“You poor thing. Having to handle those arrangements, all alone.”
“It went all right. Eric was a big help.”
“I’m glad to hear that, honey.” Another tear, yet her face was calm, placid. There was a box of Kleenex on the nightstand. Robin pulled out several sheets and dabbed gently at her mother’s cheeks.
“Were there a lot of people at the funeral?” She said it so mildly, as though she were asking about a dinner party she’d missed. It must have been residual sedatives, Renee’s true self still struggling to the surface, the slow trickle of her memory returning.
Robin’s chest tightened.Mom. Poor Mom.“There was a big crowd,” she said. “He was very much loved.”
“That’s nice.”
“I’m so glad you’re with me now, Mom. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“You’ll never be without me. I’ll do everything I can to make sure of that.” She closed her eyes, struggling between sleep and waking until finally, Robin thought of something she could talk to her about.
“Do you know who was at the funeral, Mom? CoCo.”
“Huh?”
“That girl who used to babysit me when I was eight? She’s... well she’s aged since then obviously. She said you two are friends. That you’ve kept in touch.”
“CoCo?”
“She calls herself Nikki now. Lives in Philly?”
She opened her eyes. “Nicola. I forgot she ever called herself CoCo...”
“Who is she?”
“We’ve been close since... since we were girls...”
“You have?”
“Yes.” Her eyelids fluttered, a dreamy smile crossing her face. “Lovely Nicola. Little doll.”
“I didn’t know you had anyone from childhood. Friends or family or—”
“Honey, I’m sorry, but can you get me that glass of water now? I’m just so thirsty.”
“Of course.” Robin hurried out into the hallway, past the guards. Dr. Wu wasn’t around, but Eric was.
“Hey, how did she take it?” he said.
“Not terribly,” Robin said. “But I think she’s still pretty drugged.”
She hurried to the nurses’ station, where Verity handed her a cup of ice chips, explaining, “Her throat is still weak from being intubated. She can probably have water in an hour or two.”
Robin thanked her, took the ice chips, and headed back toward her mother’s room, her pulse quickening as though she were on the verge of something life-changing, something big.Lovely Nicola.Her babysitter had been her mother’s childhood friend. She’d seemed young for that, but then again Renee had been quite young herself. And thinking back on CoCo, so thin and wan, she could have easily looked more youthful than she was. Robin headed into the room—dead quiet now, without the whoosh of the ventilator. “Mom, I was wondering,” she started.
But Renee had fallen asleep.
She felt movement behind her—Eric joining her at her side, as Verity made for her mother’s hospital bed, clipboard in hand.
“You okay?” Eric said.
“Yeah.” She watched her mother sleeping, the rise and fall of her chest. She hoped she wasn’t dreaming of hell again.
“SHE LOOKED ASthough she was coming out of it,” Eric said. “When the nurses were shooing us out and she was saying see you tomorrow, it seemed like... I don’t know. Like her battery finally got recharged. You know?”