Living Out Loud (Austen, #3)(26)

She nodded. “I’m less worried about that than I am about your health in the meantime. I think…I think you should quit your job.”

I backed away from her, meeting her shining eyes. “No, Mama. No. This is the first job I’ve had—ever. I’m making friends. I’m living, finally living. Dr. Mason told me what I could and couldn’t do, and he gave me permission to work. I promise, if anything changes, anything at all, if I get worse, I’ll quit. But please, please don’t make me leave when I’ve only just started. Please.” My voice broke as my throat closed around the words, tears springing too quickly to stop.

“What if something happens? Do they even know? Would they know what to do?” She shook her head. “Annie, this is dangerous, and I can’t…I can’t lose you too.” Her face bent, yielding to her pain, a sob puffing out of her as she looked down at her hands.

“Mama,” I said softly, my own tears sliding down my face, “you’re not going to lose me. I promise. We’ve already set everything in motion. We’ll talk to Aunt Susan about recovery and how we’ll get through it. I’ll talk to work about what’s happening and about taking a break.” I brushed away the thought that they might not even want to keep me on staff once they found out. “The doctor said if he was worried, he would have admitted me right away. Please, please don’t worry.”

She shook her head, trying to gain composure.

“Let me go talk to work and see, okay? Will you let me at least do that? And we can talk after that, when we’ve had some time to think through it all.”

She nodded, and I wrapped her in my arms as she cried. And I watched out the front window of the car, my own thoughts and fears and wants tumbling through my head like a rockslide.



Greg

The day had gone by without much incident. The store was busy, which kept me busy, but I found myself worrying about Annie.

I’d answered the phone when she called that morning to let us know that she was at the hospital, getting scans after her doctor’s appointment and that everything was fine, but she would miss her shift. She asked if she could come by to talk to me when she was finished. To which, of course, I answered yes.

I should have been gone an hour ago, and I could have left. Annie could talk to Cam; it didn’t have to be me. But I’d found myself unable to go, not until I saw with my own eyes that she was all right. So I clocked out and sat at a booth, armed with a beer and my laptop to kill time, working on the schedule, which was ridiculous in and of itself. I was two weeks ahead.

I also placed all my liquor orders and cataloged the rest of the inventory, and frankly, I was out of shit to do.

None of that mattered when Annie walked in.

Her skin was pale, but her cheeks were bitten from the cold, those pink mittens on her hands and a matching sweater hat with a pom-pom on her head. But her face didn’t quite look cheery, the dark smudges under her eyes ominous.

“Hey,” she said as she approached, pulling her mittens off. “Mind if I sit?”

“Of course not,” I answered, closing my laptop. “Everything okay?”

“Yes. Sorta.” She sighed. “I don’t actually know.”

Annie added her hat to the pile of knit accessories in her lap and folded her hands on the table, her eyes searching mine for a long moment, a moment I waited through in the hopes that she’d have the space to say what she needed.

“I should have told you something before you hired me, but I didn’t think it would end up being a big deal. I mean, I’ve dealt with this my entire life, and it chooses now to make a statement.” She chuffed and shook her head.

“It’s all right,” I said, not understanding. “You can tell me.”

“I…” She took a deep breath. “I have a heart condition.”

A cold tingle spread down to my fingertips. “Are you all right?”

“I am, and it’s not as scary as it sounds. I was born with a heart defect; one of my valves is wonky, and there’s a hole in my heart.” She said it so simply, as if she were making a note of the weather, but the shock I felt made my own heart skip a beat.

“How…how does that work? A hole in your heart? Does it…does it leak? Like…into you?” I stammered, trying to grasp how it was even possible.

Annie smiled. “No, the hole is in my heart, between the chambers. I mean, I’ve always had it, but…well, I saw my doctor today, and he wants to do a surgery that will fix my valve and the hole.” Her smile slipped away, her eyes dropping to her fidgeting hands. “It’ll happen in a few weeks, and I’ll be gone for a month or so. So, I don’t know…I’m not sure if you guys will still even want me.”

I sat for a moment in silence, trying to process what she’d said. “Is it safe for you to work?”

“I asked the doctor, and he said it was fine. My mom…well, she’s worried. I think she’ll come around, but she’s scared.”

“What about you? Are you scared?”

She took a breath, and I thought she might say no, but something in her face shifted.

“A little bit, yeah. My whole life, I’ve known this surgery would happen, but the timing sucks. This job is the best thing that’s happened to me in what feels like forever. I don’t want to lose it, but I don’t want to waste your time either.”