by K. C. Crowne
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, reminding myself that life came one moment at a time – no reason to get too far ahead of myself.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. There were two notifications, one from the school letting me know that I could take the rest of the week off if I needed to, no problem. I said a silent thank you for having a job that was so accommodating for personal issues.
The other text was from Ryan.
Hey. Just wanted to remind you to call the police and file an incident report. They might not be able to do anything now, but it’ll be good to have that on record if he tries anything else.
I let out a groan. I knew he was only being a good guy, trying to look out for me. But something about the way he’d taken control and spoken to me like I was some doe-eyed, barefoot housewife who didn’t know how to make my way in the world…it didn’t sit right with me at all.
And more than that, of course I’d called the police. They’d come by earlier that morning and taken a report, tried to talk to Brandon – who hadn’t answered his door. Did Ryan really think I was that helpless?
But I wanted to make sure I wasn’t being too impatient with him.
Done. But thanks.
I read the text over and fired it off when I was satisfied. It was good – short and to the point, but still cutting him some slack.
I sat watching Adam, my phone in my hand as I rested my eyes on his chest moving up and down. All I wanted was for him to get better, and soon. The kid was a brat at times, full of swagger and the oversized sense of self-confidence that teenage boys tended to have.
But he was my little brother. I loved him like crazy.
My phone buzzed in my hand. I tilted the screen toward me to see that it was a text from Allie.
Hey! So, I want to do something for Adam but I’m not sure what. I know he loves fried chicken, right? How about I come by tonight and make some at your place? Maybe bring some ice cream, too?
A little time with the two people I loved most sounded perfect.
Let’s do it! How about six?
See you then!
I smiled, realizing how damn lucky I was.
“Alright, bro, here’s the deal.”
Adam, seated across the dinner table from me, a particularly delicious-looking drumstick in front of his face, froze.
“The deal?” he asked.
“The deal. Pancakes and sausage and eggs for breakfast, and now fried chicken and ice cream for dinner and dessert. Enjoy it, because that’s the last bit of junky food you’re getting for a long, long time.”
“What?” he asked, seeming totally shocked by the news.
“Got the email from Dr. Frost. He said to keep you on a healthy diet for now until he can see you and do a full workup. So, eat up and get yourself mentally prepared for lots of green smoothies.”
He laughed, then sank his teeth into the fried chicken, a satisfying crunch filling the air.
“Dang!” Allie remarked, her tone impressed. “Look at him go!”
It took about three big bites before the drumstick bone was almost totally stripped of meat and skin.
“That’s a good sign, if you ask me,” Allie noted. “How sick can the kid be if he’s got an appetite like that?”
She had a point. I didn’t like to see Adam go buck wild on junk food, but it had to be a much better omen than if he were to be lying in bed, barely able to move.
When Adam was done with his drumstick, his phone buzzed on the table.
“Shoot,” he said, craning his neck to get a better look at the screen. “It’s Emma.”
“Oh,” Allie asked, a sly smile on her face. “That your girlfriend?”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” he said, swiping the phone off the table. “But she wants to know how I’m doing, so I’m gonna call her in the other room.”
Allie and I shared a look, and when I turned my attention back to Adam, he was in the process of taking a picture of the fried chicken.
“For Snap,” he said with a grin before getting up.
“Hey,” Allie said. “If the chicken’s Snapchat worthy, I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You should!” Adam called as he started back to his room.
“Hey, hey!” I called after him. “We’ll take clean-up duties, but at least take your plate in.”
He did, zipping into the kitchen and putting his stuff in the sink. “Thanks, Allie!” he shouted as he hurried down the hall to his room, shutting the door behind him.
“He certainly seems like he’s doing better,” Allie said.
“I know. But I’m not letting myself feel the slightest bit of relief until he’s got a clean bill of health tomorrow.” I shook my head, thinking of last night. “Seeing him sprawled out on the basketball court like that…”
Allie took my hand. “It’s alright. He’s going to be fine. And on top of that, you’ve got Ryan looking out for you guys.” That sly smile returned to her lips. “Speaking of which…what’s up with you two?”
“I don’t even know. He got Adam an appointment with his friend Dr. Frost tomorrow, which is a major help. But this morning we had kind of a fight after that thing I told you about with Brandon.”
“A fight? About what?”
“Well, when it happened Ryan marched in here and started barking out orders, telling Adam and I to pack a bag and come to his house and talking to me like I was some helpless kid. I get that he was trying to handle the situation, but still. And then he started going on about how if I wasn’t going to come with him, he was going to have some security system installed and I just couldn’t handle it. It was too much.”
Allie nodded. “I get it. But that’s just how men can be sometimes. Especially when they feel helpless. Think about it. This whole situation is out of his control. You’re the one carrying the baby, you’re the one keyed in to all the changes and feelings. He’s on the outside looking in and he just wants to protect you and your kid. And Adam. I can’t fault him for that. Actually, it makes me like him even more.”
