Chance for Home

by Traci Hunter Abramson

  Chapter 18

  Kari navigated the hospital corridors until she found the correct surgical waiting room. The text from Ryan earlier had been simple and concise, but that hadn’t prevented her from reading between the lines. His mother was having surgery again, and he was scared.

  She pushed the door open to find him prowling the room as though he were afraid to sit still. It wasn’t until he completed his lap of the room that he noticed her presence.

  He pulled up short, surprise illuminating his face. “Kari, what are you doing here?”

  “I thought you might want some company.” She held up a water bottle and a sandwich from a local sub shop. “And I figured you probably hadn’t eaten.”

  “I can’t eat anything.”

  “You aren’t going to do your mom any good if you run yourself into the ground,” Kari said in a fair imitation of her mother. “Any news yet?”

  “No. They should be taking her into surgery now.” He sat in the center of a row of empty chairs. Kari sat beside him and handed him the sandwich.

  She suspected he took it only because it would be rude not to. He peeled back the paper and took a bite as though on autopilot. After he swallowed and took a second bite, he looked down at the meatball sub smothered in melted provolone.

  “How did you know I like meatball subs?”

  “Just a guess.” When he continued to stare at her, she added, “You had spaghetti and meatballs when we went out to dinner once. I figured a meatball sub would hit the spot.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.” Kari sat quietly beside him while he ate. She was glad he didn’t seem to feel obligated to make conversation when he was clearly so distracted.

  When he finished his lunch, he got up to throw away the trash and begin his pacing again. Every few minutes, he sat beside her, but she didn’t try to stop his constant movement. She recognized the restlessness and the worry that went with it. Determined not to make any demands, she watched and waited, her own impatience increasing as the minutes passed.

  Over an hour after her arrival, Dr. Michaels walked into the room.

  “Well?” Ryan asked anxiously.

  “I’m afraid the news isn’t all good.”

  “What do you mean?” he asked as Kari put her hand in Ryan’s.

  “Your mother has an infection called MRSA. That’s what’s causing the swelling in her knee.”

  “How bad is it?” An edge of panic sounded in his voice.

  “We cleaned out what we could of the infection and put a drain in. We’re also starting her on heavy antibiotics.” He drew a breath. “We’re waiting for some test results to come back, but it appears the infection is in her blood.”

  “How serious is that?”

  “I’m not going to lie to you. It can be very serious,” he said gravely. “We’re keeping her here at the hospital until we’re sure she’s stable, but at this point, the best medicine besides the antibiotics is rest.”

  “How long?” Ryan managed to ask. “How long until we’ll know if she’ll be okay?”

  “It’s hard to say. If she responds quickly to treatment, we may know as early as tomorrow. Some patients take a week or more before we are able to get the infection under control.”

  “And some patients don’t make it,” Ryan said flatly.

  “Unfortunately, there are some who don’t make it,” Dr. Michaels confirmed.

  Ryan swallowed hard.

  Sensing that he couldn’t form words, Kari stepped forward. “How long until Ryan can see her?”

  “She’ll be in recovery for at least an hour. The nurses will let you know when she is moved into a room.”

  “Thank you, Doctor,” Kari said.

  Dr. Michaels nodded at them and left the room.

  Grateful that the waiting room was nearly empty, Kari followed instinct and slipped her hands around Ryan’s waist. She didn’t say anything. What was there to say?

  He returned the embrace, holding her tightly against him as though she were a life preserver and the only thing keeping him from drowning.

  Several minutes passed until finally he released her and lowered himself into a chair.

  “Do you want me to text Ben? He can let your manager know what’s going on.”

  Ryan’s lips pressed together in a hard line, but he nodded his consent.

  Kari retrieved her phone from her pocket and sent her brother a text. She then reached over and put her hand on Ryan’s. He laced his fingers through hers, and together they settled back to wait for another eternity.

  * * *

  Ryan stood at his mother’s bedside, his frustration bubbling over. For two days, he had stayed in his childhood home, spending almost every waking moment in his mother’s hospital room. His manager had given him a couple of days off, but tonight he had to go home so he could be ready to catch an early-morning flight to Philadelphia.

  Though the doctor believed he had cleaned out the infection, Ryan’s mom’s lack of improvement had prompted a second surgery yesterday. They were still waiting to see if the combination of the surgery and antibiotics was successful in overcoming the problem.

  “I wish I could stay longer,” Ryan said, already going over in his head whether he could manage one more night in Woodbridge.

  Kari stood behind him, and he was grateful for her constant presence over the past few days. She had commuted back and forth from Ben’s apartment in DC, but except when he was sleeping, she seemed to always be here. He couldn’t remember a single meal he had eaten in the past three days that she hadn’t provided for him, and somehow she had turned into the conduit for communication between him and his manager.

  Despite Kari’s help, his mother had yet to acknowledge her presence, even though Ryan had attempted to introduce them several times. He didn’t know whether his mother really was so out of it that she didn’t recognize Kari’s presence or if she didn’t want to deal with acknowledging he had a new girlfriend.

