Chapter 66

The coffee they make in their hotel rooms is enough to get them out the door the next morning but won’t keep them going for too long. They are supposed to be at the transplant center at 7:00 a.m. Sol keeps thinking about the café that she and Shyla had gone to the last time they were here and hopes she can make a trip over there ASAP. Sol, Willow, Patty, and Mickey run-walk the one downtown block from the hotel to the center, passing morning garbage trucks and commuters. The rest of the huge hospital campus looms around them. Once they enter, they find themselves directed to the same area as for Janice’s first surgery.

Shyla and Calvin are already there, and somehow they’ve stopped by Dunkin’ and have loads of doughnuts and coffee. Sol thinks that’s a good start to the day! Shyla introduces Patty, Mickey, and Willow to her dad. “This time it’s your turn to fill up the waiting room!” Shyla says. “Thanks again, everyone, for supporting Patty in donating. It means so much to us! And I’m glad I get to see you again too!”

Patty has to say hello quickly and go back to prep for the surgery, but for the rest of the crew, it’s time to hurry up and wait. Calvin says the rest of the family will be coming later. They seem to have adjusted their plans this time based on the first surgery. Sol doesn’t mind because it gives her a chance to visit with them without feeling like there are too many relationships to manage. And she appreciates the time to get some sugar and caffeine flowing through her body.

As they dig into their doughnuts and coffee, there’s no sound except chewing. Shyla gets through two doughnuts and one cup of coffee, then gives Mickey and Willow a brief overview of what to expect for the day. Patty’s surgery will be first and will take a couple of hours.

They take their time eating, taking trips to the restroom, and checking out the rest of the floor. After a while, Shyla says to Mickey, “I didn’t get to really talk to you all at the winery. I want to know all about the girls when they were young. I’m sure you have lots of stories!”

“Oh, do I ever! Where to begin?” Mickey jokes. “Should I tell them the one with the shark?”

Sol and Willow groan.

“Okay, okay, not that one,” Mickey says. “Well, she’s not here to defend herself, so I’ll start by telling a story about Dove. She was the one that gave me the hardest time when I started dating Patty. But I guess it makes sense because she was the oldest. You know the way I won her over? Playing office! I have my own business, so I would give her office supplies, give her old checkbooks for expired accounts, and let her write checks, and before you knew it, she had created a whole fictional business, and I just acted as her assistant! Now seeing her in the corporate world, it makes perfect sense!”

Sol thinks Shyla probably got Mickey talking on purpose so he wouldn’t be sitting there thinking about Patty’s surgery. There will be enough hours in the day to worry. That’s a story she had never heard. Leave it to Shyla! Sol wonders what other stories he might tell.

Mickey continues, “Now it’s Sol’s turn for a story. Sol has always loved dogs, so when she was little, she would sometimes take care of dogs in the neighborhood. It was the day of Willow’s birthday—Willow, was that your tenth birthday?—and Patty had made her this huge chocolate cake and decorated it with Backstreet Boys—remember that band? Anyway, Sol had brought the dog over to our house for a few hours. The next thing you know, Patty walks through the kitchen, comes back out, and says, ‘Mickey, did you put the cake somewhere?’ We couldn’t find the cake she had made anywhere! Then we see the dog. Wiggles. His white coat was covered in so much chocolate, he looked like a Dalmatian! He ate that entire cake!”

“Oh my gosh, I forgot about that!” Sol adds. “And then I had to stay out in the yard the rest of the afternoon to see if Wiggles would get sick! But it didn’t seem to bother him one bit!”

“I’m still mad at that dog for eating my Backstreet Boys cake!” Willow says, mock pouting. They all laugh.

“Now isn’t it time for Calvin to tell us a story about Shyla?” Sol asks.

Calvin looks startled when Sol says his name. “Dad, are you okay?” Shyla asks.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry, I was just thinking,” he answers, rousing himself from his thoughts. “A story about Shyla, huh? I think we have a Backstreet Boys story too.”

