The next morning, my mom said the nurses thought Grandma seemed more alert. I wanted to go see her, but Mom said they were going to be running tests on her all day and we’d just be in the way. Turning my cell phone on, I realized Brendon tried calling me last night. I was about to call him back when Darren called and said he wanted to take me to the zoo. Well, I hadn’t been to the zoo in years, and I had never gone in the fall. It sounded like a good way to distract myself until I could go see Grandma. While I waited for Darren to pick me up, I tried calling Brendon back, but my call went straight to voice mail. Was he busy or had he sent all my calls to voice mail to avoid me?

Darren picked me up to go to the zoo, and we rode the train and then walked around.

“Just so you know, we can visit all the areas except the reptile house and the elephant house,” I said.

“I understand the snake house, but what do you have against elephants?” he asked.

“When I was little, I heard these kids on the playground talking about the Elephant Man, and I thought you could get it from elephants. It makes no sense, but I’ve been scared of them ever since. You should see me at the circus,” I said.

“Well, it’s certainly…”

“Weird?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

“I was going to say interesting. Maybe seeing the elephants up close would help you overcome your fear,” he said.

“We’re talking about something engrained in my subconscious. If I went and saw the elephants, you might as well call every dermatologist in the area because I would come down with the symptoms. I can catch a broken leg,” I said.

“Just out of curiosity, what are the symptoms of ele—”

“Let’s change the subject. Even talking about it freaks me out,” I said. “Anyway, I don’t know the symptoms, and no, I’ve never seen the movie.”

“It’s a good movie,” he said.

“I don’t care if they remake it and offer me a role—I’m still not going to see it.”

“Okay, I got it. Let’s get a snow cone,” he said, pulling me over to the concession stand.

The bottom of his cone started leaking. I tried to help him soak up the juice with my napkins, but pretty soon we both had cherry syrup all over our hands.

“You can’t take me anywhere,” he said, removing little bits of napkin stuck to his arm.

“I’ve got to wash my hands ’cause I absolutely hate it when my hands get sticky. It’s like chalk squeaking on a blackboard for me,” I said.

“So no elephants, no elephant movies, and nothing sticky,” he said.

“Unless you have an antibacterial wipe,” I said as it started to rain. “I can’t believe this—I wouldn’t have worn a white, long-sleeved T-shirt if I knew it was going to rain,” I said. “I mean what does ‘clear skies’ mean? I thought it meant it wouldn’t rain. Why is Michigan weather so screwy? I was wearing short sleeves yesterday, and today I’m freezing my butt off in the rain.”

Darren shrugged. “No big deal.” I glanced at his open flannel shirt and the rock band T-shirt he had on underneath. It was so different from Brendon’s V-neck sweaters and khakis, but it fit Darren’s personality. There was something hot about a literary guy who worked out. He caught me staring at him and smirked.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing, just making sure you didn’t have any more snow cone syrup on your face.”

“Ah, thought maybe you were admiring my beauty,” he said, laughing.

My face got warm. “Nope, just looking out for you.”

The rain got heavier, so we decided to leave. I wondered if he was going to suggest going to get food or something, but when we got to the parking lot, he noticed he had a bunch of texts.

“Oh man, they’re all from my boss, asking me to come in tonight,” he said. “Hope he’s not mad I didn’t pick up. It’s just when I’m with someone, I’m not about to keep checking my phone—it’s a pet peeve of mine.”

I thought of how many times Brendon checked his phone when we were out.

“I was going to see if you wanted to get food, but I feel like I better drop you off and go into work. Cool?”

“Sure.”

He drove to my house, and I was kind of grateful he had someplace to be so there wasn’t some awkward good-bye moment with him walking me to the door or anything.

“I’ll text you later,” he said. “And I promise—no elephant emojis.”

“Thanks for being so understanding.”

“Anytime. Now go wash your hands in case someone at the zoo did touch an elephant right before you touched the same door handle.”

“Jerk. See ya later.”

* * *

I went to the hospital with my mom the next day. Grandma slept the entire time we were there, and the doctor didn’t have the test results back yet. My cousin Carla had sent flowers, which should have made the room more cheerful, but I was so depressed. Not wanting to give up, I placed crystals all over the room along with some prayer cards, and I had downloaded a special healing meditation, which was supposed to calm you. I was hoping something would work for her, but I had a feeling like it didn’t matter what I did because nothing was going to make a difference. Over and over, I kept reminding myself how important a positive attitude was, but I just couldn’t shake the horrible feeling my grandma was never going to leave the hospital.

Meanwhile, my mom kept waiting for Grandpa to ask to come visit Grandma, but he never mentioned it. Three days went by, and he didn’t even ask how she was doing. Finally, I brought it up.

“Aren’t you worried about Grandma?” I asked him.

“Why? What’s wrong with mom?” he asked, sitting up straight.

“She’s been in the hospital. She had another stroke,” I said.

“She did? Nobody told me. When did this happen?”

“Grandpa, you were with her when it happened,” I said. “Don’t you remember?”

“No one told me,” he said, getting angry.

However, ten minutes later he was concerned with making me an ice cream cone, and he didn’t bring up Grandma again. I checked my e-mail while he dished out the ice cream. There was a message from Kylie, but I didn’t feel like writing her back.