Thirty Happens (16 page)

“Oh look, it’s Jenkins’ little precious princess, here to grace us with her presence. Everyone, make sure you don’t make direct eye contact, the royalty hates that shit.”

I turned towards the acidic voice that was spewing out such venom. A fiftyish year old woman stood to my right, hands in fists on her hips, leaning forward as if prepared to go into battle.

“Excuse me?”

“Oh, what’s the matter? Have you been pampered so much that you can’t take a little heat? What type of reporter did they send me if you can’t take the real world?”

She grinned, but it wasn’t friendly. Chills went through my body, making me hug my arms close for warmth.

“Who the hell are
you?

She strode up close to me, her nose less than a half an inch from my face.

“I’m your new boss, and I plan to make your life a living hell. You are taking this coveted position away from someone with another three years seniority, one who had to
earn
it on their own. Maybe I should ask who the hell are
you?
”

This wretched viper was the person I’d be reporting to?

What the hell?

Jenkins said I’d have to work to crack the nut, but seriously? This was going to be like trying to break open a coconut using only a toothpick.

“Listen, whatever. You have your issues with me being here, I get it. But I’m a damn good reporter. However, that doesn’t matter. My mom just was in an accident apparently and is in the emergency room at Mass General. I need to take a day to check in on her.”

Brenda leaned back on her heels, her arms crossed, grinning at me.

“Awwwww, does the pretty, pretty princess need a break? One big, front page story and you’re already making up shit to get a day off? Fine, take your day. But, as a result, I expect you here at six tomorrow morning to work a double shift. See you bright and early,
princess.
”

I looked at her incredulously, shocked at the level of anger that oozed from this woman’s pores.

Someone needed to get laid.

chapter twenty-one.

I
stepped into the emergency room area and felt assaulted by the abundance of noise and activity. In my mind, when a loved one was injured and laying in a hospital, it should be quiet, somber, and respectful.

I stood at the counter, waiting to be acknowledged, willing the nurses to look in my direction with my advanced powers of telepathy.

Not a movement from across the counter.

I quickly looked around.

People on stretchers were lined up, waiting their turn. People sat along the walls, clutching various body parts, waiting their turn.

Sigh.

There were four nurses behind the desk, and at least twenty five people in the waiting room, if I was being conservative.

Deep breath.

“Hi, I am so sorry for the delay. May I help you?”

The young man in scrubs across from me did a quick once over with his eyes. At first, my ego said he was checking me out… then I remembered where I was and realized he was just probably looking for the obvious signs of trauma.

“Hi, I got a call earlier. My mom… she was in an accident.”

“Oh, okay. Name, please?”

“My name is Karyn Jensen.”

He looked at me as if I was just a little bit slow.

“No, your
mom’s
name, you know, the patient?”

Duh.

“I’m so sorry. My mom is Kimberly Jensen.”

He leaned over and tapped on the keyboard. It seemed as if he was typing as slow as was humanly possible without stopping. Why was it that when someone typed your info it seemed as if they were incompetent. I considered ripping the keyboard from his hands and typing my own information in, but I didn’t think that would win me any favors here.

“Okay, Ms. Jensen. Your mom was rushed to surgery about a half hour ago. She is going to be in the orthopedic operating room, so I recommend you go to their waiting room and check in. Go straight down that hallway, to the left you will find a bank of elevators. You will want the third floor.”

“Uh, thank you.”

I stood back, blinking as I processed this new information.

Mom.

Surgery.

I walked like a zombie, following the instructions. Left. Elevator. Third floor.

When I found the waiting room, there was a check-in log. I wrote my information down and found a seat. The woman to my left was fast asleep and as soon as I sat down, she sort of shifted in her seat and somehow landed on my shoulder.

Seriously?

I waited.

...

And waited.

About fifteen years later, they called my name. Okay, slight exaggeration, but seriously, what was it about hospital waiting rooms that made it seem as if time moved backward?

“Karyn Jensen?”

