Under the Knife(96)

Darcy settled on the bed next to Rita. “I just—when I got the call, from the hospital, I was so scared. So scared. I don’t know what I would do without you, Ree.”

“We’re going to be okay, Darcy. Whatever happens.”

“You’re lying.”

“Darcy—”

“No. No. You don’t believe that, Ree. Don’t try to tell me for a second that you do.”

Rita pursed her lips. “Well,” she admitted. “It is fair to say I’m not sure what’s going to happen next.” Her urge to smile at the absurdity of this caught Rita by surprise. In fact, she felt strangely—remarkably—calm and clearheaded. Darcy’s presence (and Finney’s continued absence, which she still sensed) seemed to be having that effect on her. One thing had now become clear.

I need to protect Darcy.

Everything else around her could collapse—

(shit, it pretty much already had)

—but she had to guard her little sister.

I wasn’t there for her. Now I need to protect her.

No matter what.

“What are your doctors going to do?” Darcy asked.

“Well … I’m not exactly sure. Has anyone come by since you’ve been here?”

Darcy shrugged. “A nurse. Around eight. She took your blood pressure and temperature. You seemed pretty out of it, so I just let you go back to sleep. You don’t remember?”

“No.”

“You’ve been talking in your sleep. Mentioned some guy named Spencer. Isn’t he the guy you used to date?”

“Something like that. Have any of the doctors talked to you?”

Darcy shook her head. “None have come by.”

Nor would they anytime soon, Rita suspected. She had a feeling that, short of a medical emergency, Chase had declared her room a no-fly zone for her doctors—at least until tomorrow, when he and his bosses could figure out what the hell they were going to do with her next.

She could imagine the stories that would soon emerge. Alcoholic druggie surgeon butchers patient before collapsing in cocaine-induced stupor. People would eat it up. She almost felt sorry for Chase. How the hell was he going to spin that?

“So … you’re going to stay here in the hospital tonight?” Darcy asked.

Am I?

She gazed at the rain hammering away at the windowpane.

“Ree?”

The only way out is through.

“Hmmm?”

“You’re going to spend the night here?”

“Ummm … yes.”

Or … maybe not.

“Do you want me to stay?”

She turned to Darcy. “What?”

“Do you want me to stay? Here? With you tonight? One of the nurses told me I could.” She pointed to a vinyl-cushioned chair visible in the dimness on the other side of the room. “It folds out into a little couch, I guess.”

“Oh. What time is it, anyway?”

Darcy looked at her phone. “Almost ten.”

“And you said the nurse came by around eight o’clock to check my blood pressure?”

“Yeah.”

Which means she’ll next be back around midnight. If she follows the routine.

She took both of Darcy’s hands in her own. She knew now what she had to do. She wasn’t sure how she would pull it off, but first she had to get Darcy out of here. “No, kiddo. Why don’t you go home.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.” She gave Darcy’s hands a squeeze. “I’m fine. All I need is some sleep. So do you. And you’re not going to get much here, lying in a chair, with nurses waking us up every four hours to check my vitals.”

Darcy’s lower lip trembled, but she nodded, and this time her eyes remained dry. “Yeah. Okay, Ree. But … what if I want to get ahold of you? Do you have your phone?”

“It’s in my locker.” Along with the other stuff I need, including my clothes. Rita pointed to a cordless phone on a table next to the bed. Like a hotel, Turner provided each room with its own landline. “Tell you what. Go home. Call the hospital operator as soon as you get there and ask to be connected to my room. Okay? We’ll talk again then.”

“Okay.”

“Just … go straight home. Promise me, okay? I need you to be home tonight, Darcy. Promise me you’ll go straight home.”

“Okay, Ree. Sure.”

“Call me the moment you walk through the door.”

“I will. Love you, Ree.”

“Love you, too.” She kissed Darcy on the cheek, and they hugged. Darcy broke away and made her way to the door. Light and sound splashed across the room as she opened it.

“Darcy?”

“Yeah?”

Rita smiled. “No smoking in the house, kiddo.”

Darcy grinned and wiped her nose. “Right.” The door closed behind her with a gentle click, and Rita was alone.

She picked up the phone and called the operator. She told him she was expecting an important outside call from a family member and to please put the call through. He promised he would.

Thirty minutes later, she picked it up on the first ring and clutched it to her ear. Her hand was shaking.

Please let it be Darcy.