Page 125 of Fierce-Matt

“Can you check?” Matt asked. He was holding her stare. She was making no attempt to even look up Elliot’s information.

“I’m in the middle of something that I’ve got to finish. Someone can come in to get you when the doctor has information.”

His mouth opened to ask for a supervisor, but then Matt heard his name called.

He turned. “Patrick.” One of his old high school classmates. “How are you doing?”

The male nurse came forward and shook his hand. “Good, good. Are you here with a family member?”

“They brought my girlfriend’s father in over two hours ago, and we don’t know what’s happening.”

Patrick looked past him to the nurse behind the counter. “Sandy, go check on the patient that has been buzzing for the past five minutes.”

“What?” the young nurse asked. “I’m not supposed to leave here.”

Patrick tossed his hand up. “Who told you that?”

“Marjorie. She said not to leave until she tells me.”

“She left her shift an hour ago. You can’t stand around doing nothing. Go,” Patrick said, moving behind the desk. “She hasworked here for one week and can’t figure out how to put her badge on her neck without step-by-step instructions. She won’t make it here.”

Matt looked at Anya. “That explains some of it,” she said. “She’s the one I’ve talked to twice and she hasn’t given me anything.”

“She probably needed someone to tell her she could or didn’t know enough to ask. What’s your father’s name?”

“Elliot Emerson,” she said. “He came in unconscious and with a broken leg. We know nothing else.”

“I’m sorry about that,” Patrick said. “You shouldn’t have had to wait like this.”

Matt wanted to tell her she needed to push more, but it wasn’t the time or place for it.

“Can you give us an update? And if he’s in a bed somewhere, can Anya and her mother go see him? He’s got dementia, so he’s probably confused.”

“He’s in radiology right now,” Patrick said. “Looks like they took him in about an hour ago to that wing, but there is a backlog of patients. The orders are for a CAT scan to his brain. His X-rays are finished, but the radiologists haven’t read the results yet. There isn’t anything else, but I’ll make sure that the minute he’s back in this wing, we’ll come get you to see him.”

“Do you know how long any of this might take?” he asked.

“If I don’t come get you in thirty minutes, come back and ask for me. Don’t talk to anyone else. I’m here until seven. They will get me if I’m in another room. If he’s not back, something might at least be updated.”

“Thanks, Patrick,” he said, shaking the man’s hand. He put his palm on Anya’s lower back and moved her to the side. “You came directly from Fierce. Have you eaten today? Has your mother? You both need to keep your strength up.”

“I ate before I went to work,” she said. “I’m not sure I could get anything down even if I wanted to. Thank you. I don’t know that we would have gotten anything if someone didn’t notice you.”

“You would have,” he said. “Because I was ready to ask to speak to someone else. Anya, push.”

“I know. I would have eventually. We don’t know much though.”

“You know he’s not sitting in a bed awake and not being cared for. They are taking steps at least. Let’s give your mother an update and go for a walk. We’ll get her something to eat and drink. It will do you well to move.”

She nodded. They returned to Amber and shared the update, then left for the cafeteria.

“I can’t stop thinking about how this is going to work for my mother,” she said. “Then the other part of me is almost relieved she’ll have a brief break in his care. That’s horrible, isn’t it? But he’ll be here at least a few days, I’m sure.”

“It’s not horrible to think that,” he said. “Cut yourself some slack. Things are rough and they will get rougher. You know it. Your mother will need help after your father returns home, but I suspect they will place him in short-term extended care once the situation improves.”

She sniffled a little next to him. “We think so too, but that isn’t the worst. I’ve read so much that many decline faster there.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” he said. “It will not do you or your mother any good.”