Chapter 18
CHAPTER 18
E lla
I went up to the rooftop to grab a cup of coffee. I hadn’t heard from Graham since he left my house yesterday, but I didn’t care. I had other things to deal with that were more important.
Standing in line, I felt two hands grip my shoulders from behind. Turning around, Graham stood with a smile on his face.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Morning.” My lips formed a small smile.
“I’m sorry I didn’t contact you last night. I was busy.”
“That’s okay. I was, too.” I ordered my coffee.
“Put her coffee with mine,” Graham said.
“You don’t have to buy my coffee.”
“Yeah, I do. It’s an apology coffee for not texting or calling. Forgive me?” His bottom lip jetted out into a pout.
“You are forgiven.” A smile crossed my lips.
We took our coffee over to a table and sat down.
“I only have about fifteen minutes. My grandma is coming in for an MRI.”
“You convinced her?” He tipped the cup to his lips.
“It wasn’t easy, but yeah.”
“What time does your shift end?” he asked.
“Six o’clock. Why?”
“I get off at seven. How about you come to my place tonight? I’ll stop on the way home and pick something up for dinner.”
“Or we could just order a pizza,” I said.
“Pizza sounds good.” The corners of his mouth curved upward. “So, that’s a yes?” His brow arched.
“It’s a yes.” I grinned.
He glanced at his watch. “I have to scrub in for surgery. I’ll see you later.” He walked over and kissed the top of my head.
“I saw that,” Grayson walked over, smiling. “May I?” He pointed to the chair across from me.
“Of course.”
“So, I see you two are getting along really well.” A smirk crossed his lips. “He seems like a great guy.”
“He is.”
“You know, Ella. I was really surprised yesterday when Ophelia revealed herself in front of him. None of the alters have done that with any of the guys you brought around. Not even Landon and you two were together for six months.”
“I know. She must have seen something in Graham that made her feel comfortable enough to want to meet him,” I said, glancing at my watch. “I have to run, Grayson. I have a patient coming in for an MRI.”
“Okay, sweetheart. I’ll see you later.” He winked.
“Bye.” I smiled.
I went to my office and sat behind my desk.
“I just want you to know I had to lie to Christian.” My Grandma Barb walked in with my grandfather. “He saw us and asked what we were doing here.”
“And? What did you tell him?”
“That you had asked us to come by for lunch. Let’s get this over with.”
I stood from my desk and hooked my arm around hers. “It won’t take long, Grandma.”
“As ridiculous as this is, I’m only doing it for you.” She glanced at me.
“Thank you.” I kissed her cheek.
I took her to the MRI room and had her get on the table.
“Grandma, this is Laura. She’ll be in here with you while I’m in that room right there.” I pointed.
I sat in the control room and stared at the monitors while my grandmother’s brain was being scanned, waiting for the images to appear. The first image loaded, and the rest followed. As I stared at them, tears filled my eyes. I knew Uncle Jackson was at the hospital today, but I wasn’t sure if he was in surgery or not. Grabbing my pager, I paged him.
“Are you okay in there, Grandma? I asked over the speaker.
“I’m fine, darling.”
“Okay. Just a few more minutes.”
The door to the control room opened, and my Uncle Jackson walked in.
“You paged me?”
“Take a look at these.”
“There’s atrophy of the brain. Other than that, I don’t see anything else. Alzheimer’s patient?” Jackson stared at me momentarily, but I didn’t say a word. He looked through the window to the MRI room. “Oh God.” He ran his hand down his face.
“I was hoping and praying that it was a brain tumor, Uncle Jackson. I started noticing the signs last year.”
“I noticed a few things myself over the past couple of months. I was going to say something to her, but I thought I’d wait and see. How the hell did you get her to come in?”
“She put up a fight at first.”
“Shit. Ella, we cannot discuss this with the family unless she gives permission.”
“I know. How am I going to tell her Uncle Jackson?”
“You’ll need to run more tests first. I have to get to surgery, sweetheart.” He kissed the top of my head.
I went into the MRI room.
“Well,” my Grandma Barb asked.
“Let’s get Grandpa and put you in an exam room.” I hooked my arm around her.
“An exam room? For what, Ella?”
“I just want to run some more tests.”
She lay on the table while I drew her blood and stared at me while my grandfather held her hand.
“I know that look, Ella. What did the MRI show?” she asked.
“We can talk about that later, Grandma.”
“No!” she snapped. “We will talk about it now!”
I helped her up from the table.
“Let’s go to my office.”
We went to my office, and she and my grandfather sat down.
“The MRI showed brain atrophy.”
“I have Alzheimer’s, don’t I?” she asked.
“It appears so, Grandma.” Tears filled my eyes. “Late-onset Alzheimer’s. But there’s other tests I want to run.”
“No tears, young lady. I mean it.”
“There are medications you can take to slow the progression.”
“I’ll think about it. Curtis, let’s go.” She stood up. “Don’t mention this to my sons. I’ll tell them when I’m ready.” She grabbed her purse and left my office.
My pager went off, and I needed to go down to the ER.
“What do we have, Karla?” I grabbed a pair of gloves.
“Trauma room two. Mr. Jones is a thirty-seven-year-old male with a gunshot wound to the chest.”
I ran into the room. “Mr. Jones, I’m Dr. Ella Kind.” I examined his chest. “I need an X-ray, Doug.”
“X-ray starting,” he said as I stared at the monitor.
“She did it. She fucking shot me!” Mr. Jones yelled.
“Who shot you?” I asked.
“My wife. That’s fucking bitch. I’m going to kill her!”
“The bullet is lodged in the left anterior chest wall. Call the O.R. and tell them we’re coming. Let’s go, people.”
By the time I was finished with surgery, it was seven o’clock. Walking out of the O.R., I saw Graham leaning against the wall.
“I heard you were in surgery. How’s your patient?”
“He’ll be fine.” I sighed. “His wife shot him.”
“Great marriage.” A smirk crossed his lips. “Are you ready to head to my place?”
“Yeah.”
I climbed into my car and followed him to his apartment building. Pulling up next to him, we both climbed out at the same time. He hooked his arm around me as we entered the building.
“How did the MRI go?” he asked while we stepped into the elevator.
I lay my head on his shoulder and didn’t say a word.
“I figured. I’m sorry, Ella.”
“Thanks. I don’t think she wants to accept it.”
The elevator doors opened to the fifteenth floor, and we stepped out.
“My apartment is around the corner,” he said.
“This is really nice.” I smiled, stepping inside his place.
“Thanks. I like it.” He smiled, setting down his bag. “What do you like on your pizza?”
“Anything and everything.” My eyes scanned his space.
“I’m not too much of a fan of pepperoni, so how about ham, onions, green peppers, and mushrooms.”
“Sounds great.” I grinned.
“Can I pour you a glass of wine?”
“Do you have anything stronger?”
“Scotch?” He walked over to the bar cart that sat in the corner.
“Perfect.” I smiled, sitting down on the couch. “Did this place come fully furnished, or are you just an exceptional decorator?”
He chuckled, handing me my drink. “It came fully furnished.”