Piece of My Heart (Fostering Love 4)

“You were bored?” I asked.

“I’m never bored with you,” he said, putting on the charm. Then he mouthed Bored to his mom, making no sound.

“Well,” she said with a laugh. “I’m glad you two are finally here and the trip was uneventful.”

I met Alex’s eyes. It had been far from uneventful.

“You’re here,” Dan said, coming out of the bedroom with a newspaper in his hand.

“Thank God you used the master bath,” Liz said with a laugh. “Because I guarantee they both need to use the other one.”

“Oh, yeah,” Dan said, his cheeks turning a little pink. “Stay out of there for a few minutes.”

Alex laughed as I realized that suddenly I wasn’t a guest anymore. I was part of the inner circle. Just one of the kids.

“I’m going first,” I said. I threw my arm out in front of Alex so he couldn’t race in front of me as I kicked off my shoes.

“We’ll eat in a few minutes,” Liz called as I hurried down the hallway. “I ordered Chinese food!”

I took my time in the bathroom, carefully washing my hand around my cast and smoothing down my hair before I joined the group in the kitchen. When I walked into the room, Dan was standing across the island from where Alex and Liz were sitting. She was rubbing Alex’s back as he spoke quietly.

“It was the worst moment of my life,” he said quietly. “I saw him coming a split second before he hit, but I couldn’t do anything about it.”

“That must have been terrifying,” Liz murmured.

“It was,” Alex said. “The car spun and I just went running. The airbags had deployed, and Sarai was knocked out.” He put his arms out in front of him, showing off his newly healing scars. “She’d locked the doors, but thankfully the window was broken, so I was able to unlock it.”

“Abraham didn’t tell us you’d been hurt,” Dan said, his voice gruff.

“It was nothing,” Alex said, brushing him off. “It was minimal to what Sarai went through.”

“Don’t do that,” I said, walking farther into the kitchen. “Don’t minimize it.”

“We’ve been talking about that,” he told his parents with a self-deprecating chuckle. “Saying that I’m fine when I’m not isn’t going to fly anymore.”

“Nice work,” his mom said to me, turning to wrap an arm around my waist as I stood next to her. She gave me a squeeze. “That always drove me crazy. He never admits when he’s upset.”

I smiled wanly. I hadn’t heard Alex’s memory of the accident yet, and I was disappointed that I’d interrupted him telling his parents.

“I didn’t even realize what had happened,” I finally said, continuing when he stayed silent. “I just remember getting to Hailey’s house and then riding to the hospital in the ambulance. Alex nearly broke the paramedic’s arm when he gave me an IV.”

“Did they get there pretty quick?” Dan asked, leaning his elbows on the counter.

“I don’t know,” Alex said, shaking his head. “Felt like it took hours, but it must’ve been only a few minutes.”

“Can’t imagine,” Dan murmured.

“They got her out of the car,” Alex said, his voice cracking. “And there was so much blood.” He stopped speaking and shook his head. Clearing his throat, he looked at me. “I knew before we ever got to the hospital.”

I swallowed hard. I hadn’t known that. I hadn’t been aware of anything beyond my splitting headache and throbbing wrist. It was only later that I’d known that something bigger was wrong.

“Oh, son,” Liz said as her arm tightened around my waist. “I’m so sorry that this happened to you two.”

When Dan started unpacking the food boxes, I stepped out of Liz’s hold and went to help him.

“How’re you doing, sweetheart?” he asked quietly as Alex left the room.

“Not great,” I said truthfully, glancing over at him.

“Admitting it is half the battle,” he said kindly, reaching out to gently squeeze the fingers poking out the end of my cast. “Then you can start healing.”

I nodded, blinking away the tears that threatened.

“I’m real sorry,” he murmured. “Real sorry.”

“Thank you,” I whispered.

He nodded as Alex came back into the room.

“Hey, baby,” he said, a shy smile on his face. “I thought since your hand is in that cast…” He lifted his arm, and I started crying when I saw the chopsticks I’d rigged for him the first time we met.

“You kept them?” I asked incredulously.

“Of course,” he whispered, pulling me into his arms.

I let the tears fall as he held me tightly against his chest, swaying slightly from side to side. When they finally started to wane, I felt Liz’s hand on my back.

“Food’s getting cold,” she said gently, kissing the back of my head with motherly affection that almost had me in tears again. “Let’s eat, huh?”

As I pulled away, Alex snapped the chopsticks together a few times. “These are dirty,” he said, like he’d just realized it. “You probably shouldn’t use them.”