“No way!” Shyla retorts. “New Kids on the Block forever!”

“Oh yeah, sorry to mix up the boy bands,” Calvin says, teasing Shyla.

All of a sudden, they hear a voice: “I hope you saved a couple of doughnuts for me!” Great-Aunt Tabitha comes around the corner laughing, followed by Aunt Jackie.

Sol and Willow stiffen a little seeing Aunt Jackie. Shyla takes it upon herself to introduce everyone since she’s now familiar with all of them ,and Sol is thankful for her chattiness.

“It’s like déjà vu all over again, isn’t it?” Great-Aunt Tabitha says to Sol and Willow. “I can’t believe we’re back here in this same waiting room. But we’re so blessed to have your mom donating. It’s a feat to find just one living donor, much less two.”

Sol just smiles at her and squeezes her hand. Aunt Jackie surprises them by smiling and being friendly and warm.

“What’s going on with her?” Sol whispers to Shyla as they look over to see Aunt Jackie laughing with Calvin.

“I don’t know, but I bet Aunt Tab had something to do with it,” Shyla whispers back. “Or maybe she has miraculously mellowed in the last couple of months.”

Shyla, Sol, and Willow go back to flipping through their magazines while keeping one eye on Aunt Jackie. Mickey must have forgotten about what Sol said about the first surgery visit because he acts as friendly as ever.

After a few minutes of chatting with Calvin, Great-Aunt Tabitha takes the seat next to Sol and says loudly, “So did you find a man on that dating site yet?”

“Don’t worry about Sol,” Shyla fires back. “What about you, Aunt Tab? You said you were going to set up a profile too.”

“Believe me, I have enough men without adding anybody from that matchmaking site. All I have to do is whip up one of my famous desserts, and they line up for my number. Now, as to who I will actually give the time of day, that is another story. I’m still looking for one that is worth giving up all the others for! But I stay entertained!”

“So does that mean you have to keep baking for them to keep them interested?” Sol asks.

“No, baby, that’s just to get their attention. But I do surprise them with a treat every now and then to let them know I see when they’re taking good care of me. I believe they call that ‘positive reinforcement,’” she says and laughs. “So what happened with you? Have you had any dates with new people?”

“Honestly, the last time I checked, no one was interested. But it’s been a while! I’ve been so busy with everything else.”

“Too busy for a love life? Well, I guess it does take some effort at the beginning.”

“Definitely effort to sift through them and get through the first date, if they make it that far!”

“Right, and then you can just put them on a maintenance plan!” Great-Aunt Tabitha says. “Well, listen, we have time to kill today, so hand your phone on over to me, and I’ll sift through some of them for you! Don’t worry, I have good taste!”

Shyla leans over and whispers, “Actually, she really does.”

“Sure, why not? That will give me an excuse not to be on my work email all day.” Sol laughs and opens up the dating app and hands it to her great-aunt. “Just swipe left for the guys who should get left and right for the ones that might be Mr. Right!”

Shyla leans over Great-Aunt Tabitha’s phone to see the dating app and give her input. Sol looks across the room, and it seems like Calvin, Mickey, and Jackie are having a serious conversation. She leans back in her chair and closes her eyes. It looks like Willow has already dozed off.

When Sol wakes up, Great-Aunt Tabitha hands Sol’s phone back to her. “Okay,” she says, “I found a few contenders on there! Now it’s up to you to follow up! Let me know how it goes!”

Sol laughs and thanks her and assures her she’ll keep her posted. She starts looking to see who Great-Aunt Tabitha has selected for her.

A few minutes later, the surgeon comes out to tell them that Patty’s surgery is done, and she did awesomely. Sol, Willow, and Mickey all hug each other. Thank you, Lord! Sol says a silent prayer. The Broward side of the family smiles and claps. The surgeon says Janice’s surgery will be next, and that will take several more hours.

“Phew,” says Mickey. “I’m glad that’s over. I’m going to go get some fresh air. Can I bring anyone anything?”

