My heart breaks for this mother, who is essentially asking me to save her daughter, and I wish I could. I wish I had all the answers, but I have to be honest with her. “I’ll look into something else, but, Janet,” I tell her, blinking away my own tears. “I don’t know if there is anything.”
She nods her head at me and then looks at Zack. “Maybe you can bring Jack for a visit. She was asking about him the other day.”
“Sure thing,” he says right away. “Why don’t you come and get us when she’s up?” She nods at him and then walks away.
“Are you on lunch?” he asks me, and I just look at him.
“It’s eleven,” I answer him, looking at my watch.
“So a coffee then?” he says, grabbing my hand and walking into Jack’s room to find him still sleeping.
“Mom, I’m taking Denise down for a coffee break. Would you like anything?”
“No, you two go ahead. I’ll call you if anything changes,” she says, smiling at us.
“Zack, I can’t just leave,” I tell him, and then he looks at me. “Okay, fine, let me just tell them I’m stepping out.”
I turn and walk back to the nurses’ station. “Is everything okay?” I ask them, and they all nod at me. “I’m going to grab a coffee. Do you guys want anything?”
Mallory looks over at Zack. “I wouldn’t mind that right there,” she says, winking at me. “Is he single?”
“He is,” I say, “but I don’t think your husband would like that one bit.”
I laugh at her.
“Buzzkill,” she says, laughing at me as I turn to walk back to Zack.
“There is a Starbucks around the corner,” I tell him, and he puts his hand out for me to lead the way. I walk to the elevator, and when we walk out, a couple of fans spot him and approach him for pictures. I wait for him while he does his thing, and when we walk into Starbucks, the barista sees me and greets me by name when we walk up to the counter.
“What can I get you, Denise?” she says, and I look at the menu. “Can I have a vanilla latte, no foam.”
“Sure,” she says, and I look at Zack as he waits for me to finish.
“What do you want?” I ask him, and he orders a regular coffee. He pays, and I just walk to the side to get the coffee.
“Why are you looking at me so weird?” I ask him, smiling.
“It’s just every single time I’ve been in Starbucks with someone, their order is usually ridiculous. It’s half this, shot of this, nonfat that.”
I bend my head laughing when the barista calls my name. “When it comes to food and whole milk, I have a YOLO attitude.”
“Good,” he says and grabs his own coffee. “Do you want to sit here or go somewhere else?”
“Whatever you want to do,” I tell him, and he leads me to a small table in the corner. I sit down, putting my coffee on the table and placing my hands in front of me.
When he sits down, he looks at me. “Are you okay?”
“No,” I tell him honestly. “Not even a bit.”
He shakes his head. “What are you doing for dinner?” he asks, and I look at him.
“Probably nothing,” I tell him, picking up my coffee and taking a sip.
“Come join us,” he tells me. “It’s Mom’s last night; she leaves tomorrow.”
“I don’t want to impose on her time with you guys,” I tell him, and he tilts his head.
“Do you ever think of yourself before everyone else?”
“Do you?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Match point,” he says with a smile, and for the rest of the time, we talk about his hockey schedule, which is mostly home games for the next week. I switch to nights starting tomorrow for the week.
“So when you do night shifts, what time do you start?” he asks when we get up and make our way back to the hospital.
“Eleven to seven,” I tell him. “Worst shift to have, but I get them once a month since we do a rotation.”
We walk back into the hospital and ride up the elevator all alone, and I stand on one side as he leans against the other side. “Tonight?” he asks me, and I have to get my heart to race at a normal pace.
“Zack,” I whisper, and I’m about to say something else—what I have no idea—but the door opens and more people come in, and then it’s finally our floor. We walk out together, his hand grazing mine.
“See you later,” he says to me, smirking and walking away from me while I look down at my hand and wonder if I imagined his touch.
I walk back to the nurses’ station, finding no one there. Steve walks in from the hallway. “You’re back,” he says. “Melissa called back. Evie is a good candidate.”