Wing Jones(45)

I knew it. I knew Granny Dee was visiting Marcus and not telling us. It is a miracle she’s been able to keep quiet about it, especially with LaoLao always yammering about how all Granny Dee does is sit around the house. LaoLao might be working at the restaurant, but visiting Marcus is its own kind of work. Maybe I shouldn’t intrude. Maybe she hasn’t told us because she wants her own time with him. Not that he’s any kind of company.

A familiar laugh, a laugh I love, a laugh I’ll do almost anything to hear, buzzes down the hall.

Aaron. Aaron is here?

I nod at the nurse and walk as quickly as I can without running to room 304. Marcus’s room.

The door is ajar, and inside I see Granny Dee and Aaron sitting on either side of the bed. Granny Dee is in the more comfortable chair, the one by the window, facing me. Aaron’s back is to me and he’s sitting on one of the low stools the doctors use when they come in to take Marcus’s vitals.

Granny Dee doesn’t even notice me when I open the door. Her eyes are on Marcus’s unmoving face, but she’s not crying, she’s laughing. She’s holding one of Marcus’s hands and Aaron is holding her other one, making a little triangle.

“And then, Granny Dee, you won’t believe what Marcus did next,” Aaron is saying between bursts of laughter.

“He was only ten,” says Granny Dee, wiping her eyes as she laughs.

“He dyed the neighborhood pool green! With fifteen bottles of green food coloring! And he didn’t even get in trouble for it. You know who did?”

“I can guess,” says Granny Dee with an indulgent smile.

“Because where do you think he got the food coloring? Of course I had asked my mom to get it, told her we needed it for a school project. I didn’t know Marcus wanted to celebrate St Patrick’s Day in style.”

“You boys certainly kept things interesting.”

“Oh, and don’t forget when he bleached my hair,” says Aaron, shaking his head. “That stuff burned!”

I can’t remember the last time I saw Granny Dee laugh so hard. Marcus lies between them, and both of them are laughing so hard their shoulders are shaking, and I wonder if he can feel the happiness the way I can. If it is seeping into his skin, into his bones. I hope it is. If anything is going to heal him, this is.

I sneeze.

Granny Dee looks up and smiles. “What are you doing lurking in the doorway? Get in here, Wing.”

Aaron turns around and smiles too, but his eyebrows are raised. He’s surprised to see me. I can’t tell if it’s happy surprised or unhappy surprised.

“I knew you were coming here,” I say. I look hard at Granny Dee, my eyes narrowed. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

Her smile falters. “There’s nothing to tell. I don’t got much to do in the afternoon, and your mom’s mother, she’s helping at the restaurant… I figured I could help here.”

“And you?” I turn my gaze on Aaron.

“I thought Granny Dee might like some company,” he says, voice soft.

I want to ask him why he didn’t tell me, but I don’t. Marcus is his best friend. He doesn’t owe me any explanation. I would have gone with you, I want to say, but it shouldn’t have taken Aaron coming to get me to visit. I should have come anyway. I should have been here this whole time. But then the hospital air starts to clog in my throat like it always does, filling my nostrils with its stale sickly and simultaneously medicinal smell. I try to calm my breathing, but it’s too late. I have to get out of here. I have to get outside.

I shift on my feet. “Well … it’s good that you’re both here.” The bitterness comes out stronger than I mean it to, like tea that’s been left steeping far too long.

“Wing, honey, you can sit down,” says Granny Dee. “This isn’t a private party. You are always invited.”

“I know,” I snap. “I, um … I’ve got to get going.”

“Get going where?”

“I’ve just got to go,” I say as the hospital walls start to close in on me. I can’t get enough air in my lungs.

“Aren’t you even gonna say hello to your brother?”

I force myself to take in as much air as I can, as stale and sickly as it is, and take a step closer to the hospital bed.

“Hi, Marcus,” I say, my voice coming out all plastic-like. “I miss you.”

“Tell him about the running,” prompts Granny Dee. Aaron looks up at her, a question in his eyes. “Oh, Wing showed me what she can do. Lord, you coulda knocked me over. I can’t imagine what Marcus is gonna say when he wakes up and sees how fast she is. Heck, I can’t even imagine what her mama and other grandma are gonna say.” She narrows her eyes at me. “You are gonna show them, aren’t you?”

I shrug. “I guess,” I say. “But we can talk about that later. Not—”

“I’m sure your secrets are safe with him,” says Aaron as he squeezes Marcus’s shoulder. It’s more than I can do. I can barely force myself to hold his hand. “I’ve been telling him all kinds of things.”

“You’ve been telling him your secrets your whole life,” I say. “Y’all don’t have any secrets from each other.”

“Well, maybe I’ve got some new ones,” says Aaron with a look I don’t quite understand but that makes me hot all over.