Room for You(77)

“What about the guy on the WaveRunner? Did they catch him?”

“Yeah, they took him away. I was so pumped right after it happened that had he even thought about running, I think I would’ve swam after that f*cking WaveRunner and caught him myself.” I looked down at her, smiling apologetically. “Sorry.”

She let out a quick laugh. “It’s okay. After the day you’ve had, I would say the f-bomb is in order. So … how are you?”

I sighed. “Pretty shitty. There is absolutely nothing I can do to make this situation better. I feel so helpless.”

“Welcome to parenthood.” She smiled up at me, the crow’s feet around her eyes looking more predominant today.

“I’m not a parent, Mom. I feel bad for Kacie.”

“Seriously? Here, sit a minute.” She walked over into a private seating area off to the side and sat down, motioning for me to follow her.

“I know you and Kacie have only been seeing each other a couple months, and you aren’t the girls’ biological father, but you love them like a parent. This is it, this is being a parent.” She laid her hands on mine, her gentle eyes searching my face. “It’s precious agony, Brody.”

The culmination of the last couple weeks of strain between Kacie and me, what happened to Piper and my mom’s words all joined together and made my emotions boil at the surface. She sensed it and opened her arms, pulling me in and squeezing me tight while I lost my mind and silently sobbed into her shoulder for a few minutes. When I came up for air, she rubbed my cheek with the back of her hand. “You feel better?”

“Kinda. Thanks, Mom, but I’ll feel much better once Piper is out of the woods and home.”

She squeezed my hand. “Say a little prayer, she’ll get there.”

“Let’s go get Lucy something to eat, everyone else too. Looks like it’s gonna be a long night,” I said as we stood and walked toward the cafeteria. A gift shop off to my right caught my eye. “Hang on, I want to run in and see if they have flip flops.”

“Flip flops?” She looked at me, confused.

I laughed. “I’ll explain later.”





Piper’s body looked tiny and fragile lying so still in that big hospital bed. Her head was wrapped in white gauze to keep her wound sterile, an oxygen mask covered her nose and mouth and her little arm had an IV sticking out of it. Purple bruises were already forming on the right side of her face, sprinkled with a few scrapes. It gutted me to see her like that; I wished more than anything it had been me in that lake instead of her.

Someone knocked softly on the door.

“Can I come in?” my mom whispered as she peeked her head in the room.

“Yeah, come on in,” I said, relieved she was here. “She’s still out.”

My mom gasped and froze when she walked through the door and saw Piper. “Oh my God,” was all she muttered, her eyes watering as she pulled her hands up over her mouth.

“She’s okay, Mom.” I smiled reassuringly.

“It’s hard to see her like that.” Her voice was shaky.

“I know.”

She walked over and pulled up the other chair next to me, not taking her eyes off Piper. “What did the doctors say?”

“They did the CT scan. She has a bad concussion, plus the gash on her head.” I sighed, thinking about how yesterday at this time we were hula hooping in the backyard without a care in the world. Crazy how fast life can change. “The doctor said he doesn’t think she got hit head on, that maybe she was under the water when it happened.”

Mom’s head whipped around to face me. “What do you mean?”

“He thinks she happened to go under the water seconds before she was hit, the bruising on her shoulder is even worse. Had she been all the way above water, it could have been … really bad.”

Mom looked back at Piper and closed her eyes. Her lips moved but no sound came out; I knew she was praying.

“Anyway, they are definitely keeping her overnight, maybe for a couple nights. It all depends on the swelling in her brain. They’ll do another scan tomorrow.”

“Will there be any permanent damage?” she asked hesitantly.

“They don’t think so, but we won’t know for sure until she’s awake. The doctor thinks she’ll be just fine in a few weeks.”

She reached over and put her hand on mine, squeezing it. “Thank God.”

Indeed.

“How is Lucy?” I asked.

“She’s okay.” Mom smiled at me and tried her best to sound normal. “Brody got her a grilled cheese sandwich and some apple juice. Honestly, she’s loving all the attention out there. Everyone is falling all over her.”

“Who’s everyone?”

“Oh … Fred, Shae, Brody and his parents.”

“Brody’s parents?”

“Yep, they got here a little while ago, and they’re wonderful. I’m not surprised by that though, Brody is pretty wonderful too.” She smiled at me.

“Yeah, he is.” I sighed. Blaire’s voice rang loud in my head, reminding me that he’ll never actually be mine.

What was I thinking kissing him in the waiting room? Clearly my emotions are clouding my judgment.

Another knock on the door.