18. Lucy
lucy
. . .
When we arrived at the hospital, Ed was already in the lobby, and the state of his clothes suggested that he likely stayed the entire night. Something was going on between him and my mom—it was the only logical explanation for why he’d stay here overnight.
“Did you sleep here?” I asked him. Behind me, Luke handed over the coffee he had gotten for himself to Ed. He looked like he needed it more than us, and I more than appreciated the gesture.
“Yeah, I wanted to make sure Eve was okay throughout the night,” Ed answered, taking the coffee with a grateful look. I fought the burn behind my eyes. I had felt so guilty over leaving Mom here alone, but it turned out she was in good company.
“Mom’s lucky to have you.” I hugged Ed, not letting him go for a few seconds. “Thank you for everything you do for her.”
“You’ve got nothing to thank me for. She deserves the world,” he said as he released me, and we headed into her room. This time, she was awake. Thank God. She still looked a little weak and shaken up, but to see her with her eyes open was the biggest relief.
“Mom!” I exclaimed, wrapping her in a hug. I couldn’t help it. Tears began to fall. I had never been scared like this before.
“Oh, sweetie, don’t cry. I’m fine.”
“You’re fine?” I hiccupped. “Look at you! Look at your leg! And they said you may even have a concussion!”
“I’ll be up and going in no time,” she assured me, but I highly doubted that was the case. I was there for the fall. It looked serious, and I figured it would take her a while to recover.
“Have you talked with the doctor? Do you know when you’ll be getting out of here?”
“Well, the good thing is the doctor’s right here to talk to you,” another voice said from the door. I turned my head to see Landon. He was Luke’s brother and one of the reasons why I believed my mom was in good hands. He was good at what he did; that was a well-known fact in our town.
“Landon,” I said, “thank God you’re here.”
He smiled. “That’s my job, Lucy. I ensured your mom was in the best hands possible and checked up on her regularly.” He gave Luke a strange look, but I didn’t question any of it—as long as my mom was cared for.
“The leg will take a while to heal. You’ll have to use crutches and keep the movement to a minimum. If you overdue it the longer your recovery will be. The break was bad, but we’ve managed to?—”
“How long?” my mom interrupted Landon impatiently, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Eve…you’re going to have to take it slow for a while,” Ed reminded her, placing his hand on her shoulder.
“I have a business to run!”
“Well, your business is going to have to wait. You’ll need to keep weight off of it for at least a month and a half, and we’re going to implement physical therapy to slowly get you back to walking. All in all, it will be a few months before…”
Landon didn’t even finish his words before my mom began shaking her head. “Absolutely not. It’s just me at my flower store. Taking on someone new will take some time and I need to train them and—oh, God. What am I going to do? I have to work!”
“Mom, you have me,” I pointed out.
“Yes, but you’re leaving in a week.”
I gave my mom a look. “I’m on summer break, so I can extend my time here until I need to return to work. I can be here for at least six more weeks. When I was younger, I was by your side at that store day and night. I picked up a thing or two. It’s the least I can do for now, and we’ll see how it goes from there.”
“Are you sure, sweetie?”
“Of course. We’re family; that’s what family does. I’m not going to leave you now when you need me the most.” I looked up at Ed. “Ed can’t do everything on his own, you know.”
My mom looked at Landon again. “And when can I go home?” she asked him.
“I’d like to keep you until tomorrow morning just to make sure there are no complications, and then you’ll be free to go,” Landon explained. “This goes without saying, but you won’t be able to go up and down the stairs for a while.” The same panicked look returned to my mom’s face, but I did what I could to ease it.
“Of course. We’ll set up the guest room for you downstairs. You don’t have to worry about anything, Mom. We’ll have everything sorted out.” I met Ed’s eyes. “Can you stay with mom a little longer? I want to head back home to sort everything out for her arrival and bring her stuff downstairs as soon as possible.”
Luke stepped beside me. “I’ll come with you to help out.”
Just when I thought he couldn’t possibly do more for me, he did. He was there in every way I needed him, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to repay him any of this.
“Okay, we’re going to head out and sort everything out around the house.” I kissed my mom on the cheek. “All you need to do is sit still.”
My mom gestured toward her leg with a mischievous smile. “I wasn’t planning on going anywhere, sweetheart.”
“And don’t give Landon or the nurses too much trouble.” This time, she laughed. The sound relieved me, and I knew she’d be back to her old, usual self in no time.
As Luke and I headed out, I was already in full planning mode.
“Okay, I’ll need to let Sailor know that I won’t be back until the end of August. My car is parked at the airport; maybe I can get her to move it somewhere for me. I also need
more clothes. I’ll need to learn Mom’s system for her floral shop. I mean, I know a thing or two about her arrangements, but surely she’s updated her system since the last time I was there…” Had that not been a decade ago, maybe I would’ve been more familiar with it. Guilt threatened to itch at me all over again, but I refused to let it happen. I was going to help my mom get through this.