"Good,” I say, looking at her and the bag again.
"What are you guys doing here?" I ask and then look at Quinn, who hides his smile behind his coffee cup.
"We’ve come to take you home," Amelia says, holding up the bag in her hand.
"What?" I whisper.
"We’ve come to take you home,” Chelsea says with a smile on her face. “Well, Quinn’s home, but Amelia will be staying there so you can be more comfortable."
I open my mouth to say something but nothing comes out. “Um," I say nervously as I hear the sound of my breathing getting heavier and heavier. "I’m sorry," I say, shaking my head. “What?"
"They are here to take you home, Willow,” Quinn finally says, leaving me stunned and speechless.
Chapter 17
Quinn
"They are here to take you home, Willow,” I say, and her face goes just a touch white.
She has no idea what to say or where to look. "Home?" She looks at me and then at Chelsea and Amelia. She’s about to say something else when another knock comes from the doorway.
I look to see Shirley coming in dressed in her usual scrubs. Her hair is tied back with her glasses at the tip of her nose. "Good morning," Shirley says. Coming into the room, she sees Amelia and Chelsea. “Who do we have here?" Her eyes go to me and then to Willow, who looks around scared of what is going on.
"You remember Chelsea,” I say, and I see her roll her eyes at me. “Ouch." I look at Chelsea. “You obviously were on her bad side."
"Shut up," Chelsea says to me. “Hi, Shirley."
"Hey, sugar,” she says, looking at her. “How’re you feeling?"
"Good,” she says. “A little tired but it’s fine."
"I’m Amelia," Amelia says. “We met once." Amelia extends her hand to her.
"Nice seeing you again,” Shirley says, looking at her and then at Willow, who is just sitting on the bed watching all of this. "What’s with the bag?" She points at the big bag they brought in. So much for being undercover or whatever it was that we texted.
"This is some stuff for Willow." Amelia smiles, looking at Willow, whose face is still confused.
"We’ve come to spring her,” Chelsea says, bouncing up and down and clapping her hands with glee.
"Is that so?" Shirley says and then looks at Willow.
"I’m not going to lie,” Chelsea says. “When I was finally discharged, I couldn’t wait to get home." Her lips turn up in a smile. "Not that I didn’t love you."
Shirley laughs at her. “How about we get you showered?" She looks at Willow, who nods her head.
She gets out of bed, slowly holding the bed to make sure her legs will hold her. She walks over to her black backpack and picks it up, then follows Shirley into the bathroom. "I’m fine." She looks back at Shirley. “I’ll be okay."
"Do you want me to help untie your sling?" she asks, and Willow shakes her head.
"No," Willow says. “I did it yesterday by myself."
She nods at her and smiles. “Don’t forget there is the button you can press if you need help."
"I won’t,” she says and turns around, closing the door.
No one says a word as we hear the click of the door close. I hold my breath, waiting to see if she locks the door. I am not the only one. Shirley does also. When we hear the sound of the shower, Shirley turns around and looks at me.
"Brought out the big guns." She folds her hands over her chest and looks at me from above her glasses that sit on her nose.
"I did what I had to do,” I say. “She was going to go and stay in a rat-infested motel.” I shake my head. “I was not about to let that happen.”
“You’re a good guy, Quinn," she says. “If you hurt her …"
"I’ll cut him off at the knees,” Chelsea says.
"I’ll shoot him in the ass,” Amelia says, folding her arms over her chest.
Shirley laughs and claps her hands in front of her. “Oh, she is going to fit in just fine,” she says, walking out of the room.
"Okay," Amelia says, turning to look at me. “What the fuck just happened?"
"I don’t know what you mean,” I say, leaning back on the window. My legs are exhausted after standing all night, but nothing could have gotten me to sleep.
When I walked in and found out she was being released, I about jumped for joy. It was about time, and then the fear set in. What if she got a headache and her brain started to bleed again? What if she woke up in the middle of the night with pain and it took me too long to get to the hospital? What if I couldn’t take care of her? What if she didn’t let me take care of her? The pain was just too much to bear, and I had to sit in the chair.