were edgy.Sexual—
“It shouldn’t take long for them to figure out what’s going on. Does she live with you?” she asked, pulling a pen from herpocket.
“No…”
“You take care ofher?”
“Well, we kinda take care of eachother.”
A soft smile crossed her lips, and for some reason, I felt like she was trying to prove something to herself. She clicked the pen open and closed while her gaze dragged over my face, landing on my lips. “See, I knew you weren’t thatbad.”
“Now, even bad boys can love theirgrandmas.”
She laughed, still clicking that pen. “Iguess.”
It fell quiet, and while she shifted anxiously on her feet all I could think about was how soft her lips would be underneathmine.
“Well, I should go check on some of my other patients…” she shoved the pen into her pocket and walked to the door, glancing back once more before she slipped through thecrack.
Shit.I scrubbed my hand over my face. That’s the kind of girl I’d always imagined I could love—and I was pretty sure that was terrible news for me and herboth.
______
Grandma was discharged at ten the next morning with directions to follow up with a neurologist on the following Monday. She said she wasn’t going back, but all I had to do was threaten not to take her to church anymore and sheagreed.
“Don’t waste the power,” she grumbled when I flipped the light on in the living room. “And I’m not an invalid, Noah.” She shuffled past me straight into the kitchen. I took a breath before flopping back on the couch. I was tired from being at the hospital all night. I heard the pantry open and the clink ofdishes.
When she came out, she sat down in the recliner with a glass of whiskey in her hand. She lifted one gray brow and held the glass up in a toast. “Those doctors are still wet behind the ears.” Then she downed the whiskey. “Whiskey and prayers. That’s all Ineed.”
All I could do was shake myhead.
Nodding, she set the glass on the side table before kicking the footrest up with a groan. “Now, leave me be so I can get some rest. Those hospital beds sleep like lumpy potatoes.” She closed her eyes and folded her hands over her round stomach. “Goon.”
Groaning, I pushed up from the couch and made my way to the door. “I’ll leave you alone, but I’m staying heretonight.”
