The Game by Vi Keeland by Vi Keeland

Bella shook her head. “No, honey. I’m sure she will. She filled out that form years ago, at the same time she made me your legal guardian in the event of any emergency. These are just things adults do as a way of planning for the worst-case scenario. But that’s not what this is. An appendectomy is a very routine procedure.”

“Do you have a healthcare proxy?”

Bella frowned. “I actually don’t. But I should.”

Wyatt looked to me. “What about you?”

“I do.”

“Who makes your decisions?”

“My brother Jake.” My eyes met Bella’s, silently acknowledging how nervous Wyatt was.

She walked over and sat next to him. “She’s really going to be fine. Have I ever lied to you?”

Wyatt shook his head. “No. Except for that time in sixth grade when you told me the Crocs mom bought me with my back-to-school clothes were cool. I got made fun of the minute I walked into the building.”

Bella mussed his hair. “That’s not a lie, kiddo. That’s my taste. I have two pairs of Crocs myself. Perhaps next time you want style advice, you shouldn’t come to a computer geek.”

Twenty-five minutes later, the nurse from the ward desk poked her head into the waiting room. “I spoke to the nurse in the OR. Everything is going great, and they should be done in about forty minutes.”

Wyatt let out an audible exhale.

“Thanks so much for letting us know,” Bella said.

She smiled. “I’ll let you know when she’s in recovery. It’s usually another hour before she’ll be moved to a room after that.”

After the nurse left, I took Wyatt down the hall to raid the snack machine. We wound up spending eighteen bucks on chips and chocolate, and the kid downed three quarters of that on his own. Then he fell asleep across three chairs until we woke him to say his mom was done, and he could go see her soon.

Wyatt rubbed his eyes. “I’m going to find a bathroom.”

“Okay, honey,” Bella said.

Once he was out of the room, she turned to me. “You should go. It’s almost five already. You have practice in a few hours.”

“I’m good. I’ll either go a little tired, or I’ll text Coach Brown and tell him I’m going to miss today.”

“Won’t you get fined?”

“It’s the coach’s call whether to excuse an absence or fine a player. If he fines me, he fines me.”

“I don’t want you to get fined.”

I shrugged. “I don’t miss often, so I think he’ll let it slide. But if he does, he does. It’s just money. I want to be here for you.”

Bella’s face softened. I leaned over and kissed her forehead.

When it was time to go in and see Talia, the nurse told us only two could go in at a time. I told Bella and Wyatt to go ahead, but then the doctor came out and recognized me, and suddenly they could bend the rules. So the three of us went in together.

Talia was groggy, but she smiled, and Wyatt dropped the cool cloak all teenagers seemed to wear and ran to her bedside and hugged her. The three of them talked until the doctor came over and asked if it was okay to discuss Talia’s condition with all of us present. Talia looked at her son, who immediately shook his head.

“I’m not leaving.”

Talia smiled at the doctor. “I forget my son is almost a man these days. It’s fine to discuss things with everyone here.”

The doctor told us the surgery had gone smoothly, but that Talia had a blood infection, left behind by her sick appendix, which needed to be treated. Normally a patient stayed in the hospital only a day or two after an appendectomy, but he thought we should plan on two to four days because they wanted to be sure they got rid of the infection.

Bella assured her friend that she had nothing to worry about, and she would take care of Wyatt. I promised to pitch in and help out. Then a nurse came over to take Talia’s vitals and suggested we wrap up our visit because she needed her rest.

So we said goodbye and left with Wyatt. Talia didn’t live far from the hospital, so we walked the couple of blocks to their apartment.

“You didn’t get much sleep last night,” Bella told him. “Why don’t you take the day off from school?”

Wyatt shook his head. “I can’t miss. I’m going to jump in the shower right now so I won’t be late.” He disappeared into the bathroom.

“My, how things have changed,” Bella said. “I remember when he hated school and used to pretend to be sick all the time to avoid going. Now he doesn’t even want to be late.”

I smirked. “If you miss school, you can’t go to practice. And if you’re late and get detention, you can’t go to practice.”

“Oh.” She laughed. “I should’ve known better.”

I looked around the apartment, which was similar in layout to Bella’s. “Is there another room?”

She shook her head. “No. Wyatt used to sleep with Talia. But now she sleeps on that couch. The apartment is rent controlled, so it’s a great deal and allows her to pay his tuition at the private school.”

“Are you going to stay here while you’re keeping an eye on him?”

“I hadn’t given the logistics any thought. I could stay on the couch, but that might make Wyatt feel weird to be in the same room with a woman who isn’t his mom, and my apartment is no better.” She paused. “Maybe I’ll take him to a hotel. I’m sure there’s a fancy one with two bedrooms somewhere not too far from here.”