Chapter 6
Elizabeth was brought back to her room around three, and the afternoon melted into evening, which melted into night. Just like the previous two nights, Josh sat staring at his mother quietly, and Donna sat next to him alternating her gaze between him and Elizabeth. The forty-eight hour mark had come and gone, but due to the surgery, that had been expected. The ease of earlier in the day, however, was gone. During the night, Josh barely spoke, and Donna found herself taking walks to give him some time alone with his mom.
Around four in the morning, Josh started getting antsy. He began pacing and Donna could read him like a book. It was getting hard for him to sit here and watch his mother. Not that it hadn't been hard all along, but it was becoming too much. He needed a break. He refused to go upstairs to sleep, but she knew she had to get him out of his mother's room.
"You should go to the condo, Josh."
He was pacing, lost in his own thoughts, and her voice startled him. He looked up at her. "Why? You said they locked it up."
"They did, but the fridge needs cleaned out and the plants need watered; there could be bills that need to be paid. Things like that."
"Well, I don't have a car," he said impatiently.
She took a long breath and told herself to stay calm. "You could take a cab."
"I could take a cab?" He stressed the word 'I' and his voice rose a bit.
"Or I could take a cab, or we could take a cab. I just think you should leave for a while. You're going stir crazy."
"You're giving up," he said angrily.
"What?" she asked, surprised. Where was this coming from?
He stopped pacing and stared at her. "You keep leaving, you want me to go and clean out her house. You think I should get it ready to sell. You're giving up."
"Josh…"
He continued yelling at her. "If you want to go back, Donna, you can. You don't have to be here. I know you want to leave. I know you don't think she's going to wake-up. I know you think it's time for me to get ready…"
"Josh, I don't think that at all," she said quietly.
"You keep leaving," he accused.
She stood up, walked over to him and said in a stern voice, "I've left four times in 13 hours, and only for ten minutes each time. I'm just trying to give you some time alone with her."
"Time to say goodbye," he accused, tears instantly pooling in his eyes. He bitterly wiped them away.
She looked at the floor, and then back at him. "No, Josh. I'm just trying to give you some privacy."
She put her hand on his shoulder but he pulled away. "You're giving up, that's why you want me to close-up her house."
"Josh, if she wakes up right now, this very second, she won't be ready to go home for weeks, maybe months."
"Maybe never, right?" he spit out at her.
Tears threatened to escape at his harsh words, but she knew she was his only outlet, and if this was what he needed to do, she'd let him do it. "Maybe, and that's not giving up, that's a fact. She's not going to wake-up like nothing happened. You're going to have to face reality. She might not ever be able to live alone again."
"But you don't know that," he said with a husky voice. "And you still want me to sell her house. I can't believe your giving up on her."
She took his hand in hers, and this time when he tried to pull away, she held on tight. "Josh, I want you to clean out the fridge and pay some bills. I want you to get out of the hospital for a few hours; I want you to feel useful. I never said anything about selling the condo." You did, she thought to herself, but didn't say out loud.
He started to speak and then stopped. This was Donna. Donna who flew to Florida because she cared about him and his mother. Donna who was his closest friend. Donna who would do anything for him. Donna for whom he would do anything. He knew better than to think she would ever give up on him, on anything. Even now, as he tried to pull away from her, she held his hand tight, not allowing him to. He looked at the floor for several long seconds, breathing heavily. When he looked back up, his shoulders were shaking and he was crying hard. She smiled at him, telling him without words that it was ok, and then pulled him into her arms and stood there while he cried on her shoulder for several minutes.
When he finally spoke, his head was tucked into the crook of her neck and she barely understood him. "Oh God, I'm sorry."
"I know," she whispered.
"I didn't mean…"
"I know. It's ok."
"But… you came here… and I…"
"Shh… it's alright."
He was silent for several seconds, taking deep breaths, and then whispered, "I'm the one giving up, aren't I?"
"Shh… No, you're just tired. You need a break, Josh. You need to get out of here. You're not giving up."
He pulled back and tears ran down both of their cheeks. Donna gave him a small smile and reached up, wiping his away with her thumbs. He reached out and did the same for her, leaving his hands on her face when he was done and whispering again, "I'm sorry."
"You don't need to be," she answered quietly, biting her lower lip.
He studied her hard for a minute. "Why are you always here for me?"
