Risk of Falling

He opened his eyes and saw Tori staring at him. “Are you okay, Will?”

No. Not at all.

But he nodded, knowing that’s what she needed. “We’ll figure things out.”

Their mom stirred, opened her eyes, but then faded into unconsciousness again. “She’s not going to want to go to a nursing home. And with my job and yours, plus the kids...”

“We do have two more sisters.”

He wanted to laugh. They’d be no help, but he’d give them a chance to step up. To see if they wanted to be involved or, as he suspected, would leave things up to him and Tori. “They still haven’t returned my first two calls, but we’ll see.”

“I’ve heard a lot of good things about the seniors’ home in Lake Mildred.” Tori stroked their mom’s arm, but her eyes stayed on him. “It would be close to both of us so we could visit often.”

He nodded. It would be the easy choice, but was it the right one? He’d always been good at fixing things. But to make decisions for his mom? What if he made the wrong one? In the Marines, he’d learned how to succeed, how to repair a situation. But he felt out of depth here for the first time. He needed to do some recon, he realized, to make the informed choice. “If I can set up a visit tomorrow, would you be able to go?”

She looked down at their mom. Reached out to move a curl that had fallen on her face. “I’ll make sure I can.”

At least he wouldn’t be alone. At least he had Tori.

* * *

IN THEORY, SUZY finished her shift at seven a.m.

By nine-thirty that morning, she admitted things weren’t going according to plan. She still had paperwork to complete after the ambulance left with her patient who had been complaining of chest pains. Mr. Wyckoff loved to complain, but those kinds of complaints weren’t meant to be played around with.

She yawned and stretched before continuing her report on Mr. Wyckoff, noting his earlier symptoms. Rita passed by the desk with a man and woman, probably showing the facility to potential clients. She stopped the tour at the nurses’ station. “And this is one of our favorite nurses, Suzy Bylin.”

She stood and held out a hand to the woman first. “Checking us out for your parent?” She turned to face the man and paused. “Mr. Stone.”

He looked tired compared to yesterday. Worry had etched lines next to his ice blue eyes and left bags below them. He frowned at her. “I didn’t realize you worked here, Ms. Bylin.”

“I didn’t know you kept tabs on me.” She flipped over her tablet to keep the details of her report confidential. She didn’t need this; didn’t need to see the man who could make her life miserable at home and now here at work. “But I think you’ll find that we take good care of our patients. We provide not only nursing care, but activities designed to keep up their spirits while they rehabilitate.”

“You sound like the brochure.”

Mr. Stone’s frown deepened, and she felt her smile widen. He wasn’t going to bring her down. Nope, he wouldn’t ruin her day. “I only speak the truth.”

The woman next to him nudged him in the side. “I apologize for Will. He’s not usually this grumpy, but we’re worried about our mom. She fell and fractured her hip, so now we need somewhere for her to recover.”

She was his sister then. Why that thought made her feel better, Suzy didn’t want to explore. So she focused on their visit, and reached out and touched her hand. “I’m so sorry. But I can promise that your mom will get the best care here. I’ll see to it personally.”

The sister smiled and covered Suzy’s hand with her own. “That means a lot. Thank you.” Again, she nudged her brother. “Right, Will?”

He looked at his sister then at Suzy. Blinked several times. In those ice blue eyes, she could see he was out of his depth. That what was happening was not easy for him. And that made him approachable. Relatable. Her heart softened to him. Finally he gave a curt nod. “Yes.”

Suzy continued to look at him. Wanting to soothe the wrinkles in his forehead. Remove the fear and doubt shining out of his eyes. “If there are any questions you have or anything you need...”

An alarm went off, and Suzy focused on the monitors. Room thirteen, Mr. Taber. She left them and ran down the hall. Mr. Taber was lying on his bed, eyes closed. She leaned over him to check his vitals. Still breathing. Good. She noticed that his heartbeat was weak and irregular, the numbers said forty beats per minute. Without a thought, she began hands-on CPR. Rita joined her in the room and glanced at the monitors. “I paged the doctor.”

“Good. I think it’s a drug interaction. We just switched his meds last night.” She continued her compressions. She looked up from her task and saw Will watching them. “Mr. Stone, we’ll have to finish the tour later. You need to go back to the nurses’ station.”

He nodded and walked away. After a minute or so, the doctor on call arrived and took over the situation. With the group’s effort, they were able to resuscitate Mr. Taber and stabilize his condition. Suzy went back to the nurses’ station to make notes on Mr. Taber’s condition and found Will and his sister still standing there. She pasted a smile on her face again. “Sorry about your tour getting cut short.”

“Does that happen a lot?” he asked.

“Define a lot.” She shrugged. “It happens enough. But I can guarantee we will do our best to care for your mom and her needs.”

He gave a short nod, and his sister offered to shake hands again, and they did. “Nice to meet you, Miss Bylin.”

“Likewise.” And she meant it. She could sense a kindred spirit with this woman. Something about how she smiled or her concern for her mom made something inside Suzy warm towards the woman.

Mr. Stone shook her hand also but didn’t say a word before they moved down the hall with Rita, continuing their tour.

Suzy watched them leave and then got out her tablet. She needed to finish her report and go home to sleep before she did something crazy like hug Mr. Stone just because he didn’t know how to take care of his mom.

* * *

AFTER THE TOUR of Lake Mildred’s Seniors’ Home, Will drove them to the hospital to check on their mom. He kept his eyes on the road as Tori gushed about their tour. “It’s so nice there. And everyone is so friendly. Especially that one nurse, Miss Bylin.” She paused and glanced over at him. “Do you know her from somewhere? I think she went to high school with us.”

Knew her and her mother. “I know her a little.”

“She’s so cute and bubbly. I love her already.” Tori rested her chin on her fist. “I think Mom would like it there.”

“It’s going to be a hard sell no matter where we decide to leave her.”

“You talk as if we’re sending her away forever.” She shook her head. “I’m as clueless as you, but I have a good feeling about that place. Can we afford it?”

That was the big question. After leaving the hospital the night before, he had gone through his mom’s records to find the insurance papers that spelled out how much of the convalescent care would be covered, as well as their bank statements that showed how much they could pay for. Hopefully, it would be just enough. “Dad made sure Mom would be looked after. He might not have been a warm man, but he made arrangements so we’d be taken care of.”

“Good, then it’s settled. We’ll tell her today about our plan.”

“I’m warning you that she’s not going to like it no matter what we say.” He knew his mom. Knew her independent spirit. She wouldn’t be agreeing to this so easily. “She won’t want to go.”

Tori nodded and sighed. “She can be stubborn.”

“Luckily she has two kids who inherited that from her.” He gave a smile, his first since the call yesterday. Had it really only been a day since their world had shifted? It had started as a normal day but had changed in a moment with a phone call. Nothing would be the same again. He nodded. “But I agree. That’s where I’d like her to go, too.”

The exit for the hospital arrived, and Will took the exit ramp. As they got closer to the hospital, he made a vow that he’d take care of his mom. No matter what.

But that meant convincing his stubborn mother that he was right.

She folded her arms across her chest and refused to look at him. Much like a four-year-old would. He moved so that he’d be in her line of sight. “Ma, this is not up for discussion. You can’t go home right now.”

“Yes I can. I’m a grown woman who can make her own decisions.” She looked to Tori. She gave her daughter a large grin. “Baby, you think I can do it, right?”

Uh oh. Ma was dragging out the cutesy nicknames. Stay strong, Tori. Will watched his sister, willed her to hear his thoughts. They had to remain united to convince her that their plan would work.

Tori paled and shrugged. “It’s not what I think, Ma. This is what the doctors say.”