The apartment had an eerie, quiet aura the next morning as she scrambled eggs and buttered toast. Talia had already left for work and she assumed all her neighbors had as well, as there were none of the usual bumps, thumps, and random voices coming through the walls. She felt an enormous sense of relief when her phone rang, breaking the stillness.
"Hey Anabeth," she said, answering it.
"Mom's in the hospital," came the brisk reply.
Maisie dropped her fork. It clanged off her plate and tumbled to the floor. Dashwood sprang after the scattered eggs. "What - what happened?"
"Don't worry, she's going to be fine. She slipped on her front steps this morning and broke her femur."
"Jesus." Maisie hand had gone to her chest and the heartbeat under it would have given her heart surgeon sister cause for worry. "Don't start the conversation with 'Mom's in the hospital,' you had me thinking she was dying."
"There you go, being dramatic again."
Maisie could be wrong, but she thought she detected a smile in her sister's voice. "Which hospital? I'll head right over."
"She'll never forgive you if you don't. Duke. My colleagues are already giving me a hard time about what a difficult patient she is."
"Big shocker there." Maisie laughed. "I'll see you soon." She gulped down the rest of her breakfast, took a baby wipes shower, and was out the door in twenty minutes.
****
"Well, look who decided to finally show up to check on her injured mother," Momma Frampton simpered when Maisie walked into her hospital room.
"I literally could not have gotten here any faster," Maisie answered.
"I'm in a lot of pain, not that you bothered to ask."
Maisie sighed. "How are you feeling, Mom?"
"I just told you I was in pain," Mrs. Frampton snapped.
Maisie took another deep breath. "Can I get you anything?"
"Hmph. These nurses aren't good for anything. They act like I'm a burden to them. I'm just asking them to do their job."
"Where's Anabeth?" Maisie asked, knowing the best way to deal with that particular bout of insanity was to change the subject.
"She had to start her shift. Probably in surgery now. It's good at least one of my daughters made use of her natural brains and talents."
Her other daughter had a sudden urge to grab something sharp and plunge it into the crisp what plaster cast covering her mother's leg. She guessed that would be frowned upon, though. "As fate would have it, I'm thinking about switching careers."
"Oh really? And what embarrassing thing are you going to do with your life now?"
"Not sure, but I see the headline Local Woman Loses it and Suffocates Mother with a Pillow in my future."
"That's not funny."
"Depends on who you ask. Why don't I go get you a little snack?"
"I'm not hungry!" Mrs. Frampton snapped.
"Oh really, because you're biting my head off."
"Clever," her mother sneered.
"Yeah, you know a lot of people do think I'm clever, even if the woman who gave birth to me doesn't think so. You're more ornery than usual, your blood sugar is probably low, so I'm going to get you a snack."
She flung the door open and left before her mother could make any more objections. Her face was so hot she could have roasted marshmallows on it and made some tasty S'mores. Of course, her mother would tell her she didn't need the calories. Which just made Maisie angrier.
It took her five minutes to realize she had turned in the wrong direction when she left her mother's room and now she had no idea where in the hospital she was. She glanced around for signage indicating how to get to the lobby or cafeteria, but only saw room numbers. The hallway was empty and quiet, so she turned to head back the way she came, until a squeak of a shoe on the tiled floor behind her stopped her. She turned to ask for directions and her heart jumped into her throat. "Marcus!"