When Best Friends Kiss

The Crisis - Part 2

When we arrived at the Santos' home, Liam's mom explained the details of Tía's situation to us. She got bypass surgery, where they grafted healthy blood vessels to create a detour from the blocked ones. Her heart was stopped for the surgery, which is standard procedure. But her heart did have a hard time starting itself afterwards. Still, the surgery itself was successful. Coma wasn't usual for heart surgery, but it also wasn't unheard of. For now, all we could do was wait for her to wake up. All we could do was pray that she'd wake up.

There was a time, Mrs. Santos was sure, Tía had a small stroke while visiting them. She'd dropped her knitting needles and then said some slurred gibberish. Afterwards, she promised she was fine. It probably hadn't been the first time she had a stroke and probably wasn't the last.

I was still angry with my mother. Certainly, the reason things had escalated this far was that she and Tía didn't take Tía's disease seriously. What was with the Latina women in my family always acting tough? When my parents divorced, I hadn't seen my mother cry once. When my Tía's husband died and dog, Tiko, passed I know Tía only spilled her tears privately. But the fact that my mother had cried at the hospital, maybe she felt some regret.

When Tía woke up, would she be angry at my mother for doing the surgery she was against? Was Tía not waking up because she felt it was her time to die? Yes, I'd become an adult and left the house, but she and Lily had gotten so close. Why would she want to leave Lily?

Dinner was quiet. I waited to see the scene where Liam and his parents would talk, but it didn't happen. Liam was quiet as he watched the Maple Leafs battle it out on the rink. He no longer looked sad. Now, his expression was like nothing. He was numb.

That night, we climbed into Liam's bed. I wanted to cry for him. I wanted to cry for Tía. Liam was here now, but I couldn't save him and his parents weren't doing anything. Tía was half here and only God could save her.

Our backs faced each other but there was so much distance. I rolled over and scooted close in an attempt to cuddle up to his back. I was hit with coldness as he moved away.

Tears rolled down my cheek and I sniffed. "Please, Liam. I need you right now."

Not even a second passed before his arms were wrapped around me and his chest against my temple. "I'm sorry." It felt like I hadn't heard his voice in days. "I was being selfish."

I scooted closer to soak into his body heat. "She was my second mother."

"Don't use past tense."

Liam let me cry myself to sleep in his chest, stroking my head the entire time. Part of me was ashamed to ask for soothing from someone who was hurting and needed to be soothed himself. The other part of me was so glad and thankful for this missed warmth.

***

The next morning, I woke up in bed alone. The bathroom mirror reflected something hideous. My eyes were puffy―the bags no joke. Sighing, I travelled downstairs to find Liam at the kitchen table with his dad by the stove.

Liam turned in his chair. "Good morning." He placed a kiss on my cheek.

Who was this man? His attitude had changed completely from yesterday―from the past weeks. "Morning," I said with an awkward smile.

Mr. Santos turned around to greet me as well. "We're having pancakes."

"Where's Mrs. Santos and Lily?"

"They went to church," Liam explained. "In place of your mom. She wanted to go but doesn't want to leave Tía Rosa's side."

I nodded. "I should've gone."