Amelia
His voice floated from the hallway through my open door. He sounded unsure. “Could you ask Amelia if she wants a visitor? Could you tell her it’s Ari?”
“No problem,” Sara responded. “I’ll ask her.”
Sara peeked her head around the corner. “A cute guy is here to see you.”
“Can you give me a minute?” I was already reaching for a brush.
“Sure.” She looked at her watch. “But keep it short. Visiting hours are over in half an hour.”
I switched off the TV and brushed my hair. I was so glad Mom and Dad had left for dinner. I hoped they went to a real restaurant, not the hospital cafeteria. I hoped they wouldn’t come back too soon.
At least my baby blanket was tucked away. I thought of hiding the horse, but Ari had already seen it. He’d practically stared at it.
My hand shook as I studied my reflection in the mirror. I wished I was strikingly beautiful like Rachel with her perfect features, her shaped eyebrows, and clear skin. I wished I’d inherited Mom’s blond hair and blue eyes, the ones Rachel had somehow gotten instead. My straight brown hair and hazel eyes were so ordinary. A few freckles dotted my nose. Some annoying pimples sprinkled my forehead from the medicine I was taking. There was nothing striking about me except for the scar under my gown. And Ari was here because the social worker sent him, nothing more. He probably thought of me like he thought of Tomas. Just a kid. But I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking. I couldn’t help feeling excited. I’d never felt this way about a boy before, a boy I’d met for just half an hour.
I was straightening the sheet on my bed when Ari knocked lightly on the wall.
“Knock, knock.”
“Hi, Ari.”
“You’re a hard girl to track down,” he said. “I didn’t think to look in pediatrics.”
The word “pediatrics” made me sound even more like a kid. “Where’s Tomas?”
“Home. I was driving by and thought I’d stop in.”
“Oh. That’s nice.” So lame. I definitely didn’t know how to talk to a guy.
He took a deep breath. “To be honest, I wanted to talk to you without my little brother around.”
My heart fluttered. I searched his eyes, wondering if he was just feeling sorry for me, the poor girl with the bad heart. But then I remembered that I had a different heart now, a healthy one.
His dark brown eyes looked away, as though it had been hard for him to say that. He had large, serious eyes, the kind that drew attention to them. The kind of eyes I could dream about.
Ari tugged on his button-down long-sleeved shirt, a bluestriped one that he wore untucked over his jeans. I concentrated on the brown locks of hair that swept his collar, while stealing glances at his eyes without being too obvious.
A beeper went off in the hallway. I turned toward the sound, aware that the door was open. I wondered if anyone was standing outside the door listening.
Ari frowned. “There are a couple of reasons I wanted to see you. One is that I could tell you wanted to know more about your donor.”
“I do,” I admitted.
“So here’s the thing. I need to warn you.”
“Warn me?”
“To be careful what you wish for.”
“Why shouldn’t I want to know who my donor is?”
Ari put a hand up. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t. But you need to know what you’re getting into first. Tomas was lucky. The donor family was great, and Tomas learned a lot about his donor. But you never know what you’re going to find when you start digging.
“There was another heart transplant recipient, a kid named Pompilio. He found his donor too. But it didn’t turn out so good for him.”
“What do you mean?”
Ari pushed the door shut before he spoke. He stepped close. His pants rubbed the side of the bed, and I thought for a moment that he was going to sit down right next to me. His voice was low. “Pompilio’s heart came from a girl who was murdered. The family said there was no way they wanted to meet Pompilio, and he became really depressed. Plus, Pompilio kept having these nightmares.”
I hadn’t thought of that. What if my donor died that way? “That must have been hard for him,” I said.
Ari didn’t answer right away. “I’m not telling you this to scare you. But after that, Pompilio had a rejection. He’s okay now, but I sometimes wonder if that stress caused the rejection.”
He shifted up against the bed. “Tomas’s doctor said that there’s a human element to healing. I wouldn’t want this to be a bad experience for you. I wouldn’t want it to interfere with your getting better.”
Maybe that should have scared me. Maybe that’s what he really meant to do, after all. But it had the opposite effect. “You know what it’s like when you throw a stone in the water and the waves spread out farther and farther?” I said.
“Yes?”
“Well, that’s what’s happening to me. I’m getting farther and farther away from myself, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to get back. I’m sorry about what happened to that boy, but maybe he would have had the rejection episode anyway. I have a feeling that my donor wants me to find her. It sounds weird, I know.”
Ari shook his head. “No. Not weird at all. Tomas said almost the same thing.”
“You wanted to warn me. That’s why you’re here.” The flutter of my heart gave way to embarrassment. How could I have thought Ari was interested in me as more than just a heart transplant patient?
His voice faltered. “That was one reason I wanted to talk to you. The other was . . . I could help you find your donor.” He looked down. “If you want help.”
“Of course,” I said, and felt my heart soar again. His voice sounded sincere, and I thought I heard something extra. I couldn’t really tell what. Rachel knew about these things, not me.
Mom and Dad came in just then. Kyle was with them, wearing a white surgical mask. They didn’t require it here in pediatrics, but Kyle probably wanted to wear one, anyway.
“Meely!” Kyle ran next to my bed then stopped. “How’s your new heart?”
“Great. I feel all better,” I said, which was mostly true except for the lingering pain down my chest where they’d cut me open. I patted an empty space at the end of my bed with my foot.
Kyle climbed up and sat there, kicking his legs out. He was eyeing the controls next to me. I could tell he wanted to push the buttons. “Aunt Sophie bought me a hamster. His name is Patches.”
“I can’t wait to see him.”
He noticed Ari then. Ari introduced himself to Kyle and my parents. He told them about his brother, Tomas, and how well he was doing. And he said that the social worker had asked them to visit me.
“I was just leaving,” he said. “Nice meeting you.”
As he turned to leave, Mom’s eyebrows shot up. “He’s cute,” she mouthed.
Ari stopped at the door. “There’s one other thing, Amelia.”
“What is it?”
“I wanted to ask if I could visit you again.”
I felt my face heat up. The first time a guy acts interested in me, and it happens right in front of my parents. “Sure,” I said.
Mom winked at me and I rolled my eyes.
“Polite kid,” Dad said when he’d left. “Needs a haircut, though.”