Save Me - Lisa Scottoline [33]
“She has the TV on, really loud. I can’t even hear Nick at Nite. I don’t know where the nurse went and we didn’t do our nails.”
Rose hated that Melly was there alone. “I guess she got busy. Do you see the button—”
“Mom, it said on their TV that Amanda was in the hospital. I heard it. They said her name, Amanda Gigot. Is Amanda in the hospital?”
Oh no. “Yes, she is.”
“This hospital?”
“Yes.”
“Is she sick?”
“Yes. She has what you had, from the smoke.” Rose didn’t want to lie, but she couldn’t tell the whole truth, not with Melly by herself. “She needs more oxygen, and they’re keeping an eye on her.”
“I don’t want her to come in my room, Mom.”
“She won’t.”
“She better not.” Melly sounded anxious. “I’m already sharing it with a little kid. I shouldn’t have to share it with Amanda, too. Mom, can I come home?”
“Not yet.”
“But I don’t want to stay here, all by myself.”
Rose felt a guilty pang. “I’m going to call some babysitters and see if I can get someone to stay with John, so I can come back to the hospital. Okay?”
“Please come soon, Mom.”
“I’ll try. In the meantime, can you rest a little?”
“No, the TV is so loud. If you were here, you would say, ‘turn that down!’” Melly did a fair impression of Rose as fishwife.
“Let me see if I can do something about that TV, then get a sitter.” Rose checked her oven clock. 9:25 P.M. “I’ll call you as soon as I can. I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
“Hang in there. Bye.” Rose hung up, then hit redial to get the main switchboard at the hospital. The operator picked up, and she asked, “Can you transfer me to the nurses’ station on the third floor?”
“Certainly,” the operator answered. There was a click, and the phone rang and rang. Nobody picked up, so Rose hung up and redialed.
“I’m the one calling the third floor,” Rose said, when the operator answered. “My daughter is in the hospital, and I want to speak with the nurse outside her room. Her name is Rosie, and the TV in—”
“Hold the line.”
“No, wait!” Rose heard the same clicks and the same ringing. She waited ten rings and hung up. She took her phone from her pocket and plugged it into the charger near the toaster. The phone came to life, the red star telling her there was a message, so she pressed to the phone function. The last call was from Leo’s cell, and she pressed voicemail, for his message:
“Babe, I got your text, and I’m sorry, too. I’m up to my ass in alligators here, so don’t wait up. Hope you found a sitter and give the kids my love. You, too.”
Rose pressed END, happy to hear his voice, then pressed her way to her address book, thumbed to her B-list babysitters, and got busy. Almost half an hour later, she hadn’t been able to beg, borrow, or steal a sitter. She checked the clock, and it was almost ten o’clock. She felt terrible, but she had to call Melly with the bad news. “Honey?” she said, when Melly picked up.
“Mom! When are you coming?”
“I’m so sorry, sweetie, but I can’t. I tried, but I can’t get a sitter. I’ll keep trying, and if I get lucky, I can—”
“Mom, please? I don’t like it here.”
“Did the nurse come back?” Rose could hear the TV, blaring in the background.
“She did but she had to go. Mom, please. Please come.”
“Did you tell her about the TV?”
“No, I felt funny.”
“Mel, see the button on the side of the bed? It’s a white plastic thing and it’s attached to a white cord. Can you press it?”
“Yes. I’m pressing it, but the nurse isn’t coming.”
“Keep pressing it, and she will.”
“She’s not, Mom.” Melly started to cry, softly.
“Honey, don’t cry, everything’s all right. Don’t be upset. When the nurse comes, put her on the phone. I’ll tell her to tell the lady to lower the TV.” Rose heard Melly sniffling, then some noise and talking, and it sounded like the nurse was in the room. “Melly, put the nurse on. Melly? Hello?”
“Yes,” replied a cool voice, clearly not nurse Rosie.
“Hi, this is Rose. Who is this?”
“It’s Annabelle. Are you the mother?”
“Yes, please, help her. She was in that school fire yesterday, and the woman in her room is blaring the TV. The news is