I nodded, getting where she was going with all of this.
“So,” I said. “He’s just going a little overboard with being protective because that is the one thing that he feels like he can control.”
“Exactly. You’re right that he was a little overbearing about it. But his heart is in the right place, I think. Either way, the best thing is probably for the two of you to talk about it before it becomes a bigger issue.”
“I know. But between that and the weirdness of our arrangement, I don’t know what to do. It’d be one thing if we were an official couple, but I don’t even know if I want that. What I do know is that I want this baby, and that I want to be a mom.”
“Then there you go. Talk to him. Start with what you know for sure and tell him. Then work from there.”
I sighed, grabbing a wing, and sinking my teeth into it.
Tomorrow was going to be a huge day. I had to be ready.
Chapter 27
RYAN
It was a rainy, dreary day the morning of the appointment. Carly was in the passenger seat, Adam sprawled across the backseat, his phone in front of his face as he typed and scrolled.
Brandon had wisely chosen to stay inside when I’d come to pick them up – or maybe he’d still been passed out. Either way, I’d been relieved to see his empty porch when I’d pulled up. The matter of Carly’s safety still needed to be discussed, but that was a matter for another time.
“Still doing alright?” I asked, the rain pattering on the windshield, the wipers arcing back and forth. Now and then a low rumble from the spring storm would sound in the distance.
“Yeah,” Carly replied. “But I’ll feel better when he’s better, you know.”
I nodded.
“What’s up back there, mate?” I asked. “Feeling good?”
He took one hand off his phone and made a thumbs-up. “Feeling good.”
“Great,” I said to him.
The silence re
turned as we arrived at the clinic. I’d been to Hayden’s clinic before and knew where to park and all that making it a no-brainer for me to be the one to drive them there.
I pulled in front of the clinic and came to a stop. “You guys can get out here, I’ll find a spot and meet you in the lobby.”
Carly nodded, her lips pursed. She was tense, scared. But I knew the best I could do would be to simply be there for her. No advice, no commands. It was hard to let things go like that, but I knew it was what needed to be done.
I reached over and opened the door for Carly. Adam shoved his phone into his pocket, got out, and hurried into the clinic. But before Carly could join him, I quickly took her hand and placed a kiss on top of it.
“I can’t guarantee you that it’s going to be alright. But I can promise that I’m here for you, whatever you need. Or whatever you don’t need.”
She smiled softly for a moment before the worried expression returned.
“Thanks, Ryan.” Then she got out and was gone.
I parked in a nearby spot and was soon inside, running my hand through my hair to get rid of the rainwater.
We checked in at the front desk, the receptionist directing us to Hayden’s offices on the third floor. The rest of the clinic was bustling, but we were the only ones in the waiting room when we arrived, and we didn’t even get a chance to sit before Hayden entered to greet us.
“There’s the man himself,” I said as he approached.
Dr. Hayden Frost, one of the best cardiologists in the country, and my best mate from childhood, approached me with a broad smile on his face. He was a good-looking guy, with ice-blue eyes that were fitting of a man named “Frost.” He was tall like me, broad-shouldered and built, a body he’d earned from days in crew back when we were in college together. Hayden was dressed in a crisp, off-white button up and charcoal slacks, black dress shoes on his feet and a white lab coat on over top. He clapped his big hand onto mine and we shook.
“Good to see you, mate,” he said, his voice deep, his accent marking him as a Kiwi like me.
“Likewise,” I said, shaking his hand back.
Then he turned his attention to Carly and Adam.
“Now,” he said. “Why don’t you all come back with me and we can get this started?”
“I’ll be here,” I said. “Let me know if you need anything.”
Carly shook her head. “You don’t have to wait out here. Come back if you’d like.”
“That cool with you, Adam?” I asked.
“Cool with me.”
I smiled, happy that they wanted me to be a part of all this.
A pair of nurses entered through the door leading to the exam rooms. We joined them and headed back.
“Congrats on the pregnancy, by the way,” Hayden said to Carly.
“Thank you.”
He opened one of the doors, an exam room beyond. The space was large, filled with all the equipment one would need to diagnose a heart problem.
“Now,” Hayden began as we stepped inside, one of the nurses entering with us and readying the equipment as we all got seated. “Let me tell you a little about what to expect. First, we’re going to chat a bit. I’m going to ask about your medical history, your diet, your exercise, all that. Your sister tells me you’re a hell of a basketball player. That right?”
Adam grinned proudly. “Yeah. But it’s how this crap happened.”
“Sure. Now, why don’t you tell me what it felt like when you took your tumble.”
Adam nodded. “I was running up and down the court, normal game stuff. But out of nowhere I started feeling cold. Then I started feeling weak, like my muscles weren’t working the way they should.”
“Anything else?”
