Our Last Time: A Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

from the corner of his eye. “Another orange juice would be nice.”
    I brought him another orange juice, and Denise noticed the small scowl on my face as I exited his room before getting it. She had given me a knowing look.
    I had a fake smile plastered on my face as I gave him his carton of orange juice. My gaze caught his empty tray.
    “You're done eating?” I asked slowly.
    He nodded, “All done.” His tone was nonchalant.
    He moved his hands as I went to grab the tray. I stopped about a foot away from his bed before turning around, and flipping the legs back up on it.
    Just when I was about to open the door to leave, his sharp voice stopped me. “Wait.”
    I turned around, and he sighed. “Aren’t you supposed to ask me if I need anything else?”
    I wanted to throw the tray at his annoying poker face, but refrained, because his face was probably the only good thing he had going for him.
    He had a bad heart, and a shitty attitude. He also hadn’t smiled at all . I had some measure of sympathy for everyone.
    I nodded. “You need anything else, Mr. Blanquette?”
    He shook his head no, and then said, “I might need something else in about an hour.”
    “I’ll see you in about an hour, then.”
    I walked out of his room, dreading the fact that I worked in the smallest hospital in Chicago.
    We were hands-on nurses here, because we had so few patients. There were two floors. Fifteen rooms on the second floor, and thirty on the first. There was no way Tessa and I would have thirteen more patients to assist this morning or even five , because we were on the second floor. The first floor had to be full before we got more patients. Mornings were usually when a patient would leave and go home, unless they lived alone and needed more time to heal. We were never full in the mornings. Unless something tragic happened somewhere near us, we weren’t going to get much more patients this morning, if any at all.
    We had usually been full only on weekend nights, and those patients typically wouldn’t stay past one or two nights.
    Wyatt Blanquette had a heart attack last night, and just by looking at his exposed elbow - I could tell it definitely had something wrong with it.
    He hadn’t had any visitors last night, or the first hour in the morning. Did this man not have family or friends in Illinois? Was that why he’d been so conserved?
    It worried me that I might have to take care of this man for a few weeks, and talk to him because he hadn’t had anyone else to talk to.
    I hoped he had family and friends in Illinois.
    I also hoped he’d be gone within the next few days.

May 16 th , 1997, 3:51p.m.
    Willow
     
     
     
    I was wearing a strapless pink dress, and it was way too pink. It was magenta. Who looked good in magenta? I definitely hadn’t.
    Kennedy seemed to like it, though, so I resisted the urge to rip it off of my body and set it aflame.
    “How did you know my size?” I asked him.
    He bought me a pink dress for prom, which prom was scheduled for tomorrow and I wasn’t excited about it. But I liked how he’d been smiling a lot more ever since I had agreed to go with him. He smiled a lot already, he just smiled more now. It was hard to think that prom was the reason behind it.
    “I kind of went in your closet when you weren’t looking, and dug around until I finally found the only dress you had,” he sighed, but he was smiling. “You’re a size two.”
    That dress he found was only worn when there was a special occasion. Which it would have to be really special, and my mother would have to fight me on it. Kennedy was lucky I loved him so much. This dress was fairly atrocious.
    We stood in my large bedroom, and stared at my reflection through my body-length mirror that was about a foot away from my queen-sized bed.
    “The bottom is very frilly, but it’s soft. I’m glad you didn’t get me one that would make me itchy everywhere.” I turned around, and looked up so I could smile at him. He hugged me