She took a deep breath and looked in his eyes. "You know why."
He smiled and a few more tears broke through. "Yeah," he whispered and leaned in slowly, kissing her forehead. When he leaned back he watched her for another minute and then took his hands off her face and walked back to his mother's bed.
It was silent in the room for several minutes after that, before he spoke again. "Will you go with me?" he asked her quietly, but kept his eyes on his mother.
"You don't want me to stay with her?"
"We can go at seven, when they take her for the EEG and MRI," he said. Then he added as playfully as possible. "We could even eat a real breakfast."
She smiled and walked back to her seat next to his. "Can we get waffles?"
He chuckled at her. "With strawberries on top."
She pretended to ponder it before answering, "I do love strawberries."
He took her hand in his, still looking at his mother. "I know you do."
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
"You got Hamilton?" Leo asked as Toby came into the oval office.
"He's putting up a fight."
"What does he want?"
"Ten million for ACT/SAT preparation."
"In a school building repair bill?" asked the President, as he looked over some notes on the bill.
"Yes."
"Have you talked to Josh about it?" asked Leo.
"I talked to him yesterday about the meeting. He warned me this might happen. Hamilton's big on secondary education."
"Well, call him back. He's been on this from the beginning, he'll know what to do."
"Any change with his mother?" asked the President, looking up from his notes.
Leo took a deep breath and relayed what Donna had told him the previous night. "The surgery went well, but she's still unconscious. They're doing another MRI and EEG this morning, but they can't do anything else but wait." He paused and looked at Toby. "Don't call for a few hours, he's been trying to sleep when they have her out of the room."
"Yes sir, anything else?"
"Make this work, Toby," said the President. "Schools are falling apart. We need this to hit big." Toby thanked them both and left.
Once he was gone, the President looked at Leo. "Anything I need to know about concerning Josh?"
Leo sighed. "I could make him come back, but he'd be useless."
"Don't make him come back."
"This could go on for weeks, we're going to have to consider it."
"We'll re-visit it later if we have to. How's he holding up?"
"He's got Donna. He'll be alright."
The President raised his eyebrows. "Will he be married when he comes back?"
Leo chuckled. "Engaged, maybe."
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
They told the nurse in the ICU that they'd be back in two or three hours, and Josh once again gave the woman his cell number as well as Donna's. This time, he added his mother's home number to the list and just like every time he'd left the ICU, he made her repeat all the numbers to make sure she'd gotten them right. Then, just to be safe, he left his business card. Donna finally took him by the arm and all but drug him out to the waiting cab.
Neither of them spoke for about half the drive to Elizabeth's condo. It was only 7:15 in the morning, but it was hot out and the sun was bright. To Donna, if felt like weeks since she'd been outside. She doubted Josh would even notice or care, being the indoorsman that he was. She was getting tired too; they'd gotten some decent sleep the previous morning while Elizabeth was in surgery, but hadn't slept since.
"What day is it?" Josh finally asked, sounding uninterested in the answer.
"Friday," she replied casually, still looking out the window.
It was quiet for another minute. "When did we get here?"
"Tuesday."
"It's only been three days? It seems like longer."
"That's because you're impatient," she said, looking away from the window and over at him.
He acted shocked. "Me, impatient? I think you have me confused with someone else."
She smiled. "You're right, I'm confusing you with my boss. He's the impatient one."
"But brilliant I bet," said Josh, lightening the mood a bit.
"That's a matter of opinion," she deadpanned.
When they got to the condo, Donna immediately threw their laundry in the washing machine, then grabbed a few trash bags and started cleaning out the refrigerator. There was no need to keep anything perishable. When she opened the freezer, Josh grabbed a pint of chocolate ice cream he knew would be there. He could always count on his mom for plain old chocolate ice cream. He grabbed a spoon out of the silverware drawer and started eating it out of the container.
"What are you doing?"
He looked at her, confused. "What? I'm hungry."
"It's 7:30 in the morning," she said, as if that answered it all.
He took another bite. "But I've been up all night, so it seems like dinner time to me."
She shook her head. "We had dinner."
"Eleven hours ago."
"Still, you don't eat ice cream at 7:30 in the morning. It's just not done. Plus, you promised me waffles with strawberries."
"We'll still get breakfast. This is… an appetizer," he said smiling.
The entire concept was mind-boggling to Donna. She thought only women did this. "And you're just going to eat it right out of the container like that?"
