“No one is going to see it until it’s finished. I have a process.”
“Jeez, you artists are so emotional.” I backed away.
She kicked her foot against mine.
“Watch it, I just got these.”
“Hey.” She leaned up off the wall, grinning. “You’re wearing them! They fit?”
“I wouldn’t be wearing them if they didn’t fit. How in the world did you know my size, anyway?”
“I was pretty much a tomboy growing up—”
“Shocker.”
She glared at me. “I’m sure you were a charmer as a teenager.”
“Of course. Just look at me.”
“I am—”
“Anyway, you were a tomboy?” I pressed on, before she forgot what she had originally been saying.
“Oh yeah. I spent most of my time with this group of boys from my neighborhood. We all basically grew up together, and we were always barefoot in the rivers. I can kind of guess a guy's shoe size when I compare it to theirs in my head.”
In the rivers? “Where are you from?”
“Cypress, Alaska, home of the best wild salmon in the country.” She raised her head up and nodded.
“Wow.” I couldn’t stop laughing. “Is that really a place? Cypress? Alaska? You?”
“It is a real place, and it’s more beautiful than a city boy like you can handle.” She pouted.
“It is the home of the best wild salmon in the country…I’m sure I could handle it just fine,” I repeated back with a smile.
She got up. “You are such a—”
I cut her off, standing up. “Thank you for the shoes. You didn’t have to say sorry for anything, though your note was funny.”
“Urgh. I ran out of paper, and I didn’t want to bug the nurses any more than I already was to put it in your locker,” she muttered.
“So, that’s how—” I paused when I saw her come through the glass hospital doors. Her blonde hair was done and she wore a straight skirt and light pink blouse. Since her shift was opposite mine, she was most likely arriving to start hers. I had waited around too long.
“What are you looking at?” Guinevere tried to turn around.
I grabbed her sides, holding her in front of me.
“What are you doing?”
“Do you have all of your stuff?”
“Yes, why—”
Taking her by the hand, I kept my head down, trying to make it out the doors before Hannah faced us.
I almost made it, too.
“She’s—” Guinevere stopped.