YOU BEFORE ME

Chapter 6

Sandra

I woke up, once again in a hospital bed. How many days had it been since I started staying at the hospital? I was so worried about what was going on at home that the days blurred for me. Even counting back, I couldn't remember, because, besides the meals, there was no set schedule. I either slept or walked around a bit, there wasn't much to do.

Way too long was another way of looking at it. Even if I was enjoying getting so much rest.

He said I'd have tests then he'd send me home, but when those tests came back, he kept sending me to more and more tests. Nothing painful had happened yet, beside him drawing blood at least three different times.

The longer I stayed, the longer it meant there was something wrong with me other than not eating properly and exhaustion. It wasn't anything serious, was it? Dr. Wilson didn't keep any of the results of the tests from me, but I could tell every time that he wasn't satisfied with what he saw. I'd had another test done yesterday, and I didn't know when the results would be coming back, but it had to be sometime today.

At least, I got to see a lot of Dr. Wilson. Whenever I woke up, more often than not, it was him there to get me to eat in the cafeteria instead of a nurse. I didn't think he had any interest in me, but it wasn't like I was going to say no to a hot man keeping me company. Then again, maybe it was all part of his job, and it was all in my mind that he was taking a special interest in me. After all, I was his patient even if I was fantasizing about being more than that at night, whenever I was alone in the room, and he'd gone home.

In the time since I'd been admitted to the hospital, he was friendlier, but kept up a professional distance. I did hear a lot of gossip about him from the nurses when I moved around. It wasn't really surprising that he was so popular. Let alone just in the hospital, in the whole town; I didn't think there was any other good-looking bachelor around. Hell, not even the taken guys looked as attractive as he did.

Still, he was my doctor. He accompanied me to make sure I ate, and I did my best not to disappoint him. Aside from that, he was making rounds in the hospital, and I was bored for the rest of the time until I needed to take another test.

This wasn't the first time I'd woken up today. I'd already had breakfast with Dr. Wilson, then he went to work, and I walked around before wandering back to my bed to sleep. It must have been around lunch if I was waking up again, but where was Dr. Wilson?

Crap, I thought, lightly tapping my forehead as I closed my eyes. What am I even thinking?

While he came to look for me of his own accord, he was still doing his job. My heart skipped a beat every time I saw his face when he came for me, and now that I woke up and he was nowhere in sight, I felt a bit of disappointment that I should not have felt.

It wasn't like I'd be living in the hospital forever, and once I left, I probably wouldn't be seeing him again. In any case, I didn't need someone to look after me.

If he wasn't going to show up to get me to eat, I could do it myself. I didn't feel like it, though. The long stay didn't make the hospital food more palatable, and I had to be coaxed to eat my meals, but I thought if it was something light...like soup or something, I could take it on my own without trouble.

After looking around the ward, I realized there was no nurse around. There was another occupied bed, but everyone was busy in their space.

Since I was in for a longer stay than what I hoped, I'd been given hospital clothes, and a pair of soft slippers to move around in. I heard my name called, and I looked up.

A part of me felt expectant, and I hoped it was Dr. Wilson finally coming to keep me company. I knew even before I turned that it couldn't be him, though, because it was a woman's voice. The moment I saw her, my heart felt heavy with dread.

"Gloria?" I said, surprised and worried to see her. "What are you doing here? Did something happen to my mother?"

"Nothing happened," she said, stopping in front of me, frowning. "I came to see why you're still here. To be honest with you, when you didn't come back after a few days, I thought you were lying about still being in hospital. I thought that maybe you left town."

I winced. "I wasn't. I don't know what's wrong, but they keep insisting on me staying."

Gloria was a woman not much younger than my mom. I'd known her growing up since we'd always been neighbors, and she and my mom had known each other for so long and were even friends, which was why I could entrust her to looking after Mom when I wasn't there. When I was still unsure about whether or not to move back home, talking to her had helped me decide to return.

In my absence, and when the rest of the family couldn't do it, she'd been looking after Mom. However, having her help out here and there, versus having her do it twenty-four seven were two different things. After all, she had her own family to look after as well.

