I grinned. “You don’t mind the hotel one!”
She waved her hand at me. “That’s different. It’s more spacious.”
“Well, the Crown is a luxury hotel, after all,” I said. “But seriously, Abuela, you shouldn’t have to climb five flights of stairs. The elevator won’t break down on us, I promise.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not as ancient as you seem to think, and I don’t need to be treated like a broken old doll. I’m more than capable of taking the stairs!”
With that, she marched over to the stairwell, and I followed her over with a heavy sigh. I knew why she was so grumpy at the moment. It wasn’t just because she was annoyed at being thought of as elderly; it was also because she didn’t like hospitals. Ever since her husband—my grandfather—had died at the relatively young age of forty-six, she hadn’t been able to stand being around doctors. I was pretty sure her last checkup had been over ten years ago, when I was still in elementary school.
“Abuela,” I said, capturing her hand in mine as we ascended the stairs. “Are you okay?”
She sighed and stopped for a second. “I’m sorry for snapping at you. This place just reminds me of…”
Her sentence trailed off, and she sniffed as tears pooled in her eyes.
“I know,” I said softly. “It makes you think about him.”
“It’s not that I don’t like thinking of him,” she said. “I still think about him every day. I just don’t like being reminded of what it was like to see him in the hospital, so sick and fragile. He was too young.”
“He was,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
She gave me a watery smile. “Well, I still have you and your mother. Anyway, let’s get this appointment over and done with.”
“Okay.”
I kept hold of her hand and gave it a squeeze, and we finally reached the doctor’s office a few minutes later.
“Adelina, you still look the same as you did fifteen years ago,” Dr. Cummings said, pretending to tip an imaginary hat at her as we walked in. He was a kindly-faced older man, probably about the same age as Grandma. “You Venezuelan ladies must have some sort of secret youth potion.”
She laughed. “See, Rory? Not everyone thinks I’m an old relic.”
I giggled, and Dr. Cummings gestured for us to sit. “Even so, we still need to check out a few things. When was the last time you had your blood pressure checked?” he asked.#p#分页标题#e#
My mind drifted off as my grandmother and the doctor spoke about her medical history, and a few minutes later, she nudged me. “Rory, dear, you don’t need to be here for all of this. We’ll probably be here for a while, so why don’t you run down to the cafeteria and see if they have some of those Jello cups you used to like?”
Dr. Cummings smiled. “The green flavor is the best,” he said. “We’ll probably be about twenty minutes or so.”
“All right,” I said, rising to my feet. “I’ll meet you back up here then.”
As I headed out the door, I caught a glimpse of the back of a man in a Santa costume ducking into another hallway that led off to the left. The children’s ward was at the other end of this floor, and I smiled at the thought of all the kids being brought a little extra cheer by the hospital Santa.
It was awful for kids to be sick—or anyone for that matter—but it was sweet that some people went out of their way to make them feel at least a little better, especially around Christmas time. Maybe one day I could even volunteer here myself. I’d have to look into it.
My phone buzzed in my bag, and I pulled it out to see a message from Dana, asking if I was free for drinks sometime this week. I replied, and we had a short back and forth texting session for a couple of minutes, and then I turned right and headed towards the stairwell before remembering that I was alone now. Elevator it is. Turning around yet again, I briskly headed towards the elevators, and just as I yawned and closed my eyes for a split second, I crashed right into…you guessed it.
Finn, my evil stepbrother.
What the hell was he doing here? He’d just rounded the corner, and he looked as shocked to see me as I was to see him.
He regained his composure almost immediately and looked down at me, a playful grin on his face. “Hey,” he said. “What are you doing here? I thought you had work at the software place during the day.”
“I had to bring my Grandma in for some tests,” I said, my voice stiff. His mention of my job had reminded me of our pseudo-date at Clancy’s, when I’d told him all about what I did and what my future ambitions were. I hated being reminded of that night, because it brought up all the feelings I’d been trying to suppress ever since. “What are you doing here?”