Chapter 2
Sebbie
I was finishing filling out my last chart at the nurses’ station when Louise came over.
“You wanted to know if Mr. Russell woke up. He’s awake, but your shift is over,” she said, then she marched off.
“I don’t know how you don’t tell her off,” Camilla said. “She’s such an ass to you. She’s just jealous that the patients like you way better than her.”
“Yeah, well, she has the bedside manner of a drill sergeant, so that’s not surprising. And there’s no point wasting energy being mad at her—she’s miserable enough,” I answered.
Camilla hummed in agreement, and we both finished up our charts. It had been a long shift—longer with charting—but I wanted to go visit Mr. Russell anyway. I had the next four days off, and I wasn’t sure if he would still be here when I was back on shift.
I took a walk down the hallway. I’d worked in a couple of hospitals, first as volunteer EMS, then for my nursing classes, then for actual pay. I had to say that this was definitely one of the nicer ones. Then again, the hospice wards tended to be a little nicer.
“Sebbie! How are you, my angelic nurse?” Mr. Russell called when I walked into his room.
I didn’t bother with the gloves and all that. I was off shift, and it wasn’t like germs mattered at this point. I walked in and sat beside his bed, and he reached his hand out for mine. I took it and smiled at him.
“You’re looking lively. How are you feeling today?” I asked.
“Pretty good, actually, although maybe it’s the cocktail dripping into me,” he joked. “Best drugs I ever had! The 60s have nothing on hospice care!”
I laughed, just as he meant me to. We joked and chatted for a bit, and I was happy to listen to his stories. He was such a sweet old man, and he had been a pleasure to care for. I could tell he was getting tired, though.
We fell into silence for a moment, then he asked, “It doesn’t mean anything, me feeling better today, does it?”
“Sometimes people get a last burst of energy. I’ve seen it fairly often. It’s good that you’re not feeling much pain, though,” I told him.
“Tell me again, Sebbie,” he whispered, and he closed his eyes.
I knew he wasn’t sleeping, because his grip on mine was still strong.
“No one ever dies alone, and it doesn’t matter if you have ten people with you or no one when it’s your time.
Death isn’t an ending; it’s a new journey.
A journey that many other people will be taking with you,” I answered.
“You lived an adventurous life. I expect you’ll have an adventurous death as well. ”
Mr. Russell smiled, his eyes still closed.
“And you know who will be on this journey with you, too. There will be new friends, but you’ll run into some old friends as well. Perhaps even an old romance is waiting,” I teased.
His lips lifted slightly again, and then after a moment, his breathing evened out and his hand grew lax in mine. I gently placed it on the bed, giving it a small pat.
“I’ll see you on the other side,” I whispered, then I got up and headed out of the room.
I expected that the next time I came in, someone else would be in this room. Mr. Russell was ready to head off to his next great adventure.
When I pulled in, Thea was sprawled out on my front steps.
They led up to a porch with a railing, and there were even rocking chairs on the porch, but Thea chose to sit on the top step, leaning against the post with her feet up on the other side.
She was effectively blocking the way, and I chuckled in amusement.
I got out of the car and was greeted by the cawing of crows. “Hello, loves!” I called out. A few crows flew down and landed on my porch. I noticed they kept a respectful distance from Thea, though.
“I know you’re not talking to me,” Thea commented, “because you’re not my type, Seb.”
I laughed at her comment, and when I got to the top of the steps, I playfully pushed her legs aside to get by and unlock my front door.
Thea had been hanging around ever since that whole kidnapping thing. For the first day or two, I kind of figured it was because she was worried about me. Now, though, I thought she was trying to figure me out. Or, more likely, figure out what I knew.
I walked inside and grabbed some peanuts from my stash by the door, coming back out to place them on the railing for the crows. Thea just stared at me. She kind of sucked at small talk, which I found amusing.
“You want some sweet tea?” I asked her.
“What, are you a fifty-year-old southern woman now?”
I giggle-snorted at that, and Thea stared at me. I pushed her legs out of the way (again) and sat on the step next to her. One of the crows hopped up to the steps, something in his mouth. He left it on the bottom step. It was a perfectly smooth, shiny pebble—blue with swirls of white.
“Thank you!” I called out. “I love it!”
“You know they’re crows, right?” Thea asked.
I gave her a look.
“You’re odd,” she stated.
