More Than Once | THE WATTPAD DRAFT

Chapter 36

I pulled my phone out and sent him a quick text

Just arrived at the hospital. Let me know when you land. I love you.

He was already in the air so I knew he would only read that once he landed back in Barcelona. I dropped my phone in my handbag and walked into the hospital. I would never get used to the blinding fluorescent lights as I made my way down the corridor to his room. He had been moved to his own private room while awaiting the surgery. Visiting hours weren't for another 30-minutes so I took a seat outside. I leaned my head against the wall and attempted to compartmentalize the activities of the last few days. It had been such a rush of emotions that I hadn't quite dealt with yet. My phone started to ring, forcing me to press pause on my thoughts. I grabbed my phone and Reyna's name lit up the screen

"Hola Reyna"

"There you are!" she exclaimed on the other side of the line, "How's your dad doing? Has he gone in yet?"

I kept her updated throughout the week with what was going on with my dad but she made a point of checking in every day to make sure I was okay.

"Not yet. He is scheduled to go in at about 3 so I'll have updates for you after that,"

"Okay, that's good. He just needs to get through this and before you know it, he'll be back home,"

I smiled, "Yes that's all I want,"

"And Giovanni? Is he with you?"

"He's actually on his way back to Barcelona,"

"What?" she gasped, "Why in the wor-"

I interrupted her before she got any bad ideas about why he wasn't here, "Alvaro's wife went into labour early. Like a month early,"

"Oh no!"

"They're worried about the baby so of course I told him he had to go be there for his brother,"

"Of course," she agreed, "I'm just sorry that you're there alone. Do you want me to come? I can fly out,"

I chuckled, "Reyna, you'd never make it in time. Don't worry about it, I promise I'm okay,"

"You sure?"

"Positive. I'm going to make sure all goes well with the surgery and then I'll be back home in a day or two,"

"Okay well if you need anything, you let me know,"

"I will and I'll call you later after the surgery,"

"Please do, love you Izzy,"

"Love you too,"

We disconnected the call just as my sister strolled down the corridor, my mother following closely behind her. I mentally prepared myself for the interactions I was about to have with them.

"And where's your boyfriend?" my mother asked, the contempt dripping off her words

"He had a family emergency," I kept my tone as monotone as I could manage, "His brother's wife went into labour early,"

I was expecting either one of them to have some snarky come back but instead, they kept quiet and took a seat next to me. The tension in the air was suffocating and I tapped my fingernails nervously against my armrest.

"Isabella, please," Camila said, stopping my hand,

I took a deep breath in. Memories of being back in high-school came flooding in and how my nervous twitch would cause me to constantly tap my nails against any surface I was leaning on. My mother was usually the one to tell me to stop - she found it annoying. Camila must have got that from her too. She really was the spitting image of my mother in every way.