I looked towards the voice to see a woman in scrubs pulling a hair net type thing off her head. Dear Lord, she looked absolutely exhausted.

“Yes, I’m Karyn.”

I stood up, raising my hand like a kid in grade school wanting to answer the question that the teacher asked.

“Could you come with me?”

I walked over to her and followed to a more secluded area.

“Hi, I’m Doctor Martinez. I’ve just completed surgery on your mother.”

“How is she?”

I rushed my question in. The only question I really had. The only thing that she could answer to make me breathe again.

Doctor Martinez paused, collecting herself, it seemed, before looking me straight in the eyes.

“It appears that she will be fine, but she has a long road to recovery ahead of her. She broke the femur of her right leg, fractured her hip, had a rotation break in her left arm and three cracked ribs from the impact of the steering wheel.”

I blinked.

That was a lot.

“I need to see my mom.”

I choked out the words.

Compassion filled Doctor Martinez’ eyes.

“Your mom just came out of surgery about twenty minutes ago. She is in recovery now. She is currently unconscious, so we are monitoring her closely. We are waiting for a room assignment so that we can move her out of recovery. Once she’s in her room, you will be able to visit.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

She gave me a sad, knowing smile.

“Karyn, we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other. Call me Liv.”

I nodded, my throat too thick to trust words to come out.

I turned back and stared at the bleak waiting room, not wanting to sit and wait. I felt restless. I felt helpless. I needed to do something because sitting and waiting was going to probably result in me being arrested for knocking out the first person to make eye contact with me.

I walked.

They had my phone number, so I walked.

I found the gift shop, and I looked around, seeing nothing but I think I touched just about everything in the store.

I found the cafeteria. The smell of food turned my stomach, so I turned away.

I walked every public area three times over before my phone buzzed in my pocket.

Unknown caller.

“Hello?”

My voice sounded young and cautious, even to my own ears.

“Ms. Jensen? This is Kate in the Operating room waiting area at Mass General. Doctor Martinez asked me to call to let you know that your mother has been moved to her room and you are able to see her now.”

“Okay, where is she?”

“Room three fifty five east. Where are you now so that I can give you directions?”

I looked around, trying to get my bearings, as I’d been walking around blindly since I left the waiting room.

“Uh, wait a sec, just gotta find a sign. Maternity, I’m near the maternity ward.”

“Great, when you see the bank of elevators, please go back up to the third floor. You will take a right off of the elevators and an almost immediate left to check in at the nurses’ station.”

“Thank you.”

I hung up and started looking for the elevator bank, which I found in almost no time flat.

“Hi, may I help you?”

I hadn’t even noticed that I’d reached the nurses station already.

“Yes, thank you. My mom was brought up here just a little bit ago. Her name is Kimberly Jensen?”

The nurse looked at the computer screen, typing away.

“Ah, yes. Ms. Jensen. You’re absolutely right, she is in three fifty five. I was just on my way in, so I’ll walk with you. My name is Bree, I am going to be your mom’s nurse tonight.”

“Have you seen her yet? Is she awake? How is she?”

To Bree’s credit, she didn’t look accosted by the number of questions I lobbed at her like machine gun fire.

She held up her hands and smiled kindly.

“Whoa, whoa, one at a time.”

She chuckled.

“I haven’t seen her personally, but I did see when she was brought up. As far as I know, so far, she has not woken up, but there are no real concerns yet as her body has sustained a lot of trauma for one day. According to the doctor’s notes, the surgery, and considering the extent of the injuries, she is doing well.”

“Oh, okay.”

She rested her hand on my forearm and came to a stop.

“Look, Ms. Jensen, I promise to tell you the truth, to not sugar coat it, and certainly to not blow smoke up your rear end. Her condition is still critical, but Doctor Martinez is one of the best for trauma and orthopedics. Your mom was in phenomenal hands.”

That relaxed me a small bit.

“Thanks, I appreciate that. I’m sorry if I’m a little jumpy.”

“No, please don’t apologize. Seriously, it’s completely understandable.

“Thanks.”

“Okay, well, here we are. Three fifty five.”

