Where the Sea Meets the Sky

Chapter 21

The next morning, we both woke up starving, so we got up, showered, and left the room to get some breakfast. There wasn't much around, except for a little café and McDonald's. We decide to go to the café. It was a cute little place. There was a variety of unique tables and mismatched comfy chairs. There was a little electric space heater shaped like a pot-bellied stove in the corner. We walked up to the counter where a man stood waiting to take our order. He was a short man. He had a beard and short curly hair that was hidden under a page boy hat. He wore a plaid flannel shirt. I studied the menu, trying to decide what to get when I noticed a glass case filled with pastries and scones.

"What can I get for you guys?" he asked in a warm voice.

"I will have a medium Americano and one of the those blueberry muffins, please," said Andy, pressing his finger to the glass and pointing out the muffin.

"Okay, and what can I get for you?" he said, looking at me.

"Um, I will have a hot chocolate and a scone. Can you put some peppermint in the hot chocolate?"

"Sure. What kind of scone do you want? We have pumpkin-cranberry, raspberry-white chocolate, and cinnamon chip."

"Oh, um, I will have the cinnamon chip, please."

"Alright, your total is $9.17."

I handed him my credit card, which he swiped. He flipped an iPad around toward me. I signed my name with my finger and turned the iPad back toward the man. "If you guys want to go find a spot to sit, I will bring your drinks and food out to you.

"Okay, thanks." I turned around and looked around the room for a place to sit. I picked the two comfy chairs over by the space heater, although it was off because it was warm out. I sat in a tan velvet wingback chair. Andy took the large leather chair across from me. The decorations in the café were a mish-mash of different things. There were small chandeliers made of seashells hanging from the ceiling. On the walls, there were old black and white photos of buildings and people. The man came over with two plates with our pastries on them.

"Your drinks will be out in a minute," he said, setting the plates down on the table on front of us.

"Okay, thank you." I said, picking up the plate. I took a bite of the scone. It was delicious. Andy was biting into his when he came over with our drinks. I took the paper coffee cup from him. "Thanks." I said, as he left. "How is your muffin?" I asked Andy, taking a sip of my hot chocolate.

"Really good," he said, with crumbs coming out of his mouth as he spoke.

"You're gross." I laughed. We finished our drinks and food. I waved to the guy behind the counter as we left. We crossed the street and headed to the hospital entrance. I picked up our visitor badges and headed to the elevators. When we got to Charlie's room, his doctor and a nurse were there, checking his vitals. He turned when we entered the room.

"Ah, Emmy, perfect timing. I was just wondering where you were." I smiled and came over to Charlie's bed. "He is starting to breathe on his own now and we need to remove the breathing tube. We're going to continue lightly sedating him until we see how he does without the ventilator. I nodded, happy that he was recovering. "His kidneys are slowly beginning to fail, though, so we need to get kidneys for him soon." I looked down at him and rubbed his arm.

"Hang in there, Charlie." I said.

"So, if you would like to step out, we can take the tube out."

"Can I stay?" I asked, not wanting to leave.

"If you want to. It is usually hard for people to watch, but I guess you have seen worse." I nodded, grimly. They laid the bed back and tilted his head up. The nurse placed a towel over his chest. The doctor stepped over and removed the tape the held the tube in place. The nurse switched off the machine that was doing Charlie's breathing for him. He began to pull the tube from his mouth as Charlie made gagging sounds. The tube was longer than I expected. He finished pulling it out and dropped it into a metal pan that the nurse was holding. He removed the towel and threw it into the soiled laundry bin in the corner before he left the room.