Page 60 of Always Be an Us

And then when we finally reach the end of the line, the doorway of the surgery room.

"I’ll see you when you get out," I say, smiling at him.

He nods, and winks. "Stay curious, Emma Jane."

"You too, Grandpa."Stay alive,is what I want to say. Tears threaten at the back of my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. Dr. Han notices my face and gives me a sympathetic look.

"He's in good hands," he says.

"Please." The word chokes in my throat and I have to swallow. "He’s all I have left. Please, you have to make sure he makes it through."

The doctor nods, and I head to the sole chair outside the door and sit down. It’s the longest three hours of my life.

I try to stay occupied by being on my phone, but that doesn’t work for very long. And then I start pacing down the hall. At one point, Thelma brings me water, and I give her a friendly smile, but can't make much small talk.

I think she understands because she leaves soon after handing me the cup. The warm water is a boon for my parched throat, even though up until this point I didn't know I was thirsty. Then I pace some more.

The whole time my heart beats loudly, and goosebumps break out from the cold draft of the hallway.

I count the seconds and then the hours. It seems that with every hour that passes, the chill worsens until I barely feel it anymore. It's become a part of me now.

At the three-hour mark, I pull out my phone to see a series of missed calls and a text that I wasn't even aware of receiving.

Good luck.That was from Rick. I didn’t tell anyone else that the surgery was today. Though I loved our community, it was just too much to deal with that kind of exposure right now. I told Rick, just in case anyone was looking for me. I also told him to keep it a secret, but knowing how these things go, no doubt it will be all over town by tomorrow.

Grandpa has been receiving a steady supply of flowers since he was admitted, and the church is planning a group visit. It's a testament to just how loved he is in this town. So maybe it's selfish of me to keep this to myself.

But I do anyway.

After the fifth hour passes, I start to get nervous. Dr. Han said the surgery would take six hours max. It's been nearly six hours.

Something must have gone wrong.

The thought hits me like a freight train and I immediately feel like I’m hyperventilating, but I take deep breaths to keep myself calm. No codes have been called and no one seems like they’re in any rush. I would sense it if something was wrong.

I would sense it.

I wish I had a Pink Pearl with me right about now. When I was younger, Grandpa told me that Rainbow Pearls can grant wishes and that the Pink Pearl is the most powerful of them. But I wasted the one and only Rainbow Pearl I owned. So now, without such an object, I plead with every deity I can think of to grant this one wish.Please let him be okay. Please. He’s all I have left now.

Finally, the operating doors open, and I bolt to my feet. This time Dr. Han doesn’t startle at my vehemence as I approach him.

"The surgery went fine," he says before I can ask.

The words send such a flood of relief through me that my knees shake. I reach out to steady myself against the wall but miss by an inch and stumble into it.

"Easy." Dr. Han says. "Your grandfather is fine. He’s still unconscious and will be for a while. But he’ll be fine."

"Thank you," I say. The tears are flowing down my cheeks in earnest now. It feels so surreal, too good to be true. He's going to be okay.

"Yeah," he says. "I have to go, but they're moving him to the recovery room right now for observation. Later we'll probably take him to the ICU and you can see him then. You're welcome to stay but you can also go and come back."

"Alright," I say, relief still pulsing through me in waves. Though I'm tempted to stay, the second option is probably better. I haven't eaten anything, and Rick will probably want to know how the surgery went.

It's nearly evening when I stop by the shop to tell him. He’s behind the counter chuckling about something with Yule. When I walk up, Yule is saying "Never thought he would be that gullible."

"Never thought he would be that gullible?"

They both turn to me, and Rick says, "Hey kiddo. I thought you were going to be at the hospital all day."

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