Page 69 of Our Final Encore

“What’s going on?” Alex asks, at some point he made his way back over here, but I didn’t notice. His face is full of genuine concern, his eyes bouncing over my face and his hands reaching out towards me. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be there soon,” I manage to say to Mom before hanging up. Without another word or thought, I spin on my heel, opening my driver’s side door and tossing my purse inside.

“Opal, what’s going on?”

“I have to go. My grandma.” My breaths are still short, making it hard to form full sentences.

I feel a warm hand grasp my arm softly. “I’m driving you.”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not driving in this state. Whatever’s going on isn’t going to be any better if you end up getting in a car accident.” He winces slightly at the last words in the sentence. Letting go of myarm, he softly places his hand on my back and leads me to the passenger side of the car.

I’m in too much shock to put up a fight right now in the middle of a parking lot, so instead I silently relent, crawling into the passenger’s seat.

“Where are we going?” He asks as he starts the engine.

“The hospital,” I choke out.

His eyes flash with alarm, and then he nods before backing out of the parking spot. “Willow Grove Hospital?”

“Yes.”

He doesn’t say anything else during the drive which I’m thankful for. The hour-long drive is mostly a blur as I oscillate between thinking it’s already too late, and praying that it isn’t. When we finally arrive I run through the front doors of the ER, and quickly rattle off my grandmother’s name and my relationship to her to the receptionist.

“She’s currently in surgery. You’ll have to wait to see her.” She sounds eerily calm, like she’s used to telling people bad news every day.

Surgery?I know next to nothing about strokes, or anything medical for that matter, but that doesn’t sound promising at all. Even more panic grips at my throat. I stand there motionless, searching for words that aren’t coming.

“Just let us know where we can wait.” Alex’s deep voice is calm behind me, and he rests a hand on the small of my back as she directs us to a small room with a few chairs. I’m thankful that we don’t have to be in a huge room full of people at least.

“Do you want to tell me what’s going on now?”

“She had a stroke,” I mutter, staring at the floor.

“Shit,” I hear him say under his breath. “I’m sorry, baby.” He says it so naturally, casually, that I hardly register the term of endearment at the end.

My head falls into my hands, and tears that I’ve been holding back finally start to fall. My body shakes as I try and fail to keep breathing normally, my fear of losing the one person that’s always been in my corner is too powerful. I can’t contain it. I’m fucking terrified.

Alex wraps his arms around me, and tucks my head into the crook of his neck. “It’s okay. I’m here,” he whispers as he rubs comforting circles onto my back.

For a second it almost feels normal. Like we’ve always been partners handling life together, and today is no different.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

“For what?”

“For driving me here. You were right, I wasn’t in a good place to be driving across town.”

He nods and intertwines his fingers with mine. “Any time.” We don’t say anything else, just sit here in silence for what feels like a very long time.

At some point my mom arrived, I think we exchanged hellos but I’m not sure. Everything feels like a blur, like time is still. She sits beside me with our arms linked together, her tears soaking the collar of my shirt.

“I’m sorry,” she chokes out.

“It’s not your fault,” I respond, feeling halfway numb and not entirely sure what she’s apologizing for.

She combs a strand of hair behind my ear and looks me in the eyes, a sincerity in her gaze that’s laced with regret. “I should have been here, the whole time. I’m so sorry, Opal.”

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