pray.”
And they’d pray. It wasn’t just a thing they did before dinner. It was after every argument. It was on Sunday afternoons and evenings, in preparation for the new week ahead. Christy wanted to pray for the man who’d hit Hannah, but Asher refused. “You pray for him alone,” he said. “A human being stops his car,” he told her.
On Nina’s particularly bad days, it wasn’t just men in trucks, but every man in the grocery store. He was the old man reaching for the eggs. He was the young man pulling cereal from a shelf. He was the boy with bad skin and braces bagging her groceries. He was the middle-aged man smiling at her in line. She wanted to yell at all of them. How could you have left her there? she wanted to scream.
13
THE NEW doctor arrived, and he was young and lean, wearing jeans under his white jacket, with a degree from Stanford. He insisted they both call him Dr. Seth, and he was smarter than the rest, her mom whispered in Hannah’s ear. When he entered the hospital room, Nina nearly jumped up from the chair and smiled like she hadn’t smiled in weeks. She was giddy, a girl, Hannah thought. She was sucking in the little bit of stomach she had, and straightening her skirt, and Hannah hoped her mom didn’t forget to breathe.
Although the last three tests had come back negative, Dr. Seth believed that Hannah’s liver was abscessed, which meant she’d undergo yet one more test. She’d have to drink another chalky ten ounces of what the technician called a milk shake, and she’d have to lie there very still while the machine took pictures of her insides.
“It’s most likely in a place we can’t see—a spot the scans haven’t picked up,” Dr. Seth said, demonstrating on her mom’s hand. “Here’s what we saw in our first X-rays,” he said, “and here’s the underside.” He flipped Nina’s hand over in his own and looked at her blushing face. She shyly pulled her hand away.
“We’re so lucky you’re here,” her mom said, fixing her hair, poofing it up with her fingers.
“We’ll know definitively this afternoon. I’ll find out what’s wrong and then I’ll fix it.” His voice was deep and confident.
“Hear that, Hannah? We’ll know soon,” she said.
• • •
In the middle of the night the rushing nurses told Hannah nothing about what they knew. They talked to each other in hushed tones. One of them inserted a new IV into her hand. Two orderlies lifted her from the bed onto a gurney and hurried her down the hall and into the elevator, where, despite the excitement, she watched the numbers light up and her eyelids grew heavy.
• • •
When Hannah woke up there was a thick tube snaking out of her waist, poking out from under the sheet and traveling across the room. It spewed the infection into a huge machine that seemed alive with its chirping, blinking, and constant hum. Dr. Seth explained that it was cleaning Hannah out, which made her wonder what kind of a girl she was—just what kind of girl gets dirty on the inside?
14
MARTIN WANTED to go back to the hospital and tell Penny his name. He wanted to bring her a plate of lasagna and a cup of spumoni ice cream from one of his parents’ restaurants. He wanted to ask her questions and get to know her, but mostly he wanted information about Hannah and her progress. He wondered if an abscessed liver could kill a girl.
It had been nearly a week since the last time he’d hurried away from Penny. Now he stood at the nurses’ station trying to get the chubby nurse’s attention. He could have sworn that she’d spun around in her chair when she saw him coming down the hall. She was talking on the phone with her back turned to him, laughing, obviously flirting with whoever was on the other end.
What about the sick people on your floor? Someone might be dropping dead this very minute . Penny would never ignore someone, he thought.
She twirled the phone cord around her finger and said, “You
And they’d pray. It wasn’t just a thing they did before dinner. It was after every argument. It was on Sunday afternoons and evenings, in preparation for the new week ahead. Christy wanted to pray for the man who’d hit Hannah, but Asher refused. “You pray for him alone,” he said. “A human being stops his car,” he told her.
On Nina’s particularly bad days, it wasn’t just men in trucks, but every man in the grocery store. He was the old man reaching for the eggs. He was the young man pulling cereal from a shelf. He was the boy with bad skin and braces bagging her groceries. He was the middle-aged man smiling at her in line. She wanted to yell at all of them. How could you have left her there? she wanted to scream.
13
THE NEW doctor arrived, and he was young and lean, wearing jeans under his white jacket, with a degree from Stanford. He insisted they both call him Dr. Seth, and he was smarter than the rest, her mom whispered in Hannah’s ear. When he entered the hospital room, Nina nearly jumped up from the chair and smiled like she hadn’t smiled in weeks. She was giddy, a girl, Hannah thought. She was sucking in the little bit of stomach she had, and straightening her skirt, and Hannah hoped her mom didn’t forget to breathe.
Although the last three tests had come back negative, Dr. Seth believed that Hannah’s liver was abscessed, which meant she’d undergo yet one more test. She’d have to drink another chalky ten ounces of what the technician called a milk shake, and she’d have to lie there very still while the machine took pictures of her insides.
“It’s most likely in a place we can’t see—a spot the scans haven’t picked up,” Dr. Seth said, demonstrating on her mom’s hand. “Here’s what we saw in our first X-rays,” he said, “and here’s the underside.” He flipped Nina’s hand over in his own and looked at her blushing face. She shyly pulled her hand away.
“We’re so lucky you’re here,” her mom said, fixing her hair, poofing it up with her fingers.
“We’ll know definitively this afternoon. I’ll find out what’s wrong and then I’ll fix it.” His voice was deep and confident.
“Hear that, Hannah? We’ll know soon,” she said.
• • •
In the middle of the night the rushing nurses told Hannah nothing about what they knew. They talked to each other in hushed tones. One of them inserted a new IV into her hand. Two orderlies lifted her from the bed onto a gurney and hurried her down the hall and into the elevator, where, despite the excitement, she watched the numbers light up and her eyelids grew heavy.
• • •
When Hannah woke up there was a thick tube snaking out of her waist, poking out from under the sheet and traveling across the room. It spewed the infection into a huge machine that seemed alive with its chirping, blinking, and constant hum. Dr. Seth explained that it was cleaning Hannah out, which made her wonder what kind of a girl she was—just what kind of girl gets dirty on the inside?
14
MARTIN WANTED to go back to the hospital and tell Penny his name. He wanted to bring her a plate of lasagna and a cup of spumoni ice cream from one of his parents’ restaurants. He wanted to ask her questions and get to know her, but mostly he wanted information about Hannah and her progress. He wondered if an abscessed liver could kill a girl.
It had been nearly a week since the last time he’d hurried away from Penny. Now he stood at the nurses’ station trying to get the chubby nurse’s attention. He could have sworn that she’d spun around in her chair when she saw him coming down the hall. She was talking on the phone with her back turned to him, laughing, obviously flirting with whoever was on the other end.
What about the sick people on your floor? Someone might be dropping dead this very minute . Penny would never ignore someone, he thought.
She twirled the phone cord around her finger and said, “You
Similar Books
