“We’ll see you there,” she said in a rush and ended the call.
I’d be calm once I got there and they did too, but this was my sister and my soon-to-be niece or nephew I was talking about. The more moving I did until then to keep me occupied, the better.
Down the stairs and through the lobby, I didn’t even pause until the heavy glass door to the outside made me.
Forcing it open as quickly as I could, I maneuvered my way through the small crowd in front of my building and broke into a jog. The hospital was ten blocks away, but completely unwilling to wait for a cab or the subway, I ran every single one.
“Gigi!” I yelled as soon as I spotted her in the waiting room at St. Luke’s. They’d gotten her into a chair and Melody was with her, but I didn’t understand why the fuck she wasn’t back in a room yet.
“Oh, Will!” my sister sighed. “Thank God.”
“What’s going on? Are you okay?” I asked rapid fire, brushing her little blond ponytail off of her shoulder. “Is Kline on his way?”
Melody did her best to comfort me and take some of the pressure off of Georgia simultaneously. “She’s okay. I tried to call Kline on the way, but it went to voice mail, so I left a message,” she explained and glanced down at my sister. “But she wouldn’t let them take her back to a room until you got here.”
That was weird. Why the hell not? “Georgia?”
“I just panicked, Will.” She shrugged but kept her hands tightly clutched to her belly. “I guess I just wanted you here first.”
“Of course,” I told her with a reassuring squeeze of her shoulder.
I met the eyes of the nurse on call, Gina, and signaled that I was going to take her back to a room. She nodded and picked up her phone as it rang.
Moving around Georgia’s wheelchair, I took the handles at the back and started pushing her down the hall.
Gina covered the mouthpiece on her phone as we passed. “Room sixteen is open,” she advised.
“Thanks.”
Down the hall and into room sixteen in no time at all, I wheeled Georgia to a stop, locked the wheels, and then lifted her up and out of the chair and onto the bed.
“Will!” she yelled. “You don’t have to carry me.”
“Too late,” I told her as she settled.
I moved to the corner to grab the fetal monitor, but Melody was already there, bringing it over. I smiled my sad smile of thanks, and her answering expression looked just as unhappy.
“Pull up your shirt, Gigi,” I instructed. She paused, glancing to Melody behind me and then back again before complying.
“It’s okay,” I comforted. “I’m going to take care of you. Both of you.”
She smiled a sweet but weird smile and finally lifted her shirt up to uncover her swollen belly.
I started hooking up the monitor, and Melody didn’t hesitate to jump in and assist. I didn’t even have to direct her, such was the flow of us working together.
Have I mentioned that I fucking miss her?
“Will,” Georgia called, and I had to physically force my eyes away from Melody to look at her.
“Yeah?”
“You know I love you, right?”
I smiled. “Of course. I love you too, Gigi. You and Julia and this little angel are my world.”
Her smile turned watery. “I know. And you’re a huge part of ours too. And that’s why I hope you’ll forgive me for doing this.”
“For doing what?” I asked, and Melody stood up straight like a rod. I could see her body out of the corner of my eye.
Georgia reached out and stilled my hands at her stomach, gentling her voice cautiously. “I’m not in labor.”
My eyebrows shot together. “What do you mean, you’re not in labor?”
“I mean…I faked it.”
“You what?” Melody said at a near shout.
Georgia’s face pinched, the absolute picture of anxious as she fast-talked to explain.
“I’m sorry. I know it was a really terrible thing to do to both of you, but I just want you together so bad, and you weren’t talking at all… and…and I’m about to have this baby, and I can’t deal with all of this discord…and now that Melody is my friend, I can’t be objective…and the two of you have been stupid, and you need to talk.” She gasped for air, and my eyes widened.
“Good God, that’s a lot of information,” I remarked as I got my bearings.
Melody stood beside her, breathing heavy and looking directly at me, and the pressure of it all came crushing down.
I turned my back to both of them, covering my eyes and trying not to lose my mind. My body didn’t know how to cope with the mix of emotions. Frantic that Georgia had faked labor, relieved like all hell that she and the baby were okay, and crazily enough, even hopeful that I might actually have a chance to sort things out with Melody. All of it banged and swirled as my adrenaline crashed, and the sudden change in my chemical makeup made me feel like I might pass out.
Understandably, with all of that going on inside me, I didn’t notice when Melody reached forward and pulled the tongue depressors out of my pocket. Only half of the stick fit inside, so the other half was sticking out, and my little mental breakdown had given her enough time to notice them.
“What are these?” she asked from behind me. The tremor in her voice made my heart jump as I turned around.
“Mel…”
“What are these?” she repeated, angry tears now moistening the whites of her eyes.
Now or never, Will.
Georgia, the little schemer, nodded encouragingly behind Mel’s back. I didn’t have to speak out loud for her to know what I was thinking.
“Will,” Melody called, demanding my attention by shaking the tongue depressors almost violently. “I asked…what are these?”
Finally, I sighed, shrugging out a hand at the stupid things. “What do they look like?”
Georgia pursed her lips and shook her head rapidly behind her.
Not a good start, you idiot.
“Sorry. I’ve just…been holding on to both of them for a while, I mean,” I corrected, softening my voice to something much more appealing.
“Why?” Melody questioned. “What were they for?”
“Well…” I paused. “That one” —I gestured to the one in her left hand that read Open wide! Everything you’re looking for is already inside of you— “is the first one I ever wrote for you. Before the bouquet, before the first date…right after you turned me down, actually. I found it in my desk the other day.” I laughed with a little self-deprecation. “I wrote it for you, but I never realized I might need it for me.”
“For you,” she stuttered. “Why’d you need it?”
“I thought it was obvious,” I muttered. She shook her head.
I stepped forward and grabbed her hands as I said my next words. “Mel, I love you. Don’t you know I’ve been lost without you?”
I’ve been lost without you.
God, I knew the feeling.
The pressure inside of my chest made it feel like my heart was either attempting gymnastics or planning an emergency escape route from my body.