He hopped up on the counter. "We're throwing it out when we leave, it's not like I'm ruining it for the next person who breaks into my mom's house."
"Well…" she didn't really have a reply for that. She stared at him for a few seconds. "Well, I want some too." He grinned at her, then scooped up some ice cream with his spoon and held it out for her. She looked at him and took a bite, smiling at the absurdity of it all.
After their ice cream binge, Donna went back to cleaning out the fridge while Josh went through his mother's mail. He paid the electric and water bills, as well as the condo association fee. When he was done, he went upstairs to the spare bedroom, where Elizabeth kept her safe. Donna finished with the fridge, washed the few dishes in the sink and watered the plants before going upstairs to Elizabeth's room and gathering some bathroom supplies, a few nightgowns and a robe, and putting it all into a carry-on bag. Then she went in search of Josh.
When she walked into the spare bedroom, he was lying in the middle of the bed on his back, asleep, holding some papers in his hand. She stood in the doorway and watched him for a few minutes, and noticed that his face was much more relaxed than it had been for the last few days. They needed to stay until the laundry was done, so she might as well let Josh get an hour or so of sleep. She crept over and took the papers from his hand, then shut the door quietly and went downstairs.
She was exhausted, but was afraid to go to sleep herself for fear that they would sleep all day. Instead, she wandered around the living room, looking at books in bookshelves and pictures in frames. There was one of Elizabeth, Noah, Joanie and Josh at a park when Josh was a toddler, and another one of Joanie and Josh with a puppy when he was about five. There was a picture of Noah, Elizabeth and Josh at one of his graduation ceremonies. She wasn't sure if it was high school, Harvard, or Yale, but she did notice that Josh looked young, attractive, and just as egotistical as he was now. Then she noticed something that stopped her in her tracks. On a shelf in the entertainment center were two 8 X 10 photographs in matching frames; one was of Elizabeth and Noah on their wedding day and the other was of Josh and Donna at one of the inaugural balls. She stared at the two side by side pictures for a minute and smiled; apparently Elizabeth really did have ideas.
When the laundry was done, Donna went to wake-up Josh. She poked her head in the door and smiled. He had rolled onto his side and looked like he could sleep for another year if she let him. She was tempted to give him a few more hours and get a few herself, but she knew that he would rather be at the hospital, so she walked over to the bed, sat down on the side and gently nudged his shoulder. "Wake-up sleepy head," she whispered.
Josh moved his head a bit and took a deep breath, but didn't stir other than that, so she tried again. "Josh, it's time to wake-up," she said, still whispering. With his eyes still closed, he took her hand from his shoulder and gently tugged her until she lay in the bed next to him.
"Come back to bed," he said with a husky and, she thought, quite sexy voice, and she started laughing, just a bit. Then his arms went around her waist and pulled her close to him, and he brushed her forehead with his lips, and suddenly, it wasn't so funny.
Against her better judgment, Donna relaxed in Josh's arms and closed her eyes. Willing herself not to fall asleep, she concentrated instead on the way her head fit nicely between his chin and chest, the feeling of his chest rising and lowering against hers, and the feel of their intertwining legs. It didn't escape her attention that their bodies fit perfectly with each other.
When it was either get up or give in to sleep, she said in a sleepy voice, "Josh, we have to get up."
"You're warm," he said in that husky voice she decided she could easily get used to and pulled her even closer, if that was possible.
She sighed, not wanting to move herself. "So are you, but we have to get up. We've been here an hour and a half, we should get back to the hospital."
At the word hospital, Josh opened his eyes and tried to focus. It took him just a minute to figure out where he was and why. He groaned, even more exhausted than before his nap. "What time is it?" he asked, still not letting go of her.
"Almost 9:00. You've been asleep for about an hour."
He sat up and looked at her, lying on the pillow looking up at him like an angel. God was she beautiful. "Has the hospital called?"
"No, but she should be back in her room before too long, so we should get going. The laundry's done and I put the papers you were looking at in your backpack."
"Are we still getting waffles?" he asked, crawling over her and standing up.
She yawned. "Sure, if you want to. But if you want to get back, we can skip it."
"No," he said, smiling and taking her hand, pulling her up off the bed. "I promised you waffles and waffles you shall get."
"With strawberries?" she asked as she stretched.
"Of course."
