Chapter Twenty-Seven #2
I knew deep down that the answer was yes. It was always going to be a yes. And if I let her go, I would forever wonder what might have been. But on the boat, her answer had been a ‘no’, and it echoed in my mind.
I was about to speak again when Reese came back out into the waiting room, waving me over. When I got to her, she pulled me in close and whispered in my ear, “We can go back, but we have to be quick. I just know Kalani will kill us if she sees we went back to see Tutu before her.”
I leaned down and kissed her softly on the forehead, forever grateful that this woman had walked into my life. I wrapped an arm around her and followed her back before the others noticed we were gone.
She led me through the ER and stopped right outside a room.
“Okay,” her voice was soft and soothing.
“Before we go in, just know that Tutu is going to live. They decided to give her a strong blood-thinning medication that breaks up clots, called Tenecteplase or TNK. Tutu’s symptoms have started to resolve, but she is incredibly weak.
She’ll need to stay in the ICU for a couple
of days to monitor for any internal bleeding, which is a possible side effect from the TNK.”
I shook my head in understanding. Reese knocked on the door and then opened it, but hung back, letting me go in first.
In the center of the room was an older woman who looked pale despite her tanned skin.
She was connected to various wires and had a nasal cannula providing oxygen.
Her white hair was up in a messy bun, and her eyes were closed as if she were sleeping.
She was my Tutu, but she looked nothing like I had ever seen her.
For the first time in my life, she appeared old and fragile.
Dad sat in a chair beside her, sprawled over the bed, holding one of her fragile hands in his large ones. He looked up at me with sorrowful, tired eyes, as if this whole experience had aged him, too.
Mom was in the seat next to him, the curlers she sometimes wore to bed piled on top of her head. She was in a nightgown I had grown up seeing her wear almost every night. When she saw us enter, she got up immediately and closed the distance.
“Kelly!” She engulfed me in a hug that was so tight, she must have thought I was going to disappear.
She pulled back, pulling my head down so our foreheads could meet.
Her nose touched mine for a microsecond before she pulled back.
“I’m so glad you made it. Hi, Reese. I’m sorry this ruined your evening. ”
“Please, don’t apologize. I wouldn’t be anywhere else,” Reese said, and Mom embraced her like one of her own, bringing their foreheads and noses to touch. A true honi.
I stepped forward and looked down at Tutu. There was an IV in her hand, and I slowly wrapped my hand around hers, careful not to tug on it.
She opened her eyes slowly, letting them focus, and then turned her head to look at me. “Kelly?” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
“Aloha, Tutu,” I smiled, happy to see her with my own eyes.
“You look like shit, keiki,” she laughed, and everyone laughed with her.
“Are you in pain?” I asked.
“No. I’m fine, just tired. I don’t stay up this late like you youngins do. Some of us need our beauty rest.” She looked around me, and I followed her gaze to Reese. “Aloha, sweetheart. I tried to tell them when I got here that I wanted you as my nurse, but they said you had the night off.”
“I’m sorry, Tutu,” Reese stepped closer. “Next time we’ll try to time it better. No more strokes on my days off.”
Tutu laughed loudly at this, but I tensed at the word ‘stroke.’ I wasn’t ready to fully acknowledge what had happened.
“Is Kalani here?” she asked, leaning back and closing her eyes.
“Of course. The whole dang island is here for you,” I said, giving her hand a slight squeeze.
“Well, you'd better send her in. I need to get my lecture over so I can rest,” she smiled at this, eyes still shut.
“I don’t know, Ma. I think you should get some rest,” Dad said.
Tutu made a clucking noise with her tongue. “Kimo, you are not the boss of me. I say bring them in.”
Dad sighed heavily, knowing he wasn’t going to win this one.
“We’ll switch out then. Aloha wau ia ‘oe,” I said as I leaned down to kiss her on the cheek.
“Aloha wau ia ‘oe,” she said back.
Reese and I hugged my parents and made our way out of the room, but Mom followed us into the hallway.
“I’m going to switch out with Kalani so she can come back. I might run home and get a few things for Tutu,” she started digging in her purse for her keys.
“I don’t want you driving at night,” I frowned. We all knew Mom needed glasses at night and refused to wear them. “I’ll drive you.”
“No, no,” she brushed me off. “You have Reese here.”
“I can come—” Reese started to say, but was quickly cut off.
“I’ll have Kekoa take me home,” she said.
“I don’t mind,” I insisted, but she waved me off and made her way to the exit.
