Chapter 31. Waiting Room

Tessa’s POV

My foot won’t stop tapping.

The surgical waiting room at Mass General is on the fourth floor, all beige chairs and a TV in the corner playing a cooking show nobody is watching. It’s 9:40. Darcy went into surgery at 9:05. Spleen laceration, a nurse told me, after I asked her four times. Internal bleeding. They’re trying to repair it instead of removing it.

Trying.

I wipe my face with the back of my hand. It doesn’t help. The tears keep coming on their own, like my eyes have decided to do it without me.

The police officer who called me found my number in Darcy’s phone, under Emergency — KATY (call first). She put me in there freshman year. I laughed at her. I said, “What, you think I’m your mom?”

She said, “Your mom’s two hours away. You’re down the hall.”

Her mom is two hours away right now, driving up from Connecticut in the dark. I’ve talked to her three times. Each time she’s been crying harder.

And Easton i