Page 336 of My Sweet Dollie, You Have to Love Me
A small tear splats the old linoleum flooring.
A nurse in the distance drops her clipboard, the noise making me jump on the spot. My company—Valaria—doesn’t notice, staring aimlessly into her cup as I waddle closer to her and the coffee she’s drinking.
I give the blood in my underwear a single thought as I readjust my shorts that are too far up my hips.
Physically, I’m hurt from the things Shane has done. My body gives me away each time I try to put on a brave face, butemotionally, I’m crippled. I can’t focus on anything but Ambrose for any more than a few seconds, not even my parents.
Back in the waiting area, I can’t stay away from the semi-open blinds that show me Ambrose beneath cotton sheets that drape across his waist.
“He’s awake,” I breathe out with a stutter and a few more tears.
My feet itch to walk to his door, but his doctor—the bossy guy in the long white coat who I’d met earlier—thought it best he speak to his psychologist before seeing his family—meaning me, and she’s hogged the room ever since, waiting for his eyes to open.
Valaria says nothing as she sits on a green chair behind me. It creaks constantly. When she wiggles, I remember how uncomfortable they are, so I keep my complaints about the irritating noise to myself.
My phone flashes at her side, the annoying vibration grating across the hard plastic. Glancing quickly at the phone, I know exactly who it is. Shane, wondering why I haven’t answered his every need. I ignore it, like I ignored the message from Ambrose that I only discovered an hour ago.
A disappointed huff slips out of me, fogging the glass until I see nothing.
Valaria sips a coffee, or rather air, not realizing her cup is actually empty, and this pulls my attention back to her.
She sighs heavily. “I’m gonna get another. Do you want one?”
“Are you sure you want to stay?” in this drab old room, in need of painting.
“Yeah, I’ll keep you company until you’ve seen him.”
She’s been here as long as I have, and she’s actually been good company. She even closed The Funhouse today, and she hasn’t once complained about it. But it’s hard to continuously fight off thoughts that she isn’t here to keep me company, andthat she’s here because maybe she has a soft spot for Ambrose. Ignoring the jealous twinge that gives me is hard.
“Thank you.” I keep my thoughts a secret.
“Dollie darling!”
Before Valaria can so much as nod, Annabelle arrives, swinging one arm around me, the other holding a cupholder with overly full drinks spilling over the scuffed floors.
“Oh, shit.” She steadies the drinks before setting them on a nearby seat. “What the fuck happened to Ambrose?”
Long hair flies around her as her face meets mine head-on for the first time today. Her jaw falls to the floor, the chewing gum she had between her teeth going with it.
My eyes stay low, on the gum, until fast fingers pick it up, and she takes it to the tiny trash can in the corner. Lifting my gaze, I notice her eyes roam the scratches on my cheeks and hate flares down her nostrils. She doesn’t comment with Valaria in the room, who has also glanced at each bruise a few times, without making her own comments since arriving here.
“Ambrose tried to kill himself this morning.”
“Nyx told me. I didn’t have my phone with me while at work today because of meetings, but I just listened to all his voicemails. He said you and a friend brought him in this morning. I came as soon as I could.”
Nyx arrived before the ambulance, a tribe in tow to fix up my yard. He’d been helpful and supportive in the way that only someone with a heart as big as his could be.
“Why did Ambrose do that? Because of…” she points to my face, no longer able to keep her lips sealed.
“He hasn’t seen it.”
“So, why did he try to end his life? Is he okay? Why are you all bruised? What the fuck set Shane off this time?”
Too many questions spew from her mouth.
My chest heaves, and my head pounds, feeling too overwhelmed by all of them.
A glance back at Ambrose centers me slightly. My sweaty palm flattens to the glass between us. His mouth moves on the other side, saying something I can’t understand from this angle, which shows too little.
