The Boyfriend Blog

Aiden doesn’t answer the question I’ve asked over a dozen times. Instead, he snags my hand and pulls me onto his lap. “I’m sure they’ll come talk to us as soon as they have information.”

Sagging against him, I cry. Everything hurts. My body from these damn chairs, or maybe from making love to Aiden all night, and my heart. My heart really hurts. I put a fist over the offending organ to try and lessen the ache. It doesn’t help.

“I hate that she’s alone.”

Aiden’s arms tighten around me. “She’s not. She has us.”

“But we’re all she has, Aiden. There’s no one. Not a sibling or a kid. What happens if we ever decide to move?”

“We’ll worry about that when the time comes.”

“She has to be okay.”

“She’s too stubborn to be anything but.”

I laugh and kiss Aiden’s neck.

The minutes drag into an hour. I stand to stretch my legs, and Aiden does the same. We pace across the tiny space, and finally, a doctor in light blue scrubs walks into the room.

“Are you the family of Edna McCarthy?”

Aiden and I dart across the room. “We’re her neighbors. My name is Lizzie, I’m her emergency contact. She doesn’t have any family.”

The doctor nods and shakes both of our hands. “I’m Dr. Flannagan.”

“How is she, Doctor?” Aiden asks.

“Edna had a myocardial infarction.”

“A what?”

“Sorry.” Dr. Flannagan smiles softly. “Myocardial infarction is the fancy term for heart attack.”

“Is she going to be okay?” I ask.

He nods. “She’s resting now. We’re going to move her to the third floor and watch her for a couple of days. We want to run some more tests and get a cardiologist in here to evaluate her further.”

I sag against Aiden. “Can we see her?”

“Yes, but she probably won’t be awake for a while. We’ve given her some medicine to help her rest.”

“We understand,” Aiden says, taking my hand in his. “But we’d still like to sit with her if that’s okay. We want her to know she’s not alone.”

“Follow me.” Dr. Flannagan leads us down the sterile hall and stops outside of a wooden door. “She’s a strong woman. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

“You’re welcome.” With a final nod of his head, Dr. Flannagan leaves.

“You ready?”

My heart beats so hard that I’m afraid it’s going to jump out of my chest. I hate hospitals. I hate the smell, the look, the cold colors. I hate it all. “Yes.”

Aiden pushes open the door, and there’s Edna, pale against the stark white sheets. Oxygen tubing is in her nose, and an IV in her hand is hooked up to some sort of drip. A monitor on the wall emits a low, steady beep as I walk forward and take Edna’s cold hand.

“Hey,” I whisper, dropping to a chair beside her bed.

Edna blinks up at me with sleepy eyes. “Hi,” she manages to say. Her voice is raspy and low. She squeezes my hand as though she needs my touch as much as I need hers.