Read Next to Me for Free Online Page B

good place to start.
    “Sure. Yeah, that sounds really nice,” I tell him with a smile, surprising myself with how quickly I agreed.
    His eyes light up and a smile beams across his face. “Awesome! After tonight I’ve got normal people hours this week, so you just let me know when you’re available and we’ll call it a date.”
    “How’s Thursday night at seven?” I suggest.
    “Thursday at seven is perfect,” he says still smiling like a fool. Maybe I should have said yes ages ago. “It’s a date.”
    “I’m looking forward to it, Dr. Fisher,” I smile as I write down my address and phone number and give it to him. “Here you go.”
    “Please, Jenna, call me Adam.”
    “Of course…Adam.”
    Adam takes the paper I handed him and tucks it in his front shirt pocket. He holds his gaze on me for a long moment before he heads down the hall to see Dr. Wallace’s patients and I get lost in the stack of charts in front of me.
    “Excuse me?” I hear a small voice say. I turn and there’s a young girl standing to the side of the nurse’s station.
    “Can I help you? It’s a little late for you to be out, don’t you think?” I ask.
    “I’m here with my gramma to see my aunt,” she tells me as she points to patient one’s room. She and her grandmother must have slipped in while I was talking with Dr. Fisher.
    “Oh,” I say softly. “What’s your name?”
    “Heather.”
    “Is she gonna die?” the little girl asks. I can see the pain and confusion in this little girl’s eyes. She’s not any more than eight or nine and this may be the first time she’s experienced the death of a loved one.
    “What did your gramma tell you?” I ask. I want to tell her the truth that her aunt is most likely going to die, and soon, but the last thing I need to do is scar this child for life if gramma has been holding out hope.
    “She said Aunt Lola is gonna die.”
    “Well, Heather, your gramma is right. Aunt Lola is going to die,” I tell her softly. “Shouldn’t your mommy or daddy be here with you and Aunt Lola?”
    “I don’t know where my mommy and daddy are. I used to live with Aunt Lola ‘til she got sick. I had to go live with my gramma far away.” Heather’s delivery of the facts of her life is flat and makes me sad. “Is Aunt Lola gonna go be with the angels?”
    Whoa! This kid is full of questions that I’m not sure I should be answering.
    “Do you think that’s where she’s going to go?” I ask Heather.
    “Yes. I think so.”
    “Then that’s where she’s going. And if you believe that she’s up with the angels, then that means she’ll be looking down on you and watching over you, so she’ll always be with you.” I smile at Heather and she smiles at me, seemingly comforted by my confirmation that Aunt Lola will be going to a good and happy place. “You think maybe you’re ready to go in and be with your gramma and Aunt Lola?”
    “I think so,” she says thoughtfully.
    “Tell you what…I’m going to be sitting right out here. If you need to
    come out, you can come sit with me. Sound good?” I offer.
    “Yes. Thank you.” Heather turns and walks slowly into patient one’s room, taking her grandmother’s hand as soon as she enters.
    I remember being that small, standing with my grandmother next to my
    mother’s bedside, my father on the other side, clutching Mom’s hand as she died. It was the worst day of my life. My mother’s death was the worst experience of my life. Coming in second is leaving my father to die in under a tree while I ran for my life. At least I got to say goodbye to both of them, and hear them tell my they loved me.
    Poor Heather. No mother or father, and the only parent she’s known is about to die. I just pray her grandmother lives a very long life.
    The rest of my shift goes off without incident. Aunt Lola, patient one, makes no changes and Heather and her grandmother end up leaving a little after midnight. Heather fell asleep so I helped her