The phone wakes me the next morning at seven a.m., and I fumble around for it and swipe it on. “Hello?”
“Yes, is this Finn?”
“Yeah, who’s this?”
“I’m a nurse at Missouri Baptist, and Mrs. Callie Beecher asked me to call you.”
I sit up in bed. “Miss Callie knew my number?”
“I had to call your taxi service and get it. But she was pretty insistent. She wanted me to ask you if you could drive her home when she’s discharged this morning.”
“Discharged? Is that a good idea? She’s been pretty sick.”
“The doctor wrote discharge orders after seeing her a few minutes ago. It’ll take a couple hours to get the paperwork ready and fill her prescriptions, but then she’ll be ready to go.”
I slide out of bed. “Yeah, I’ll give her a ride. But where’s her granddaughter, Sydney? I thought she was spending the night there. Did you talk to her?”
“She’s already left for work. I’m sure Mrs. Beecher will be in touch with her. She probably would have called you herself if she’d had your number.”
“Don’t assume anything about Miss Callie, okay? Sydney will need to know this.”
“I’ll take care of it,” the nurse says. “So you’ll be here when she’s discharged?”
“Yeah. Tell her I’ll come.”
When she hangs up, I look at the phone for a minute and drop back down onto the bed. So Callie conned the doctor into letting her go. Sydney isn’t going to like it.
I find her number on my contacts list and call her. It rings to voice mail, as usual.
After the beep, I say, “Yeah, Sydney? This is Finn Parish . . . cab driver? The nurse just called to ask me to drive your grandmother home when she gets discharged this morning. You know about that, right? I just . . . wanted to make sure.” I sit there a minute, trying to think of what else to say, but I finally hang up.
I head to the hospital, and as I’m getting onto the elevator, my phone rings. It’s Sydney. “Hey,” I say.
“You cannot take her home!” Her voice sounds like she’s walking fast, and she’s breathing heavily. “And what is a nurse doing calling you? I’m the next of kin. If they’re going to let her go home, I need to know, don’t you think?”
“That’s why I called you. I guess Callie made them ask me for a ride.”
The elevator opens, and I step off and hear Sydney’s voice coming out of the elevator next to me. “What she needs is IV antibiotics and a hospital bed!”
I put my phone down and talk directly to her. “Hey, I’m just the messenger.”
She jumps as she sees that I’m right in front of her. She drops her phone into her bag. “They think she’s in her right mind, but she’s not! And that doctor. Why does he have such a hard time calling family members? What is it with this guy?”
I follow Sydney down the hall, letting her continue her meltdown. When we get to Callie’s room, the door is open and we can see the nurse standing over Callie’s bed, making her sign some forms.
“Stop!” Sydney says as we go in. “She is not going home today. I want to talk to the doctor!”
“Sweet girl . . . ,” Callie says with a sly grin.
The nurse looks confused. “The doctor discharged her.”
“Call him now. I’m her next of kin and I have her power of attorney.”
“Okay. I can have you sign her forms.”
“Can’t you see she’s sick? She has pneumonia and she’s confused and she has cancer. There must be pain and discomfort, and she needs oxygen and—”
“I’ll call him,” the nurse says and scurries out.
Callie reaches for me. I walk to her and take her hand.
“Are you taking me home?” she asks.
“Miss Callie, Sydney doesn’t want you to go.”
“Don’t be silly,” she says. “I have a million things to do. They said it’s Christmas Eve. I’m not spending it here. Tomorrow’s Christmas!”
Sydney has tears in her eyes now. She’s breaking my heart. “Grammy, you’re so sick. I know you think you have to do some grand thing for Christmas, but we can do it here. I promise, I’ll make it special. I’ll spend the whole day with you.”
“I’m not making you celebrate Christmas in the hospital. I’m going home.”
Callie looks at me, and I stay quiet. It doesn’t seem like a good idea to get between them.
The nurse’s voice comes over the intercom. “Ma’am, I have the doctor on the phone. Can you come speak to him?”
“Yes, I’ll be right there.” Sydney turns to me. “Don’t take her anywhere. I’ll be right back.”
I smile at Miss Callie as she leaves. If the old woman could walk, I have no doubt she would be racing out of here. Thankfully she just stays on the bed.