Chapter 25
twenty-five
it’s what i live for
E lissa gave Ryan her parents’ address and left her phone on the entire way home. They pulled into the driveway twenty minutes after she’d seen Leo’s text.
“You can come in and wait. I should be?—”
“I’ve got you, Elissa. Go take care of your brother. I’ll keep the car running and get you to the hospital if you need me.”
If she wasn’t so scared about Leo, the warm, gooey feeling his words sent careening through her brain would warrant further investigation.
But she was, so she smiled wanly before running into the house.
Leo sat in the recliner in the living room, hands folded on top of his head.
She heard the wheezing as soon as the door slammed behind her.
“What did you take?” she asked.
He pointed at the coffee table where an array of medications sat in a jumble. Elissa sorted through them.
“How many puffs of albuterol?”
Leo held up two fingers.
“When?”
“Thirty minutes.” His voice was soft, and he had to catch his breath after uttering those two words.
“We’re going to the hospital.” If the albuterol hadn’t helped in thirty minutes, he needed more than what was available at the house.
He shook his head at her.
“There’s no use in arguing with me. I’m the responsible one, and I say we’re going to the hospital. Get some shoes on and gather your meds.”
Elissa hurried to the kitchen to grab a gallon-sized zipper bag to hold his medications and was back before Leo had both shoes on.
While he tossed his meds in the bag, she walked to her room, rummaged in her suitcase for the power of attorney she had for his medical treatment, and in five minutes, they were out the door.
She opened Bertha’s rear door. Leo glanced from Ryan in the driver’s seat to her.
“Leo, Ryan. Ryan has graciously offered to drive us to the hospital.”
“I thought…you said…he was…a jerk?” Leo slid into the seat and buckled in, but the faintest smile curved his lips.
“I may have been wrong.”
Ryan chuckled. “Nice to meet you, Leo. Wish it was under better circumstances.”
Leo waved briefly, then put his hands on his head to open his lungs as much as possible. He breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth. Elissa got into the passenger seat and told Ryan which emergency room to go to. From long experience, she knew which one took her parents’ insurance.
As Ryan pulled into the parking lot, she turned to her brother.
“Do you need a wheelchair?”
He shook his head. Leo sounded a little better, but he was still wheezing.
Ryan parked and helped Leo out, walking behind her brother without making it look like he was there to catch him.
He sat next to Leo as Elissa explained what was going on to the intake clerk.
She took the forms she needed to fill out and sat next to her brother.
He leaned into her, resting his head on her shoulder.
It couldn’t have been comfortable as she was so much shorter.
A wave of nostalgia washed over her. It had been years since he’d leaned on her like this.
Nostalgia was quickly replaced by worry.
Leo must be feeling terrible if he was resorting to the tricks of his childhood for comfort.
“I think we’re good for now, Ryan. I, um?—”
“I’ll call Iz or use a rideshare. Don’t worry about me, I can take care of myself.” He held out her keys but closed his fingers around hers as she tried to take them. “Are you sure you’ll be okay to drive home?”
Irritation flashed through her, but his expression was merely concerned. Concern for her well-being, concern for her brother. It had been a long, long time since someone cared. Everyone in her life assumed she had everything handled.
“I’ll use an Uber if I’m not.”
“Or you can call me. I don’t live far.”
Teo’s words came back to her. It’s okay to accept help.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
He stood. “Text me when you get home, okay? Feel better soon, Leo.”
“Thank you. Really. And…you’re not a jerk.” Not at all.
Ryan smiled and left, and Elissa returned her attention to the paperwork.
“I saw…you,” Leo said.
“Saw me what?” She was distracted as she tried to fill out all this nonsense.
“Looking at his butt.”
Elissa snorted. She had been for a second. She completed the paperwork in record time, and a nurse called them about fifteen minutes later. After taking his vitals and asking a few questions, the nurse left.
With every pained breath Leo took, she kicked herself.
Elissa had been out enjoying life while her brother got sick.
He’d only called after trying everything else.
Leo hated being the sick kid, always had.
He fought it with every fiber of his being now that he was a teenager.
And tonight, she hadn’t been there when he needed her.
“Why haven’t you called Mom and Dad?” He paused every couple words to catch his breath.
This was bad, real bad. Elissa hadn’t seen him this bad since she’d started college.
She should call her parents, but the guilt over leaving him to his own devices for an extra hour stayed her hand.
There wasn’t anything they could do right now, anyway.
By the time they made the drive home from the conference, this would be resolved.
Elissa shrugged, and Leo gave her a knowing smile.
