Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush 1)

"I'd do anything for you. Of course."

"Natalie won't mind?"

"Nah, I doubt it. Do you know when you're getting out?"

"I told them I'm fine and don't need to be here, but you know how hospitals are. They want to test everything just to run up the insurance."

I'm not amused. "Grammy, you collapsed. You definitely need to be here and have tests run."

"Honey, I have a bruise on my foot and they want to X-ray it." She uses her hand to wave where the light bruise is, obviously aggravated. "All that happened was that I tripped because one of my cats was in my path and I didn’t want to step on her. That's where the bruise came from. It's not like I can't walk. They're making a big deal out of nothing."

I concede. I'm not going to argue with her, not when she's trying to hide the slight shake in her hand or the way her shoulders lift to catch her breath. Standing up, I shuffle through her purse for her keys. She gives me a rundown of how much her cats eat and how often, and what toys they like. I just nod and listen, then lean down to give her a kiss on her head. I want her to rest and if something as simple as taking care of her cats makes her happy, I'm going to do it the way she likes.

"I'll be back tomorrow to check on you after class." We both know she won't be out tomorrow either, not until the infection clears up at least. I just worry with her being here and already sick that she could catch something else.

"I don't need a babysitter. I'll be fine." She coughs.

"Love you, Grams."

"Love you too. And, Aubrey?"

I turn around to look at her. Our eyes meet. There's something in her gaze that makes my stomach stiffen.

"Thank you."

I linger at the door, my heart not wanting to say goodbye. Smiling, I blow her a kiss and leave. As I'm leaving the hospital, I take out my cell phone to see a slew of missed calls from James. I know he's wondering why I didn't go to the appointment. I'm sure he's worried, especially since I keep missing his calls, but right now I have too much on my plate, so I put my phone away.

Who knew cats needed so much shit? I'm sneezing like crazy and my eyes are watering. It took a stupid number of hours to make sure I had everything, then forever to trick the cats into their crates. The last thing I need is for one of them to attack me while I'm driving, which given my luck lately would totally happen.

As I sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic, I'm reminded why I don't have a car while living in the city. It's beyond aggravating and I'm antsy wishing these morons knew how to drive. I reach for my phone and dial up Natalie.

She picks up on the first ring and I sigh in relief.

"The caller you've reached is unavailable. Please try again later." She hangs up.

I call again.

"Please leave a message at the tone. Beeeep." And she hangs up again.

If she wants to play like that, I'll just text her instead.

Me: Felicia

Nat: Felicia isn't here at the moment, but if you leave a message at the beep, she'll text you back. BEEEEP!

I'm seriously going to slap her now. Still, I play along since I know why she's acting like this.

Me: Felicia answer your text. I know you're there. Feliciaaaa! Wow this is how it's gonna be? Ok FINE just send me a text when you get "back."

Nat: If you would like to leave a callback number, please do so at the end of this message.

Me: 212-fuck-you

Nat: I'm sorry. That is not a valid number. Please try again later. Thank you.

Me: 212-fuc-kyou

Nat: Your message has been recorded. Thank you.