Part 42 (1/2)

”Nightmare?” she asked him.

He shook his head. He ran a hand through his hair. ”You're going to think I'm crazy. It was Jake.”

She dropped down so she was sitting on her heels. ”You were talking to him. What did he say to you?”

Aw, he didn't want to tell her that! Jake wanted him to go to Marie and Daniel, to take care of his family since he couldn't. ”He kept telling me to wake up.”

”Um, that might've been me. You were doing some thras.h.i.+ng around and mumbling. Did it look like him? Sound like him?”

He nodded. ”If it's not weird enough to see your dead best friend in a dream, we were on the deck of a completely deserted aircraft carrier. A ghost s.h.i.+p. Dreams are weird.”

”You didn't seem scared, but you were struggling. Was it a good visit?”

”Angie, it's not like it really happened.”

She gave a shrug and snuggled up next to him. ”Never know,” she said. ”It's almost time to get up.”

He pulled her closer. ”I'm sorry I woke you. Sometimes I can be a real load to sleep with.”

She giggled. ”Right. Sometimes you're nothing but trouble.”

They were all at the surgical center by 8:00 a.m. It took only a few minutes for Lorraine to sign all the releases and give her daughter a kiss before sending her off with a nurse to be prepared for surgery. She had barely cleared the waiting room when Dr. Hernandez came through the door. He was wearing scrubs and drying his hands on a towel.

”I'm sure it's been explained to you, Mrs. Thickson, that we're going to give Megan a mild sedative now and within a half hour anesthesia will be administered. The procedure will take an hour, possibly two. It's not complicated at all, but we don't hurry where facial nerves are involved. You can wait here or you can go out and come back in a couple of hours. She'll either be just coming out of surgery or waking up. There will be bandages, but they're coming off tomorrow.”

Lorraine nodded.

Then he looked at Angie and said, ”Will you come back with me?”

She was a little confused. ”Sure.” And she followed.

Dr. Hernandez sat on a stool at a stainless-steel counter in front of a computer. He was typing something in. He turned toward her and gave her a smile. ”So, the intel on you is that you're very smart. So Dr. Temple tells us.”

Her eyes grew round. ”I get by,” she said.

He chuckled. ”Have you ever observed a surgery?”

”I saw a knee scoped,” she said.

”Ah, mechanical engineering,” he said with a grin. ”Would you like to scrub in with me?”

”Me? But I don't know anything about this!”

He stood up from his stool. ”You won't be asked to do anything. We're going to keep you out of the way-on the outside of our sterile field with the circulating nurse. But perhaps you'll be able to catch a glimpse of what's going on and it may interest you. Unless you don't think you're up to it...”

”I'm up to it!” she said.

”Even though this is your young friend?”