I walked in and realized immediately that I was ill prepared mentally for what lay before me. Mom had deep purple bruises under each of her eyes. The left side of her head was shaved to allow the doctor to stitch up the almost five inch gash. The black threads of the sutures combined with dried blood stood out in sharp contrast to her pale skin and graying hair.

Her leg was in a cast, as was her arm, which was bent and laying on top of her stomach.

Bree quickly checked vitals, making notes on her clipboard. She touched her pen to mom’s toes, nodding when her toes moved slightly.

Mom’s eyelids were raised, and a pen light was briefly flashed in each eye.

More notes.

The scratching of the pen on the pad of paper secured on Bree’s clipboard provided the harmony to the hospital room soundtrack of mom’s beeping heart rate monitor and hissing blood pressure cuff.

“Well?”

Bree turned to me, a slightly surprised look on her face as if she’d forgotten that I was there.

“I’m sorry, I got caught up in the work. Her pulse and blood pressure are fine, but that makes sense given the sedative that is being administered to help keep her calm and let her heal. She is on pain medication to help her because the truth is the amount of broken bones she has is extremely painful. There had been concern initially that one of her ribs punctured her lung, but that is thankfully not the case. Her reflexes are there, so I think she’s going to be okay. But, she has a long road of rehabilitation. It’s not going to be easy. She’s lucky to have a daughter who will be there to help her out.”

She grinned at me and turned to walk out of the room.

I was left alone with my mom and the machines.

Beep.

Beep.

Hissssss.

Beep.

Beep.

“Oh, mom.”

I burst into tears, not able to be strong for her right now. For the moment, I need to be a daughter who was scared to death about losing her mommy. I pulled a chair over to her, sitting down as the world itself rested on my shoulders. I held her hand and memorized her face. Yes, both Liv and Bree had said she would probably be fine, but they couldn’t promise me.

I wanted promises.

I wanted guarantees.

I wanted my mom to wake up that very moment and tell me everything was going to be okay.

I laid my head on the bed next to her arm and closed my eyes, tears still pouring down my cheek and soaking the sheets underneath.

***

RINNNNGGGGGGG

I jumped about a mile and winced at the sharp pain in my neck.

What the hell?

I rubbed my neck and looked around quickly, and it all came crashing back.

RINNNNGGGGGGG

I found the offending alarm, which turned out to be my phone.

I swiped my finger on the screen to accept the call.

“Hello?”

I whispered in the phone to whoever it was who woke me up.

“Do you have
any
idea what time it is, Princess?”

The most vile and evil of voices hissed at me over the phone.

I looked around, finally finding a clock on the wall.

“Uh, seven thirty.”

“That’s right. Seven thirty in the morning. I gave you explicit orders to report here at six. I don’t know what type of ship they are running in print, but when I give an order, I
expect
that you will follow it. Especially now when you’re supposed to be convincing me that you’re worth a shit.”

“
Listen, Brenda…”

“And what the
hell
is with the whispering.”

I quickly stepped outside of the hospital room and shut the door.

“I am still at the hospital. My mother is still unconscious, her hip is broken, so is her-“

“I’m sorry, did I ask for a mommy update? You were told to be here at six o’clock, it is seven thirty and you’re not here. Obviously, you do not take this job seriously. A
real
reporter who valued this opportunity would have been here.”

“My
mom
was in a near fatal car accident.”

I was incredulous. I mean, seriously?

“I’m so sorry to hear that. But you have a choice to make. Do you want to rise to the top and have this chance to be an investigative reporter with one of the top papers in the country, or do you want to be with your mommy? Your choice.”

“Are you seriously asking me to choose between my career and the woman who gave birth to me?”

“That is exactly what I’m asking. I need to know you’re serious about this. Right about now, it seems like Jenkins was babying you. So, what’s it going to be?”

I hesitated. It was only a second but I mentally hated myself for my weakness in that second.

“You want to know my decision right now?”

I heard her exhale in frustration over the phone, along with something that sounded suspiciously like a growl.