I giggle-snorted again, bumping my shoulder against hers. “Says the woman who’s stalking me.”
“I am not!” she said, sitting up straight.
I threw my arm around her shoulder so she would know I didn’t mind.
“Thea, you’ve been on my porch or in my yard almost every day for the past couple of weeks.
Yeah, I was kidnapped by some crazy lady who was trying to get to Aiden—who’s really a rich guy in hiding, and whose grandfather had some shady dealings, apparently.
” I paused, still kind of surprised by finding out Aiden’s family was super rich and obviously trouble.
Mob, maybe? Money laundering? Arms dealer?
I didn’t know, and guessing crazy backstories was Toby’s job, not mine.
I didn’t need to know—Aiden was a super sweet guy, and I was just glad he’d found love and family with the Smiths.
Thea cleared her throat, and I continued. “But the lady and her minion are dead, and so is Aiden’s grandfather, and I’ve been assured by the sheriff and the whole Smith crew that no one is out to get me. I don’t need protection. So what’s the scoop?” I asked, looking over at her.
She shrugged off my arm and stood up, walking down the steps and pacing in the yard.
“Are you just socially awkward and don’t know how to make friends? Because Toby and Josh are already my besties, but there’s always room for more. Wanna be besties, Thea?” I asked, smiling.
She stared at me, her face all disgruntled looking.
“We can pinky promise to always be there for each other. We can make friendship bracelets and everything,” I joked. “We can stay up late and do our nails and talk about cute boys. Or cute girls, if that’s your jam. Or cute anyones. We can even do mud mask facials!”
Thea’s face was appalled, and I couldn’t help it—I doubled over in laughter, clutching my sides as I giggled uncontrollably.
The crows all cawed along with me, and it felt like we were all laughing together, which only made me giggle harder.
When I was finally done, I wiped my eyes and looked at Thea, who was standing with her arms crossed in front of me.
“What’s up, buttercup?” I asked.
“You are… I don’t get you. At all,” she muttered.
“What’s to get?” I asked, holding my arms out. “I’m a nurse, I’m an awesome friend, and I’m a ray of sunshine. I know that annoys some people, but it’s their loss. I think you secretly like me, anyway.”
“Are we friends?” she asked, and I could tell she was serious.
I put on my serious face, too. Something was bothering Thea, and I didn’t want that. “Yeah, Thea, we’re friends.”
She was staring at me, and I sighed. I thought I knew what this was about.
“You wanna know about the kidnapping,” I stated.
Thea sat down next to me on the steps again. “You told the cops…” She trailed off, staring at me.
“Yeah, I didn’t exactly tell the cops everything I knew,” I said softly.
She breathed out, and I saw her shoulders relax.
I put my hand on her arm. “I didn’t know you were this stressed about it, Thea.
I thought maybe it was just better to not talk about it, you know?
It’s over and done with. Case closed. They were bad people, and they’re gone now, and that’s all that really matters.
I thought maybe it was better to just move on. ”
“I can’t forget about it,” she said softly.
“You did the right thing, Thea,” I assured her.
She looked at me a little oddly. Ugh, we were totally going to have to have a whole conversation about it. I really didn’t want to relive it, mostly because I was kinda stupidly embarrassed, but I also didn’t want Thea stressing.
“Sebbie, what happened?” she asked. “Will you tell me? Please?”
I groaned. It was the “please” that got me.
I was a people pleaser, and I knew it. So I launched into the story from the beginning, explaining that when I’d gotten home from working my shift at the hospital, Josh’s ex had been a crumpled and bloody mess in front of my porch.
I was on the phone with Josh at the time, and despite him telling me not to, I’d gotten out of the car to try to help Rick.
Then the cult lady had shown up with her assistant, announced that she was “Death,” and they had hung up the phone on Josh.
Thea was nodding along, because she knew that part.
“Then, well, kidnapping isn’t really as exciting as the movies make it seem,” I told Thea, making her smirk.
“They threatened to kill Josh if I didn’t go with them, and then they put me in that room with that old guy, and it was mostly just a lot of waiting around for you guys to show up.
I felt really bad that the old guy was so obviously sick and dying, but other than that, I really didn’t feel worried.
That probably sounds strange. Maybe it was shock—I don’t know.
” I shrugged, thinking that it had been kind of weird.
I guess it was better than panicking, though.
“Then we showed up,” Thea prompted.