Broken Strings

C H A P T E R T H I R T Y

He couldn't lose her. Not now and not ever.

Not when he was finally willing to change. To fix her, to fix himself, to fix them.

Whatever she wanted, he'd do it. He'd do anything she asked for. Whatever she wanted, he'd do it.

He just couldn't lost her.

Stumbling out of the elevator, he peeked into the waiting room before he turned quickly turned back around. He needed to find the doctor. He needed to find a nurse. He needed to find anyone who'd tell him what was wrong with his wife.

He froze as he found someone he hadn't seen in fourteen years standing just a few feet in front of him.

He noticed the two little girls - one in his arms and the other holding onto his right hand.

Andrew didn't say anything. Anisha was all he could think about.

He didn't care about Franco. He hadn't cared about him, talked to him since his sister's funeral.

"Hi um."

Andrew ignored Franco and instead looked down the hallway. He saw as a nurse walked out of a patient's room. She'd know something about his wife. He needed to talk to her.

"Anisha's fine."

Andrew looked back to Franco.

"What?" Anisha was only the word he'd heard. He didn't know why Franco even knew that Anisha was in the hospital.

"Anisha, the doctor said she will wake up. He promised that they'd save her."

"The fuck. What do you even mean save her? Anisha's fine." His voice cracked as he said her name. He shivered in fear.

There was something wrong with Anisha. He didn't want to admit it but he knew.

He shook his head, refusing to believe Franco. Instead, Andrew watched as Franco's daughter tugged on her father's hand, hiding behind him as she continued to peek up at Andrew.

"I think we should talk, in the waiting room. Mia wants to sit down."

Andrew looked down the hallway again, looking to find that the nurse was helping a patient. No one would tell him what was wrong with Anisha.

Dishearteningly, he followed Franco. He slumped against the cushioned chair. He took a deep breath in and slowly exhaled, trying to control his shaky breath.

"I...I met up with Anisha for coffee. And she, she was coughing up blood. She...she fainted. I...I don't know."

Andrew quickly jerked up, sitting up straight and his eyes darkening.

Franco shook his head, refusing to be intimidated. "The doctor said they needed to do an emergency procedure and she was going to be okay. He said that he knows you and he would talk to you once you got here."

"I'm going to go ask the nurse."

"They aren't going to tell you anything. You have to wait. Anisha should be out any second."

Andrew tapped his foot against the floor, impatiently. Nervous, afraid. More than anything, he was scared.

"Did they say anything about what was wrong?" His voice was laced with vulnerability.

Something was wrong with the woman he loved more than anything and he didn't know what it was.

A somber silence took hold. Franco has ignored his question. And Andrew hadn't said anything else.

Every few minutes Andrew would look down at his watch. Every second felt like a minute and every minute felt like an hour.

"Anisha called me the other day, you know. She said she wanted to meet up." Franco smiled as his daughter wrapped her hands around his finger. He looked up at Andrew's fallen face.