“Yeah. I stopped and rested my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath. But it was like I couldn’t breathe in enough air for my body. I’d breath in and my lungs wouldn’t feel full. But I couldn’t take in any more air. Then I felt dizzy, like I needed to sit down. Then…”
“Then you passed out,” Hayden finished, with a crisp nod.
“What do you think it is?” Carly asked.
“Hard to say until we’ve got him tested. But from what he’s telling me, it sounds like a circulation problem. Your blood carries oxygen – that’s what it’s for. And if it’s not getting to where it needs to be fast enough, it’ll feel like you’re not breathing quite like you should.”
Sounds like a weak heart, I thought. But I kept that to myself.
“But I don’t want to get ahead of myself,” he said. “So, what we’re going to do is a test called an echocardiogram.”
“Oh,” Adam replied. “Like an ultrasound of the heart?”
Hayden raised his eyebrows, clearly impressed. “That’s right. Someone did his research.”
“No,” Adam admitted. “I just guessed. Echo means soundwaves, which is how an ultrasound works. Cardio means heart, and gram means picture. Medical stuff’s easy to put together because it’s all word parts like that.”
Hayden flicked his eyes up at me, as if to say “dang, this kid’s sharp.”
“You’re dead-on, bud. Say, if you need to earn a little extra pocket money you could part-time here as a cardiologist after school.”
That got laughs out of all of us.
“But yeah,” Hayden continued. “That’s what we’re going to do. We’ll be able to get a sense of the structure of the heart, see where the problems are, if there are any. That sound good to you?”
“Yeah,” Adam answered, his voice confident. “Let’s do it.”
Hayden asked Adam to take his shirt off, then had him lie down on the exam table.
“How’s the family?” Hayden asked me as he got the test ready.
“Good, good. About the same, no complaints.”
“Your sister Grace still as much of a brat as she’s always been?” There was a bit of a twinkle to his eye as he asked about her, but I didn’t think much of it.
I laughed. “Come on now, mate – I’m her brother, which means I’m the only one who’s allowed to call her a brat.”
He chuckled. “Fair enough.”
I sat down with Carly, taking her hand as Hayden started the test. We watched the ultrasound appear on the screen as Hayden moved the wand over Adam’s chest, his heart beating steadily. Hayden kept his face still and somber, and I knew the man well enough to understand that this meant he had something on his mind, that he was seeing something that we couldn’t in the display.
More tests followed over the next hour. When he was finally done, he brought us into his office to give us his diagnosis. Carly’s hand stayed in mind, and I could sense she was more scared than she’d been in a long, long time.
“Please,” Carly asked. “Please tell me what it is.”
“Cardiomyopathy.”
“What does that mean,” Adam asked, a note of worry in his voice.
“It’s to do with the muscle,” I said.
“I’ve got a weak heart?” Adam asked quietly, looking like a scared boy instead of the confident young man I’d come to know.
Tears formed in Carly’s eyes as she took in the news.
“That’s what all the tests are pointing to,” Hayden said. “But it’s not as bad as it sounds. The muscle-wall of your heart is not as strong as it should be, but that’s hardly a death sentence.”
Adam stayed firm and stoic. The kid was tough, taking the news like an adult. I couldn’t help but admire him. Carly was the same, but I could see tears form in her eyes.
“Does that mean,” he started to ask, as if scared to complete the question. “Does that mean I can’t play basketball anymore?”
“I’m sorry to say that it does,” Hayden replied. “It means your life is going to be a bit different from here on out.”
Chapter 28
CARLY
I didn’t care that Adam was technically still a kid.
As far as I was concerned, he was as mature and adult as they came.
But he kept it to himself, asking Dr. Frost clear questions, like what exercises could he do from here on out, what sort of athlete could he be. He’d allowed himself a smile when Hayden had told him that he’d still be able to work out, just that he’d need to avoid anything that would place undue and sudden stress on his heart – that meant light weightlifting and careful jogging.
And it had been a major relief to me when I’d found out that, as long as he took care of himself, Adam could be expected to live a long, healthy life. What better news could I get?
Adam had taken it so well, in fact, that he hadn’t wasted any time in asking his “not” girlfriend if she wanted to hang out together that night. It was Friday, which meant it was totally fine with me.
“Just make sure you get back at a reasonable hour, alright? I’ve spent the whole day worrying about you; don’t make me do it all night, too.”
“Fine, fine,” he said with a smile. “I’ll text you later, OK?”
“OK. And Adam?”
He stopped mid-step on the way to the door. “What’s up?”
“I love you, you little dork,” I said with a smile.
He smiled back. “Love you too.”
Adam screwed up his face, sticking his tongue out as he opened the door and left.
When I was alone, I plopped down on the couch and let the day unspool in my head. But I didn’t get much of a chance before my phone buzzed nearby with a text from Ryan.
Hey. How’re you feeling?
I thought about it for a moment, then responded.
Hard to say. Processing it. But Adam taking it well is going a long way.