Remy might feel like we were made from one of his ribs, but for me, these were the people who made my heart beat.
We’d just finished paying up and were about to get into our vehicle when my phone rang, and Hart’s name came up on the screen.
Hitting answer as I hoisted myself into the SUV, I greeted, “Hey, we’re near a Dunkin if you want a—”
“He’s awake,” he shrieked, his voice cracking midway.
I hadn’t put it on speakerphone, but Remy heard it clearly as he got behind the wheel.
“What?”
“They did something with his medication this morning, and he woke up. The doctor’s in with him now to check if he can breathe.”
My hand tightened on my phone. “What do you mean check if he can breathe?”
Someone said something behind him, and then Pawpaw was speaking to me. “Hey, sweetheart. They need to check if Croix can breathe on his own without the tube so they can remove it.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“Seems like it. Your dad was next to him when he woke up and was telling him about his plans to move back down to Florida. When he looked up, Croix was watching him.”
“Has he said anything?” I asked urgently, wanting to be at the hospital to see my brother.
Reading my mind, Remy started the engine and reversed out of the space.
“Uh, he had a tube in his throat. How’s he going to do that, Tana?”
My hand was shaking when I rubbed my forehead in frustration. “Okay, we’ll be there in a minute. Can you get Hart to call me if the doctor says anything before we get there?”
“Sure thing, but his voice gets that squeaky, you’ll probably know there’s news from the packs of dogs making their way to the hospital. Sometimes I swear he breaks the sound barrier with those high-pitched notes. Just drive carefully and get here in one piece,” he ordered. “Hey, where did y’all go?”
“I had a mini-meltdown, and then we went to get tattoos.”
There was a moment’s silence, and then he snorted. “Your mom’s going to lose her mind, Tana. Please tell me it wasn’t a cartoon character, like Garfield on your ass?”
I was just about to answer when Mawmaw said, “Why are you telling her about that tattoo? I thought we agreed no one would ever know after you got the awful thing the night before our wedding.”
That’s when I put my phone on speakerphone for Remy to hear.
“Listen, I was telling her not to get a tattoo like it, not talking about that one. No one ever sees it apart from you, anyway.”
“What tattoo’s he talking about?” Remy whispered, weaving his way expertly in and out of the traffic as we listened to them bickering.
“He said he hoped I hadn’t gotten Garfield tattooed on my butt cheek, then Mawmaw started talking about the one he got the night before they got married.” I bugged my eyes at him, making him laugh.
“Woman, I didn’t even know I’d had the tattoo done until you pointed it out to me. I was drunk out of my mind, and my friends thought it was funny.”
“Well, it wasn’t. You got a car window version of a cartoon cat put on you for life, including the sticker things on his paws. It looks like you squashed him on your ass, and his paws almost go into your damned crack.”
I could picture it perfectly, and I really wished I couldn’t.
“Jesus,” Remy muttered. “That’s the worst mental image ever.”
“No shit.” I shuddered and grimaced at my phone like it was dirty. “Pawpaw?” I called, hoping to interrupt their arguing.
As it was, they were so invested in the dispute they didn’t even know he was still on the phone until we walked up behind them.
Snatching Hart’s phone out of his hand with a glare, I turned and walked over to where my mom was smiling for the first time in a week, with Merrick and Dad sitting on either side of her.
It felt like we were always waiting for something to happen, but this one was a new type of waiting. He’d woken up, that part of the waiting was gone, but a new one had taken its place. If he could breathe on his own, we were one step closer to getting Croix back, but if he couldn’t…
“Croix Spring’s family?” a new doctor called as he walked into the waiting room. We were the only family in here, but there were so many of us that it was no wonder he didn’t think we were all together.
He found out we were when everyone stood up and took a step toward him, eagerly waiting for him to tell us the update.
“I’m his mother, and these are his dads,” Mom told him, gesturing to Merrick and Dad.
Some people might think a comment like that would have hurt him, but Dad had always been relieved we were so close to our stepfather, so he just shared a look with Merrick before turning back to the doctor.