Page 26 of Serenity

ChapterEleven

Dillon

“You’ve gotta havefaith.”

I didn’t recognize the feminine voice, but Faith seemed to know who the nurse standing in the doorway was. She beamed a smile at her. “What’re you doing down here? The pediatrics unit is threefloorsup.”

“I heard a rumor that you were admitted, and I thought I’d come down and checkonyou.”

“Ahh, the hospital rumor mill,” Faith laughed. “I don’t miss being on this end of it, but I wouldn’t mind being brought up to date on all the gossip I’ve missed. Did that hot resident ever hook up with the nurse who was always following him around like a lostpuppydog?”

“Hot resident?” I repeated with a glare aimedFaith’sway.

“He was like a decade older than me, and I haven’t seen him in five years.” Faith poked me in the chest. “So there’s no need for yourmachoact.”

“No, please. Carry on. I’m loving this.” The nurse moved further into the room, rubbing her hands together and smiling at us. “This is even better than I thought it would be when I heard Faith had a boywithher.”

“The grapevine must’ve been working extra hard,” Faith sighed. “We’ve barely been here for a couple ofhours.”

The nurse shrugged. “You know howitis.”

“Especially since you’re the biggest gossip in thisplace.”

The nurse didn’t look the least bit bothered by Faith’s accusation as her smile grew bigger and she nodded. I rose to my feet and held out my hand to shake hers. “I’m Dillon Montgomery, Faith’sboyfriend.”

“I’m Nurse Simpson, but you can call me Stacey since Faith isn’t one of my patients anymore.” She turned to Faith and wiggled her brows. “Not just a boy, but a boyfriend. And he’s hot, possessive, and has manners. I guess we don’t need to tell you to have faith anymore. You earned your college degree and fell in love. Seems like you’re making the most of the kidney youreceived.”

Faith and I looked at each other and shook our heads. “You havenoidea.”

“Oooh, it sounds like there’s a juicy store here.” Stacey pulled the extra chair over to the other side of Faith’s bed and sat down. “I want all the details.Spill‘em.”

“And that’s my cue to leave you two alone.” I bent down to kiss Faith on the cheek after I stood. “Have fun gossiping withStacey.”

She grabbed my hand and pulled me closer. “You don’t havetogo.”

“Although it will make it easier to gossip about you,” Staceydrawled.

“I won’t be gone long,” I promised. “I’m just going to head down to the cafeteria to grab a coffee and a snack. Do you wantanything?”

“She’s NPO until the rest of her results come back in case she needs abiopsy.”

I didn’t understand what the nurse meant until Faith explained, “Nothing to eat or drink formeyet.”

“Shit. Sorry. I’llwaitthen.”

“It’s fine, Dillon. I’m not even hungry. Don’t worry about me. Go grab something foryourself.”

“Ifyou’resure?”

She smiled up at me before pushing me away from the bed. “I’m positive. If you go now, you might still be able to grabbreakfast.”

“Which would be good since it’s the only decent food they serve around here,” Staceyadded.

My stomach growled, and they both giggled while pointing at the door. I heard the nurse say something about me being sweet too, and I was glad to be out of there if I was going to be the main topic of conversation. I headed down to the cafeteria like I’d said I was going to do, and I was surprised to find a hot buffet with scrambled eggs, bacon, and hash browns. I made myself a plate, grabbed a cup of coffee, paid, and found a table in the corner. I needed to clear up space since my voicemail was full, so I started listening to my messages while I ate mybreakfast.

I quickly wished I hadn’t as I pushed my plate away after only a few bites because my appetite disappeared after listening to the first two voicemails from Faith. She sounded desperate to talk to me, and it only got worse from there as more time went on. I skipped over the messages from my parents and listened to all of the ones from Faith in order. I couldn’t bring myself to delete all of them, even though I didn’t think I could bear to play them ever again. But I never wanted to forget the damage I’d done with my carelessness. I kept a few of the worst ones in case I needed a reminder in thefuture.

As I was listening to the messages my parents had left, a call came in from my dad’s phone number. My finger hovered over the button I needed to press to accept it, but I couldn’t bring myself to answer. I wasn’t ready to talk to them yet, let alone face them again. And I knew if I told them where I was, they’d race over to the hospital to help in any way they could. It was just how they were. Plus, they loved Faith almost as much as I did. But even with all that, I needed more time. So I let the call go to voicemail and tried to choke down a few more bites of my breakfast since it’d been days since I’d eaten arealmeal.

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