Beautifully Broken

“You mean the guy we shot,” the cop points behind her to the door. “Was that local kingpin Gerald McCarron?”

“If it’s Piper’s Gerald, then yeah,” Cooper says.

The cop turns her back to us. She walks towards the group of paramedics working on Piper, whispering into her radio. She’s probably not actually whispering, but there’s too much noise. I can’t hear her. I look over my shoulder to check on Jenny. One of the officers has ushered her to a chair and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.

“Here,” Cooper says, extending his shirt to me. “Your covered in blood. Wipe your face.”

“Thanks, man.” I clean myself up as best I can, but the blood’s begun to dry, flaking off in little pieces. There’s movement to our right. Piper’s loaded onto a stretcher with four different paramedics moving her out the door. “Hey!” I yell dropping Cooper’s shirt to the floor. “Where are you taking her?”

“St. Mary’s,” one paramedic says. He looks from Cooper to me. “I only have room for one and they’re only gonna allow immediate family back.”

“Go,” I tell Cooper. “I’ll be right behind you.”

Mamma T and Logan are already in the ICU waiting room when Jenny and I get there. Cooper paces the lobby, a blue scrub for a shirt since he gave me his back at the hotel. Mamma T stands and greets me with a hug, her tiny arms squeezing me as if this moment is all that’s keeping her going. She pulls back, hands on my shoulders and gives me a once over. “You look like hell.”

I force a smile and shrug. “You should see the other guy.”

She laughs and pulls me back into her embrace. When she finally releases me, I take a seat next to Logan and wait. Jenny convinces Cooper to stop pacing and sit and holds his hand the entire time. Hours later, a tiny lady in blood covered scrubs appears. “Lovelace family?”

“It’s Harris, but that’s us,” Mamma T says, and we all stand. We gravitate towards the woman like a magnet. Her gaze bounces from each of us to the next. We must be a sight to see. Cooper in his batman pajama pants and scrub top, Jenny in her oversized Bruins jersey and shorts with pink fuzzy slippers. Mamma T has a dress on, but no makeup and her hair’s in a crazy bun. Logan looks like a vampire in all black. And then there’s me. Blood stained hands, dried flakes of it probably visible underneath the equally stained white shirt and shorts.

“I’m Dr. Roe. The bullet lodged itself into Piper’

s shoulder blade, but we were able to remove it and fix the artery it nicked.” There’s a whoosh of air as everyone lets out the breaths they were holding. Everyone but me. My lungs ache, but I can’t release it yet because there’s something about Dr. Roe’s expression. She’s smiling, but she’s holding something back too. “But,” Dr. Roe says with caution in her tone. “Piper lost a lot of blood and there were some complications. We put her in a medically induced coma so she can recover.”

I take a few steps back and collapse into a chair. A coma? I have a million questions, but Mamma T is talking to her. That pain in my chest when I woke up to Piper’s note, it’s nothing compared to the black hole sucking me in now. Jenny walks over and kneels before me, taking my shaking hands in hers. “Rexy-Roo? You okay?”

I look into Jenny’s eyes but can’t find the words I’m looking for. But to answer her question, no. I’m not okay. The woman I gave my heart to tried to abandon me, only to be stolen from me. Every fear I’ve had about letting someone in happened in one day. The doctor may have said Piper’s surgery went well, but she’s not out of the woods. I’ve seen enough Grey’s Anatomy to know how fast things can change in the hospital.

Jenny squeezes my hands. “Bring Gretchen down. You need her. I know she can’t fix anything, but it’ll help.” She’s right. I dig my phone out of my pocket.

Me: Can you come to Florida? Something happened and I don’t want to be alone. Jenny’s here but…

Gretchen: Of course! Everything okay?

Me: Not really

Gretchen: Are you hurt?

Me: No. But my girlfriend was shot and is in the ICU

Gretchen: I’ll be on the next flight

30

Rex

“For fuck’s sake, Rex. You look like hell.”

This is not the voice I wanted to hear, let alone expected. I’ve been sitting in the ICU waiting room for hours. Day turned to night long ago. Cooper left to take Jenny to the airport and collect our things from the hotel. They were more than willing to delay checkout due to our circumstances.

Logan said he had things to do and left too. He was worried the first hour or so, but then spent the rest of the time on his phone, texting. His sister is fighting for her life. And. He’s. Texting.

The only person who seems as worried as me is Mamma T. She’s a mess. Pacing back and forth. Talking to the police—who she insists I’m not ready to talk to yet—she’s right—and making various calls. Apparently, Piper doesn’t have insurance. She’s stressing about the money, trying to track down Monica to make her help with the bill. Monica’s a waste of life. I don’t need to hear their conversation to know she’s not going to contribute even a penny. I’ll tell Mamma T not to worry about it after I’m done dealing with this.

“I flew all the way here. You can’t ignore me.”

I groan, half acknowledging her existence. Why not? Isn’t that what she’s done the last eighteen years? I look up at the woman, who I’ve seen twice this year, and attempt to smile. Nothing happens. I can’t even fake being happy to see her. “Hello, Mother.”