“Don’t want…to tell them…you fucked up?”
“Swear jar.”
He stuck out his tongue at her, drawing her attention to the blue tint to his lips and his pale face. The doctor better get here soon or she’d make a fuss.
“Okay, I won’t enforce it today,” she said, relenting in the face of his illness.
Leo leaned against her again. The silence in the room while they waited was broken by his wheezes and the crinkle of the paper cover on the exam table. Before long, a woman’s voice called out on the other side of the curtain.
“May I come in?”
“Yes,” Elissa said.
The curtain twitched back and a tall, dark-haired woman stepped in. Her coat and badge labeled her as a doctor, but she barely looked as old as Elissa.
“Hi, I’m Doctor Ruiz. Can I have your name and date of birth?”
Leo obliged, sucking in air in between words.
“Thank you, Leo.” The doctor turned to Elissa. “And you are?”
“I’m Elissa Wright, his sister. Our parents are out of town. I have a power of attorney so I can make decisions for my brother in their absence. I gave a copy to the intake clerk.”
“That’s fine. Thank you. Now, why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”
Elissa opened her mouth to tell the doctor what happened, but she held up a hand.
“I need to hear from your brother. If he forgets anything, you can fill in the blanks later.”
Elissa closed her mouth and tried not to let the hurt show.
Leo shot her a look of triumph before turning his attention to the doctor.
In halting sentences, pausing frequently to catch his breath, her brother described his evening before Elissa rode to the rescue.
He’d been feeling blah all afternoon, but the walk home from his friend’s house had done him in.
The friend had dogs, which Leo was allergic to.
He drank some water, took an allergy pill, and lay down for a nap.
When he woke, he was wheezing and used his albuterol, and when it didn’t work, he’d called her.
“Is there anything you’d like to add?” the doctor asked her.
Elissa shook her head, and from her bag, she pulled out the medications Leo took regularly.
“Our mom usually has a list of all his current meds, but I forgot to ask for it before she left. Here’s what he usually takes.”
“Thank you. I’m ordering a stronger broncho-dilator.
” The doctor made some notes on the computer by the bedside.
“We’ll see how you respond, Leo, and go from there.
In the meantime, I’ll take a look at these medications and see where you might want to make some modifications until you can see your regular doctor, okay? ”
Leo nodded, and the young doctor left, toting the medications with her.
A few minutes later, a respiratory therapist and a nurse came in with a nebulizer and began the treatment.
Fifteen minutes after that, Leo’s lips were a nice pink, and his face was no longer deathly pale. The tension left Elissa’s shoulders.
“You look good,” she said. “You know, for a hobbit.”
He chuckled, but didn’t engage in their usual banter as the respiratory therapist took away the equipment, and the doctor returned for an assessment. After a brief examination, she hung the stethoscope around her neck and smiled at Leo.
“Your lungs sound much better, and I like the color in your cheeks. I’ll sign the discharge papers, but you need to go see your primary care provider as soon as possible for a follow-up. I would mention to them you haven’t been taking your long-term control meds.”
Elissa snapped her head around and glared at her brother. She opened her mouth to read him the riot act but stopped when she took in his posture. Leo hung his head, his shoulders hunched, his hands clasped in his lap.
“Perhaps this discussion can wait until your brother gets some rest?” the doctor suggested, handing over the bag of medications.
“Yeah, that’s a great idea.” Elissa shoved the meds in her bag.
“Do either of you have any questions for me?”
Leo shook his head. Elissa said, “No, but thank you, Doctor.”
“Okay. Leo, plenty of rest and fluids. No school tomorrow. And see your PCP.”
Buzzing off the adrenaline for the night, Elissa was fine driving, hyperalert though there was almost zero traffic. It was nearly midnight when they finally returned home, and Elissa tucked her brother into bed.
“If you wake up and feel bad, come get me.”
“Yes, Mom.”
She smoothed his hair back but resisted the urge to plant a kiss on his forehead.
As she was shutting the door behind her, he said quietly, “Thanks, Liss.”
“It’s what I live for.”
Elissa dropped on the bed in her old room and stared at the ceiling.
The adrenaline had worn off, and the sluggish aftereffects had her struggling to put more than two words together, let alone to summon the courage to call her parents.
The important thing was Leo was fine. He was a stupid teenager who hadn’t been taking the medicine he was supposed to, but he was fine.
That’s what she’d concentrate on when she called her parents. In the morning.
For a second, as she closed her eyes, she thought about texting Ryan and letting him know she was okay. But before she could pull out her phone, she was sound asleep.