"I'm so sorry about this," I said, feeling a bit embarrassed. "If I had known things would be like this, I would have made arrangements instead of just leaving you."

Gloria sighed. "I thought you'd only be going to the store. At most, it would have taken you an hour. Two if you took your time. Then you told me you'd fainted and you were in the hospital, I thought it would take a day or two at most. But you've been here for nearly a week."

I startled, my eyes widening on Gloria. "What?"

"You've been in the hospital for nearly a whole week, dear," she repeated with another sigh. "It's been six days since you left me with your mother. She's worried about you, and it's not good for her, you know? Because you're not there and she'd worried, I have to keep a closer eye on her. And I've still got to look after my family, so I don't know what to do with her. They understand the situation, and they're supportive, but I can't just neglect them, either. I've been rotating between sleeping at home and sleeping at your house for your mom's sake, but I can only keep this up for so long. There's just too much for me to do and only one of me!"

My head lowered as she piled on her complaints. Honestly, I hadn't realized so much time had passed. It was much more than I'd expected and way too long. Forget lunch; I had to look for a nurse or Dr. Wilson to ask when they'd be letting me out.

"I'm so sorry," I repeated thinking that I didn't know what else to say, but to apologize to her over and over again.

"I didn't think it would be something so serious I'd be in the hospital for a week. All I've been doing having tests done the entire time." I felt guilty because I was pretty relaxed while my neighbor was looking after my mom for me.

Gloria huffed. "People at hospitals are like that. The more tests you take, the more money they make, of course, they'd keep you, but this is too much."

"I'll talk to the doctor after this," I said. "I'm supposed to be getting results today, and I'll ask him then if he can discharge me. For the moment, do you think you can contact my relatives? My cousins don't live too far away; you should know them, Betty and Wendy?"

She nodded. "I thought about contacting them before, honestly, but I don't have a way to. They live in town, but they're a bit far, and I'm worried about going too far. There's no one to watch your mom since my own family's busy trying to make do without me half the time."

Another stab of guilt pierced my chest. I really should have thought to call them myself instead of assuming Gloria could hold the fort until I got back, especially as the days continued to pass.

"If you look in the kitchen, in one of the drawers you'll find a little black notebook. In it you'll find their numbers, call them over and tell them I asked you to. They're probably busy as well, but maybe they can help, at least until I get out."

"Sure, I feel so bad for laying this on you when you have your health issues," Gloria said, sighing again, this one carrying a lot of relief with it. I hadn't noticed how stressed she must have been the past several days until I saw the lines in her face relax and her shoulders slump. "I'm sorry for coming here to complain to you, I shouldn't have done it. It's not right."

"Not at all," I said quickly. "I had no right to do that to you; it wasn't fair. And I promise I'll find some way to compensate you."

"You don't have to bother about that, Sandra," she said with a wave of her hand. "Besides, when you get out of here, you'll be more worried about your hospital bills, no? And if there is something wrong with your health, then you need to take care of yourself better once the doctor clears you. You can't look after your mom if you're not looking after yourself, you know."

I smiled awkwardly because it was the same thing Dr. Wilson said. It wasn't as if I didn't agree with them, either, but I didn't even know what the problem was. As far as I knew, I used to live a pretty normal, healthy life. I have never done excessive drinking like when I was in the city, I would go out partying and enjoying myself. Now, I couldn't drink in case mom needed me. Everything was about her these days, me never really featured into it. And I didn't mind one little bit after all she'd done for me in my life.

"Thank you, Gloria," I said. "Anyway, I was going to get lunch in the cafeteria. I'll see if I can get the doctor to see me after that, and start talking about getting out of the hospital. Be sure to contact my cousins, all right?"

"In that case, I won't bother you much longer. And don't worry, help or no, I wouldn't just leave your mom."

I'd known already. Gloria had given too much of herself and certainly deserved the right to complain. But I still sighed in relief at her words. We said goodbye and parted ways. Her heading back to look after my mom, me to force some food down and look for the handsome doctor for a chat and to get the f**k out of here asap.