I felt Reese intertwine her fingers with mine, and I looked over to see her calm face looking up at me. I pulled her in tightly towards me, thinking about what Kahale had said. I knew I would follow Reese anywhere. There was no one else for me.
“Reese,” I mumbled into her hair. “I know I was begging you to stay, but—”
“Aww! Well, if it isn’t everyone’s favorite lovebirds,” Alana’s heinous voice pulled me out of my confession. We both looked over to see her standing by the nurse’s station. Her hair was down and wavy, and she was sporting bright red scrubs and matching red lips.
“So sorry to hear about your grandma, Kelly. I heard she looked horrible coming in.” The devil herself spewed the words, and I felt my entire body tense at the mention of my Tutu’s name on her tongue.
“What are you doing here?” Reese all but stepped in front of me, shielding me from evil.
“I picked up tonight. They were offering an emergency incentive to anyone willing to come in extra to help. Not everyone can make that traveling money like you, Reesey-poo.”
I was about to open my mouth and tell her to fuck off, but Reese spoke instead.
“You can take your mean girl act somewhere else.”
“Mean girl? I was just coming over to see how the family was doing,” Alana’s eyebrows scrunched up, and she dared to try to look hurt by this.
“We’re all good here. This is my boyfriend’s family, and we don’t need anything from you.” Reese stood a little taller.
“Now, now, Reese. There’s no need to be so hostile to me. I’ll make sure I look after the family when you leave in two weeks. I heard they offered you a staff position here, but you turned it down to keep traveling. What a shame. I really thought you guys had something special.”
Her words felt like a bucket of ice water being poured down my back.
“Oh! Didn’t she tell you that they offered her a permanent job here?” Alana twirled the end of one of her bleached strands.
I didn’t believe a word that came out of her mouth, but I felt Reese physically shrink in front of me.
“As Reese said, we’re good here. You can leave,” I said, pulling Reese into me. She didn’t lean back like she normally did. In fact, I felt her tense, as if she was preparing to flee.
“Mark my words, Kelly. You will be wishing you had been nicer to me when Reese leaves you in the dust. Girls like her don’t pick guys like you.” With that, Alana strutted away.
As soon as she was out of earshot, I released Reese and went to stand directly in front of her. She looked down at her shoes, refusing to make eye contact with me.
“What the hell is she talking about?” My head pounded from the stress of the day, and the adrenaline of earlier was quickly fading.
“Do you want to go get a bite to eat?” she asked instead.
The last thing I wanted to do right now was eat.
“Why would Alana lie like that?” I asked again, hoping that Reese would meet my gaze. She didn’t. “Reese,” I took hold of her hand, but she pulled back.
“Listen,” her voice was shaky. “I wanted to tell you. But...but I...” She didn’t finish her sentence or look up at me.
I suddenly felt like I was trapped in one of those nightmares where you can’t wake yourself up. I needed to wake up and see my favorite pair of golden eyes looking back at me.
“What’s going on.” It wasn’t a question so much as a demand.
“Kelly,” she continued to peer down at her shoes. “This was never supposed to be a long-term thing.”
“What wasn’t? Me, or this job, or this island?”
Finally, she looked up at me with tears brimming in the corners of her eyes, just on the brink of falling over. I felt like I had been punched in the gut.
“I didn’t lie to you. I told you they weren’t offering a renewal on my travel contract,” she said.
“But you didn’t tell me they offered you a permanent job.” I couldn’t help but feel betrayed.
“If I were ever going to take a permanent job, it wouldn’t be here. I...haven’t been happy at this hospital.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this?”
“Because...it didn’t matter. So what if I didn’t like where I worked?” She was slowly backing away from me.
“I care that you haven’t liked working here. Why did you renew your contract here?” The anger was fading, and the sadness that she didn’t trust me with this started to seep into my bones.
“Because I stayed for you,” she said. “It would have been too hard to try to find a new contract on the island. So I stayed.”
“If you don’t like it here, we can find you a new place to work.” I stepped closer, but she retreated.
“It’s not just about where I work. I like you, Kelly. Just...”
“Just not enough to want to stay,” I finished for her.
“It’s not like that. I just...I didn’t expect any of this. You weren’t supposed to happen.”
“But I did!” I raised my voice and noticed some of the staff looking our way.
I took Reese’s hand and led her away from Tutu’s room, further down the hall, back to the waiting area, out of sight from prying eyes.
“Reese, I told you tonight that I wanted you to stay. I want us to be together, and you told me no. Now I’m hearing that you lied to me!”