They all decline his offer, but as he’s walking away, Calvin jumps up and jogs after him. Sol sees Calvin put a hand on Mickey’s shoulder and hears him say, “Hey, let’s talk for a minute while you walk.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll text Dove,” Willow says.

“Thanks, Will.”

They all turn their attention to their phones for a few minutes. Suddenly, Sol hears a sharp intake of breath from Shyla and looks up to see a man walking into the waiting room with a happy face balloon. “Who is that?” Sol says to Shyla. But Shyla has already stood up and is walking over to him.

“Oh, you don’t know who that is?” Great-Aunt Tabitha says. “That’s her boyfriend, Mark.”

“What do you mean boyfriend? I thought they broke up,” Sol asks, surprised.

“Well, take it from me, I don’t think they’re going to stay broken up much longer. Did she tell you the story? Something about her being black and him being white and working at the same law firm, etc., etc. Flimsy excuse, if you ask me. He’s a nice young man. He better hurry up and propose, though, because Shyla is a catch! She won’t stay single long!”

The next moment, Shyla walks over with the rugged-looking stranger in tow and introduces him. “Sol, this is my friend from work, Mark. Mark, this is my long-lost sister, Sol! Her mom is the one donating to our mom. Okay, that sounded a little confusing, but I think you know the backstory. And here’s her younger sister, Willow, and her dad, Mickey, is here too. Can you believe they all came up for this? Sol, I was so surprised that Mark showed up. I told him about mom’s surgery, but I didn’t know he was coming. He said he wanted to be here too. Plus, he has known her for what, like three years? Anyway, we’ll be back; we’re going to just see if we can drop this balloon off in her room.”

“Nice to meet you, Mark. I’ve heard so much about you,” Sol says. When he turns around, Sol raises her eyebrows at Shyla, silently telling her, “We have a lot to talk about!”

The rest of them sit in silence, each caught up in reading a magazine, being on their phones, or “resting their eyes.” All of a sudden, Willow calls out, “Does anyone have a six-letter word for ‘crescent-shaped legume’?” and they all start laughing.

“Why are you laughing? I’m so close to finishing this crossword!”

“KIDNEY!” they yell out together.

“Oh yeah!” says Willow laughing and playfully hitting her forehead with her palm.

Calvin comes back and says he and Mickey found a TV in a lounge down the hall if anyone is interested. “The Price Is Right is still on after all these years!”

Mickey comes back after a while with fresh newspapers and magazines. Turns out he went back to the hotel and took a short nap. They all spend the next few hours in and out of the room, walking around, looking out the window, checking out the gift shop, going for food, and updating each other on what they find. Shyla tells them that the rest of their family decided to come tomorrow instead, so hopefully they can actually see Janice, but they are thinking about her and want Shyla to send hourly updates. The Salt and Pepper twins are in charge of disseminating information to the rest of the family.

Finally, a different surgeon comes out to say that Janice’s surgery is done, and everything went well.

They all hug one another. Calvin and Mickey both look relieved. Aunt Jackie asks if everyone wants to come over to her house for dinner later, and Sol and Shyla look at each other as if to say, What’s going on with Aunt Jackie?

They make a pile of gifts and cards for Calvin and Mickey to deliver to Janice and Patty when they are allowed to see them. The men are planning to hang out as long as they need to in order to see their wives. The rest of them disperse with plans to reconvene at Aunt Jackie’s house later.

“Phew, I’m exhausted from the stress of this! Plus I’m hungry!” Willow says.

“Let’s get pizza and go back to the hotel for naps!” Sol says. “Shyla, do you want to join us?”

“Aw, thanks, Sol, but I’ll see you later at Aunt Jackie’s. Mark and I are going to grab lunch. I know she said you don’t have to bring anything, but I’ll tell you Aunt Jackie does have a weakness for fancy cheese if you want to make an extra-good impression.”

Sol gives her a wide-eyed look while Mark isn’t looking and gives her a quick hug. “Thanks for the insider information! See you there!”