Page 587 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B
Those next ten minutes don’t pass,
they get stolen.
By nurses.
By signatures.
By Paola crying happy tears into the phone, then into Maria’s hair.
By Andrew standing there, hands in his pockets, acting as if God might change his mind at any second.
“Allison,” Maria says, lifting two fingers. “Vieni qui.”
I go to her, taking Paola’s empty seat next to her bed.
Maria grabs my hand and holds it inside both of hers. “Allison,” she whispers, “Promise me something.”
Oh, God. My stomach’s flipping fast.
“No,” I immediately say, like a dumbass.
Maria laughs. “You don’t even know.”
Her thumb rubs my knuckles.
“If something bad happens,” she says.
“You be there for Andrew.”
I immediately drop my eyes, and the floor blurs. “He has Paola,” I whisper. “He has family.”
“Paola has him.
“Family has him,” she corrects.
“Andrew has you.”
She shrugs.
Like it’s the truth she’s known all along.
“With you, he breathes.”
Her eyes flick to Andrew across the room.
I look over next.
He’s standing by the wall,
on the phone with family,
glancing from the window, back to us.
Maria squeezes again.
“You love him, si?”
My mouth opens.
