When the nurse on shift left the room, was when I felt like I could breathe again. I sat against the edge of my bed, staring out the window, even though it was late now and there wasn't anything worth looking at anyway.

I was supposed to be resting because it was the best thing to do right now, but rather I found my head spinning with some thoughts that led me to the conclusion that this time I would have to make the choice to leave. Not for good, but temporarily. Last time it had been Kevin who had sent me off, and now this time it had to be my decision.

Still I was indecisive—leaving my friends here didn't feel like the best time. Especially with Claudia Joy in a coma, Denise recovering from giving her a kidney and everyone else pulled into different directions.

In my thoughts, I barely noticed that Sophie was in front of me, squeezing into the hospital chair that sat next to my bed. She didn't look any better off than I did. "I called Dad—left him a message."

Nodding, I gave a numb response. "You should go home. Try and get some rest."

She made no move to get up from the chair. "I can't believe I'm saying this . . . but I don't feel like going home to a big empty house."

Leaning against the pillow, I tried to get as comfortable as I could in a hospital setting. "You never told me how dinner was last night. Where did you go?"

"Kelsey and I went to a place that she liked just outside of the base. I can't remember the name of it now—but the food was delicious." Insisting, her eyes dropped back to her phone as if she were reading an important text. "I actually need to make a phone call, so I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Okay." Just as she was about to walk out of the room, I called out to her. "I completely forgot. . . How was dinner last night with Kelsey?"

"It was good. The food was delicious and we had a good time."

"Good." My expression fell, but she didn't seem to notice. "Go make your phone call." She gladly left the room, and I had very unsettling thoughts as I leaned back against the pillow. The last time Sophie had held secrets, I found out that she had been pregnant. This time I didn't know what to think.

Looking over, I saw my purse draped over the back of the chair and sat up. It wasn't far to walk; However for the first time in a long time, I had to ask myself how stable I was to get out of bed, when my body was still shaking.

That question was pretty much non-existent as I threw back the covers anyway—holding onto anything I could as I grabbed my purse and sat back down on the bed. I dug out my phone and finally checked my messages from earlier.

Not like she had any time to say so, but Gloria had gone to visit Denise tonight. When Denise had questioned how things were going, Gloria had told her about Roxy and how she was worried about me—which is what had prompted a voicemail message.

As I looked at the time on my phone, it was rather late. Most likely, Denise was asleep in a hospital bed similar to mine. Even though she had prompted me to call at any time, I didn't have the heart to wake her. Here she was recovering from a rather major surgery, and I knew that if I told her where I was: she might end up recovering back at my house instead of her own. Rather, she would be trying to take care of me instead of recovering.

"I'll call her tomorrow" Putting both my phone and purse on the stand next to the bed, I settled in for a long night. Just about the same time that I had closed my eyes, my phone buzzed. By the second time, it was buzzing in long intervals which told me someone was actually calling me this time.

Giving up on sleep for the time being, I grabbed my phone and was slightly surprised to see that Denise was calling me at this hour. At first I wanted to ignore it, but then thought that it could potentially be some important news about Claudia Joy. I wanted to believe that something had changed about it, but instead I let her call go to voicemail.

That was until she called again right after the first one, so I decided that I better answer this time. "Denise."

"Hey, Jackie. Did I wake you?"

"No, I think I've pretty much given up on sleeping tonight. What are you doing up? You just had major surgery."

"I know. You'd think I could sleep, but honestly I haven't gotten too much of it since I found out that Claudia Joy was in a coma. Speaking of worrying—Gloria told me that you came to visit her tonight and that Roxy was in the hospital."

"I only heard that she had an emergency—she seemed fine this afternoon. Is there anything that we can do?"

"Gloria said that she's going to be released later tonight if everything goes well, and that Roxy will probably be taking it easy for the next couple of days. I hope to see her later this week."

"I'll see if I can bring her something later on—I still need to return the bowl she put soup in as a get well gesture." I noted in my head, while trying to get comfortable in bed.

"She always brings the biggest bowls of soup. I always wonder how she has time to make everything, run a bar and juggle two children."

"It's not easy."

"So I've been told many times, as I'm sure you have." She laughed uneasily, and I wondered if she was thinking about Jeremy and Molly, just like I was thinking of Patrick and Sophie. "How are things going with Sophie?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure." I glanced towards the closed door, thinking that Sophie would be coming back any minute.

"What makes you think that?"

"Call it mother's intuition. That and it seems like every time I call her, she seems like she wants to get off the minute she hears my voice."

Denise paused for a moment to reflect. "I'm not sure that's entirely true. Most children don't think that they need their mothers growing up, until they start to realize that mom has answers and the love and support that they need to make it through something big."

"You're probably right." I tried to keep the emotion from my voice. "Who's taking care of Molly?"

"Joan and Roland, which is why we're not seeing a lot of him these days." She laughed, before letting out a groan. "I can't believe that it's midnight already."

"We should both get some rest."

"That sounds like a good idea." She paused again. "Just promise me something—"

"Yeah—"

"That you'll hang on. Things are going to worse before they get better."

"I know."

"I'll call you tomorrow?"

"Sure."

"Goodnight, Jackie."

"Goodnight."