Page 46 of The Waiting Game

Jonah focused on his grandmother. She looked deathly pale, almost gray, and he clutched her hand.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

She touched her brow bone. “Not good. My head.”

“I know,” he said, pulling her hand away from the goose egg forming but relieved that she was responding in English again.

“The cake,” she said and he almost cried. “You need to put it away. Whipped cream is too soft.”

She was lying on the floor with a bump on her head and she was worried about the cake?

“The cake will be fine.” Jonah let go with one hand, pushing the refrigerator door shut. “I’ll put it away in a minute. I’m more worried about you. You think you tripped?”

She frowned, wincing again. “I don’t know.”

He scanned the floor. There was nothing underfoot. The house had been built with radiant heating in the floors so there were no rugs and he couldn’t see anything that would have made her stumble. She even had on sensible but stylish flat shoes that shouldn’t have tripped her up or made her slip, like socks could have.

“Right this way,” Felix said frantically to someone. “In the kitchen.”

Jonah was so relieved at the sound of the paramedics arriving.

He stepped back to let them work and he wasn’t surprised when his grandma began arguing about not needing to go to the hospital.

“Ma’am,” the man said patiently. “You might be concussed and at your age, we need to be—”

“My age!” she protested.

“Grandma, please,” Jonah’s voice cracked. “Go with them. I need to be sure you’re okay. I can’t …”

And he couldn’t finish that thought because if he did, he’d lose it completely.

It was a relief to hear her feistiness returning, although Jonah wanted to shake her—very gently—for not listening to the professionals.

“Okay, okay,” she grumbled. “You take me to the hospital.”

“You doing alright?” Felix murmured, wrapping an arm around Jonah as they watched the paramedics carefully load her onto the stretcher.

“No,” Jonah croaked. He leaned into Felix. “I can’t lose her.”

“You won’t.” Felix squeezed tighter. “I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

“Sir?” A paramedic was staring at him expectantly. “We’re taking her to John Hanley Memorial Hospital now. Would you like to ride with us?”

“Uh, yes,” Jonah said, stepping away from Felix. “Please.”

She gave him a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry, there isn’t room for both you and your partner. But he can join you at the hospital.”

“Sorry.” Jonah glanced over at Felix. “I …”

“No, it’s fine,” Felix said, squeezing his arm. “Go, be with her. I’ll get a rideshare there.”

Fuck, Jonah had forgotten he couldn’t drive himself right now.

“I …”

“Go,” Felix urged, nodding to where they were wheeling Grandma Ji-min down the hall to the front door. “Someone needs to lock up everything here anyway.”

“Yeah, okay.” Jonah turned away, catching a glimpse of Felix’s birthday cake on the counter. “Shit. Could you put the cake away? She’ll murder us if we let it go to waste.”

---