“Why don’t you go home and I’ll stay?” I offered.
“I love you for offering,” she replied with a smile. “But as long as he’s here, I’m here.”
“Stubborn.”
“Where do you think you got it?”
“You know he’s going to make you go home when he wakes up.”
“He can try. For now, though, he doesn’t have a choice.”
Since there was only one chair in the room, I found a spot against the wall and settled in on the floor. There was nothing that I could do, but I wasn’t ready to leave my dad yet, either. Just knowing that I was only a foot away from him calmed me. I’d always been close to both of my parents, but my dad and I had a special bond. It was different than either of my sisters or brother had with him. From the minute I could walk, I’d followed him around, asking questions and soaking up everything he said. I think that’s how they’d originally known that my intelligence wasn’t quite the same as other kids my age. When I’d wanted to know how an engine worked, he’d explained it, then had watched wide eyed as I’d asked him detailed and specific questions about what he’d told me. That’s the story I’d heard growing up, anyway. I’d only been three at the time.
Mom and I chatted quietly to pass the time, but we didn’t hit on any particular topic. Instead, we just talked to listen to each other’s voices, trying to drown out the beeping that was inescapable. Nurses came and went, and the night grew darker, but we didn’t move until someone came in to tell us that visiting hours were over.
They’d been over for hours, but I guess they wanted to make sure that I wasn’t planning on sleeping on the floor like a hobo.
“I drove your dad’s truck,” Mom said, digging the keys out of her purse. “You can still drive a stick, right?”
“Pretty sure it’s like riding a bike,” I replied. The summer before I’d left for college, my parents had made sure that I had my license and knew how to get myself around. It was a little ironic, since I didn’t end up doing any driving in New Haven.
My ass was numb as I grabbed my bags and Mom’s keys, kissing her and then my dad as I left the room. There was always stuff happening at hospitals, people moving around and working and worrying, but there was something eerie about a hospital at night. Everyone talked quieter and stepped lighter, making everything seem hushed.
There were still people hanging out in the waiting room when I got there, and I made the rounds as they stood up to greet me. Molly and Will hugged me and asked me how I was. Poet’s wife, Amy, grabbed me gently with a hand on each side of my head and kissed my forehead, but didn’t say a word. Poet didn’t notice me because he was dozing in the corner. I made my way around the room, letting them know my dad was doing okay and was still sleeping.
As I stepped onto the elevator, they all sat back down in their seats and resumed what they were doing—reading, playing cards, messing around on their phones. They were standing vigil, and I knew that wouldn’t stop, not until my dad was completely out of the woods. The people would change, more would show up and others would leave, but there would always be someone there, waiting in case my parents needed anything.
When I got to the front doors, I groaned and pulled my hood up. It was cold as shit in Connecticut, so I’d thankfully been wearing a jacket, but I was not looking forward to trying to find my dad’s truck in the dark and pouring down rain. I settled my bags more firmly over my shoulders and trudged outside, then almost peed my pants as a voice barked my name in the darkness.
Chapter 16
Leo
She looked the same.
She looked different.
She looked exactly how I’d imagined she would.
I called her name just once, but it was enough to make her turn in my direction and freeze.
“Leo?”
I couldn’t reply.
I couldn’t say a damn thing as she moved toward my spot against the building, just outside the halo of light coming from the building’s entrance and barely beneath the overhang.
“Are you okay?” she asked, her face screwed up in confusion. “Do you want me to get someone for you?”
“What the fuck are you doing out here alone?” I barked.
It wasn’t what I wanted to say. I wanted to ask her how she’d been, if she liked school, if she ever thought of me, if she knew that my entire world had just been upended. I wanted to tell her that the short haircut she was sporting suited her, that she looked older without the long braid hanging down her back. I wanted to ask how Casper was doing and if her mom needed anything.