Page 13 of Love in Tandem
“Were you supposed to go there or something?”
Melba released her death grip and clasped her hands together as if in prayer, eyes closed. The relief smoothed out half her wrinkles, shaving a good ten years off her face. She could almost pass for an eighty-year-old woman now.
If this had been Sophia’s parents, they would have been hooting and hollering and doing some sort of jig over their cleverness. Well, back when they used to play games together. Back before they started heading for divorce.
“Don’t worry, Melba. I’ll make sure whoever you were meeting gets notified you’re not going to make it tonight.” Must have been someone special. “Can you tell me the name?”
“Organ,” Melba blurted.
Okay. They’d quit while they were ahead. Sophia patted Melba’s hands. “I’ll see if I can get your emergency contact number from one of the nurses. I’ll take care of this. I promise. You don’t have to worry about a thing. Except maybe that pureed salad.”
Melba motioned Sophia closer, patted her softly on the cheek with a smile, and rested her head on the pillow with a contented sigh.
And then, right in front of Sophia’s eyes, Melba died.
Charlotte held a DVD in each hand. “Well, Patches? What’ll it be? Beach Party or Beach Blanket Bingo to start?”
Patches tapped the DVD on the right. “Beach Blanket Bingo. Good choice.” Charlotte might have nudged the movie in the direction of his gray paw, but this was no time for analyzing feline semantics. This was no time for analyzing anything.
Not her parents’ weird behavior. Not her job situation. Not what was supposed to have taken place at this time two years ago. Definitely not what was taking place tomorrow.
She started the movie and flopped onto the couch, where Patches made quick work of snuggling onto her lap. If anything could lift her spirits, it was her favorite movies and the world’s best cat and most devoted friend. Who was now sinking his teeth into her unsuspecting hand.
“Ouch!” Charlotte shoved Patches off her lap. So much for world’s best cat and most devoted friend. “Can you just set aside your split-personality issues for one evening?”
He sprawled across the carpet and began licking one of his hind legs. She took that as a no.
With a sigh, Charlotte focused her attention back on the movie. After Sophia left earlier, Charlotte had decided to buckle down and come up with a plan.
And right now the plan included keeping the curtains closed while she binged movies and brownies until she came out of her sugar coma sometime next week and forced herself to come up with a real plan.
Her phone chimed next to her on the couch. Sophia.
CALL! Emergency! SOS! Mayday!!!!
Charlotte paused the movie and dialed Sophia. “What’s wrong? Is it Mom and Dad?” Maybe they were getting a divorce.
“Not them,” Sophia answered, breathless. “Melba. One second she was saying, ‘Cake, cake, cake,’ then the next second she croaked. Just like that.”
“What are you talking about? Who’s Melba?”
“A patient. I delivered her food tray to her, and now she’s dead.”
“Goodness, what was on that food tray?”
“You don’t want to know. But that wasn’t the reason. She didn’t even touch the food. She just . . . died.”
“Well, you do work in a hospital. I suppose it’s expected that some people are going to die.”
“Now you sound like the nurses.” Sophia altered her voice into a patronizing tone. “‘Oh, honey, she was a hundred years old and a do not resuscitate. She lived a good life. It’s fine.’”
“Was she really a hundred years old?”
“Ninety-five, but that’s not the point. The point is, she gave me a message right before she died, and I promised her I would take care of it, but none of the nurses here want to help me take care of it. ‘Oh honey,’” she transitioned back into a voice Charlotte was certain nurses never used, “‘people say weird things sometimes after a stroke. Just deliver your food trays and we’ll take care of the rest.’”
“That honestly doesn’t sound like bad advice. Where are you right now, by the way?”
“Hiding in a stairwell next to the radiology department. Listen, Charlotte, you weren’t there. Have you ever had a dying person squeeze the life out of your hand and ask for one final favor? Have you? Have you?”
