“That makes sense.” Louise shot her a grin as she opened a door set in the end of the alley.
This door led into a small courtyard with the outer wall surrounding the AMPC on one side, the wall of another building to the other side, and a small apartment building ahead of them.
Louise led the way inside the door on the right, then climbed the stairs to the second floor. “And here we are. Home away from home for both of us. I wish we could give you your own space, but all the units are claimed now that I’ve moved in for the duration of the war. But my unit has two bedrooms.”
“I’ve had to share ever since I joined the mechanics auxiliary, so just having my own bedroom is a luxury now.” Pip strode inside the neat space. A few miscellaneous items rested on a bench near the door while a table with two chairs sat in a small kitchen area. Several doors led off from the main area, presumably the two bedrooms and a washroom.
Louise shut the door behind them before she stepped past Pip into the main area of the space. She halted near the table, resting her hands on the back of one of the chairs as if she wasn’t sure what else to do with them. “I’m planning on visiting Fieran tomorrow morning. If you’d like to come.”
“Of course.” Pip bit her lip. Had her agreement sounded too eager?
Then again, did she have to wait for Louise and go tomorrow morning? Why not brave Aldon and visit tonight? Unless the hospital had visiting hours she didn’t know about.
“I’d rather go tonight, but Mama cautioned that we should give him some space to rest before everyone descends on him.” Louise shifted, her voice going rough.
That made far too much sense. Pip’s heart squeezed, but she let go of any thoughts of rushing to the hospital that night. Fieran would be busy resting, and no doubt the elf healers here would want to accomplish the next stage of healing, which would wipe him out further.
Besides, Pip wasn’t family. She wasn’t officially his girlfriend. They might not even let her see him, depending on how strict the hospital was about visitors.
As hard as waiting until tomorrow was on Pip, it had to be harder on Louise. She hadn’t seen Fieran in months. Not since he’d left to join the army. Pip, at least, had seen Fieran since his crash and reassured herself that he was all right. Louise hadn’t.
Pip set down her bag and walked to the other side of the table from Louise. If she and Fieran had actually been courting, she might have dared to give Louise a hug as she would a sister. Not that Pip had a whole lot of experience with sisters. All she had was a big brother.
“Fieran is going to be all right.” Pip held Louise’s gaze, trying to put as much reassurance into her voice as she could. “Yes, he was hurt pretty badly. But he’s going to be fine.”
“I know.” Louise dropped her gaze, shifting as if she wanted to turn away, her voice even more rough. “But hearing about Fieran’s injuries and then Merrik’s…it’s just hard when I can’t even hug him.”
Perhaps this was the moment when Pip should hug Louise. But she didn’t know her well enough for that yet.
“Then let’s get our mind off our worries tonight.” Pip managed a smile. “I’ve been stuck on army bases with mostly guys for the past several months. I’d enjoy a girls’ night.”
“I’d like that.” The smile returned to Louise’s face, though not all of the worry faded from her eyes. “There’s a bakery just a short walk down the street. With the sugar rationing, I’m not sure what they’ll have left at this time of night, but we can see what we can get. Then we can come back here, make tea, coffee, hot chocolate, or whatever you prefer, and chat.”
“Sounds good.” After the long train ride, Pip was up for a short stroll through the neighborhood. Hopefully it would relieve the last of her restless energy and worries for Fieran.
And there was just something about Louise that made Pip relax. Louise wasn’t family, and Pip didn’t know if she ever would be. But she would be a fast friend before the night was out.
Chapter
Three
Pip trotted at Louise’s heels as they followed the orderly up the hospital’s stairs to the second floor. She tried to pretend she wasn’t fidgeting, her stomach churning. How would Fieran react to seeing her? Would he be more awake than he had been when she’d last seen him?
Once they reached the second floor, the orderly led them down the aisle between the beds lined up on either side of the room. Most had their curtains drawn, but Pip caught glimpses of men still sleeping.
Perhaps Fieran would still be asleep. After all, she and Louise were coming rather early to squeeze the visit in before heading back to the AMPC to start work for the day.
The orderly halted in the middle of the room by a bed still hidden behind curtains and gestured to it. “This one.”
Pip froze in the aisle. Well, Fieran was still asleep. They’d come all this way, and she wouldn’t even get to see him.
Instead of turning to leave, Louise marched to the end of the curtain and gripped it, though she didn’t fling it open right away. “Fieran, you had better be awake and decent.”
“Louise?” Fieran’s voice came from behind the curtain, rather more awake and alert than Pip would have expected. “Yeah. Come on in.”
Louise shoved the curtain aside and stepped closer to the bed, leaving Pip little choice but to follow.
When Pip peeked around the curtain, Louise was bending over, giving Fieran a hug as he lay on the bed. “I’m glad you’re all right.”
