I stuttered, “They are both my best friends. We are all besties. We’ve been friends for nearly thirty years.”

“Okay, listen, Dr. Dreamboat,” Holly said. “You gotta go get a new bag. Isn’t this an emergency? The bag is dry. Also, could you price out an ovary detector? Because I’d like to look into purchasing one for Katie. We’ll donate it after Katie gets discharged.”

To his credit, he did not seem offended by Holly and her power plays; instead, he smiled at me and gave me the lightest of winks. Not the smarmy wink of the cruise ship captain hoping to entertain a girl on the lido deck. No, a kind of tiny flick of his long lashes that felt like a tip of his hat rather than an I’ll see you in my cabin later.

Men typically did not notice me. I must emit the smell of meh and a second-favorite childhood shoe. I tried to wink back, managing only to squeeze both my eyes shut.

What a fun, dumb interaction, I thought, but something dawned on me, and I followed Dr. Beautiful Man out of the room. When I got to the hall, I didn’t see him. I scanned both directions, but then I heard a laugh and saw a hair flip.

Behind a large desk-like partition that separated the medical staff from the hallway and the patients stood Dr. Lewis. He was talking to a young woman with a white coat. He pointed over his shoulder in the direction of Katie’s room, and the woman nodded but didn’t move.

I rested my arms on the cool laminate desk and watched. She looked up at him through her eyelashes, a big smile on her lips. She nodded and slid her hand down a long strand of blonde hair, pulling it through her fingers while gazing at Drew’s face. Watching two attractive people interact in the wild was so very National Geographic. The preening, the eyelash batting, everything but the dung beetles and dirt were present right here in the middle of Saint Mary’s Hospital. I looked closer and saw one other thing missing: Dr. Lewis didn’t seem to know that mating moves were happening right in front of him.

“Thanks,” he said, turning away, and he missed a second hair flip, this one more pronounced than the first.

Then he saw me and because I was staring, I saw him see me. When he did, his face turned from ice cap to sunshine. It reminded me of everything I’d lost when my husband died years ago: the recognition that you are visible and welcome. This was the kind of greeting that occurred between two people who were not a threat or in debt or in any way tormenting each other.

“Hey,” he said. “Looking for a place for nap number two?”

“Soon, maybe. If things don’t calm down in that room over there, I might need to spend the night.”

“Your friend is intense,” he said.

“Yes, she is. I have a question for you. A favor and I’m not sure why you would even consider doing it. It might be illegal. But I feel desperate.”

“You had me at desperate and illegal.”

That sentence alone gave me courage. “My intense friend and I have to get my sick friend’s dog from her shitty ex-husband in California. It’s going to take some time; we have to drive. I know you aren’t working with Katie, but could you check in on her occasionally and text me how she’s doing?”

My words and the look on his face made me realize what I was asking of a relative stranger.

I said, “She’s single” at the same time he said, “Sure.” I laughed.

“You didn’t need to add that last bit.”

“That was gross of me,” I said.

“You’re doing me a favor.”

“How so?”

“My mentor says I have to work on my communication skills. Apparently I rush things. I’ll need her permission to talk with you. I can’t give you medical information, but I can check in as a friend.”

The pretty white-coated woman appeared at Drew’s shoulder and said, “Excuse me—when you’re done talking to your mom, could you sign off on something for me?” The woman stood there, confident in her beauty and in her history with all things male.

I felt my face go from an expression of curiosity to annoyance. “Hey . . .”

“I’ll be with you in a minute,” Drew said.

With no hair flip this time, she strolled away.

“Wow. How old do I look?” I touched my face.

“Not old enough to be my mom. Give me your phone.”

He gestured for me to put my pass code in, then deftly typed in his contact information. It felt wildly intimate to have his hands on my phone, which made me consider the last time someone other than my daughter had touched me. That made me think about Beautiful Man touching me, which made me feel like shutting my eyes and napping, maybe on his shoulder, on a gurney in the hall. The thought of being with a man, any man, and my neurons started to tap out one by one. If a man looked at me like the blonde had looked at Drew, I swear I might feel attractive enough to consider romance again. This was what Katie said anyway, that I’d feel different if it came my way. I knew attractiveness was part of the reason, but it was bigger than that, and we all knew it.

I concentrated on Beautiful Man’s hands. He had short nails that he clearly bit to keep trim, and he hit the round call circle, and almost immediately I heard a buzzing.

“There,” he said. “I’ll text you.”

“You don’t have to text me all the time. Just let me know how she’s doing. Her spirits, that kind of thing.”

“Yeah. Okay.”

“I’ll remind you to brush your teeth and eat green leafy vegetables.”

“I’ll send you pictures of my artwork.”

“If you call me Mom, I’m going to report your number to AARP and tell them you want a long-term care insurance assessment.” I noticed his quick smile and tapped the phone to write Beautiful Man in the contact information.

“I have to do a bunch of stuff, but I’ll stop in before I leave and get the okay from your friend to convey information to you in case of an emergency.” He peered at my phone and said, “Who is Beau? I’m Drew.”

Startled, I said, “I don’t know what I was thinking,” and I hit the delete button. “I’m Samantha Arias. Katie will report nothing but hearts and flowers so we won’t worry. I need to know how she’s really doing—not necessarily medically.”

“Got it,” he said. “See ya.” He turned, stopped, and over his shoulder he said, “But what if I want to text you all the time?” and strolled off without waiting for an answer.

With a hit of pure pleasure, I typed Beautiful Drew into my phone and gently placed it into my back pocket.

Something had happened in Katie’s room while I was in the hall collecting Drew’s contact numbers and staring at his nice hands. Holly was frantically trying to lower the head of the bed, and Katie looked as pale as I had ever seen her.

“What’s going on?”

“Bebe was admitted to the hospital in Arizona. They aren’t coming.” She hit the remote control of the bed, and Katie’s legs started to rise and bend at the knee. “Ugh,” Holly said. “Which button do I push?”

I rushed to Katie’s side and said, “There,” and I pointed to the cartoon stick person next to the upside-down triangle on the control paddle.

“I got it,” Holly said, irritated, and Katie shot me a look that said, You gotta get her out of here.

“Is Bebe going to be okay?” I asked.

“Something about her oxygen needing to be monitored. They’re keeping her a couple of days for observation.” Holly hit another button, and the whole bed lifted like it was levitating. Holly said, “Christ, this thing is confusing. I’m trying to put her legs down.”

Katie sipped water from a waxy paper cup and swallowed, looking almost too tired to say anything.

The only way to get Holly off the puzzle of the bed mechanics was to give her something else to fight.

“Okay, you guys, it’s official. We’re going on a road trip.”

“I’m going,” said Holly, finally getting the bed moving in the right direction.

“We’re going, Holly. You and I will share the driving. When I get tired, I’ll sleep. I will manage all Peanut’s injections and his poop. You will do all the planning and navigation, and we will be back in less than a week.”

Holly eyed me as if there was some catch, and she said, “Maybe I should stay here now that Bradley and Bebe won’t be making the drive.”

Katie gave me an alarmed look.

“Here’s how I see it, Hol. Katie has a lot of friends who will sit with her, bring her food, help her take notes when the doctors come in and start spouting medical jargon. But only you and I are the kinds of friends who will drive cross-country to get her dog.”

Holly dropped the bed remote control and said, “I’ll have to check with Rosie.”

Katie’s face relaxed, and I said, “I’ll stop my mail,” as if calling the post office were the same thing as checking in with a loved one.

“Maddie leaves tomorrow?” said Katie.