  Jenny Holladay was also a frequent visitor and currently sat in the chair beside his mom.

  Kari put her hand on Ryan’s arm. “Ryan, I’m happy to stay here with your mom while you’re traveling.”

  Even though Kari had lowered her voice, Susan mumbled grumpily. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

  Ryan looked over at Jenny sitting in the corner, and a look of understanding passed between them.

  “I have the next few days off,” Jenny said, offering him the assurance he needed that his mother wouldn’t be alone.

  Despite that knowledge, guilt weighed heavily on him. “Mom, I wish I could stay.”

  “Go play your baseball,” she insisted. “I’ll be fine.”

  His emotions in turmoil, he had to swallow before he spoke. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  “It was nice meeting you, Ms. Strobel,” Kari said. “I hope you feel better soon.”

  No response.

  “Come on, Kari.” Ryan took her gloved hand in his own and tugged her out into the hall. As soon as they were outside, they discarded their protective gear and threw it into the disposal container located outside his mother’s door. Ryan started down the hall, and Kari caught up to him.

  “I really don’t mind staying with her,” Kari said. “It might be easier for you to know you can call and check on her anytime.”

  A lump formed in his throat, and he tried to swallow it. He knew how bad MRSA could be. Add septicemia to the equation and the infection could turn deadly. How could he walk away right now?

  He reminded himself of the doctor’s words: the best medicine for his mother was rest. If he was here, he couldn’t do anything but cause her more worry and drive the hospital staff crazy while he paced her tiny room.

  “Jenny will keep me up to date,” Ryan finally managed to say.

  “Hey.” She took his arm and stopped walking. He looked down at her as she held out her arms and drew him to her. “She’s going to be okay.”

  Ryan’s arms tightened around her, R
yan drawing strength from her embrace. He closed his eyes against the tears that formed, determined to keep them at bay. A minute passed before he managed to swallow the better part of his emotions.

  When he drew back, she looked up at him with her bright green eyes. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

  “Come with me to Philadelphia.”

  Her lips turned upward slightly. “Ben already reserved a room for me at the hotel where the team is staying.”

  Relieved beyond words, he shifted, slipping his arm around her shoulders as they continued down the hall. When they got to the parking lot, he walked her to her car. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am for everything you’ve done the last few days.”

  “I’m glad I was able to help.” She stood on her toes and reached up to kiss him. “I’ll see you after the game tomorrow night.”

  “Text me when you get to Philly.”

  “I will.” She started to reach for her door handle, but he beat her to it and pulled the door open for her.

  Before she could climb into the car, he put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. Her eyes lifted to meet his, and he saw the weariness reflected there. Not once had she mentioned being tired or commented about the long drive between Washington and Woodbridge, and yet he suspected she had gotten less sleep than he had.

  Touched beyond words by her selflessness, he pulled her into his arms and held on, a rush of warmth flowing through him. “You really are amazing, you know that?”

  She looked up at him, but her eyelids were heavy. He touched his mouth to hers, a ripple of pleasure chasing away his own weariness. His pent-up emotions flowed into the kiss until it drained him and all that was left was her. He could feel himself sinking into someplace unknown and forced himself to pull back.

  “Drive safe,” he said, finally letting her get into her car.

  “You too.” She fastened her seat belt as he closed the door, and she looked at him one last time before putting the key in the ignition. He stepped back and started toward his own car parked a few spaces away.

  He dug out his keys and hit the unlock button, but he couldn’t help but look over his shoulder once more to where Kari was pulling out of her parking spot. He stood there for several minutes, not moving until she had turned onto the road and disappeared from sight.

  Chapter 19

  The city of brotherly love wasn’t happy with their Phillies tonight. Boos echoed through the stadium when Ben’s bat connected with the ball and sent it sailing over the center field wall.

  Kari looked down at the jersey she wore bearing her brother’s number and their last name on the back, tugged her red Nationals cap a bit lower and leaned closer to Maya. “We aren’t going to get lynched when we leave here, are we?”

  “I think we might want to let the crowd thin out before we try to leave.”

  Kari looked up at the scoreboard. Top of the ninth: Phillies 4, Nationals 9. She supposed she would be frustrated too if her team had managed to score four runs but was still out of grand-slam range of winning.

  A pitching change followed Ben’s home run, and the new pitcher succeeded in getting Ryan out on a long fly ball that nearly made it out of the park.

  Fifteen minutes later, the game was over. Kari and Maya listened to the final disgruntled boos from the diehard Phillies fans who had stayed to the bitter end.

  “Just think,” Maya said, her voice barely loud enough to be heard. “We have two more nights of this.”

  “Are they any better when they win?”

  “I’m not sure.” She reached down and tugged on her own jersey, which was identical to Kari’s. “I think we might want to change if the guys decide they want to go out tonight.”

  “After the beating they took in New York, I think they might want to stay in,” Kari said, all too aware that the Mets had swept the Nationals during the first three days of their road trip. Of course, her only real connection with the team while they were in New York was through the news outlets and texts from Maya. She had spoken to Ryan’s manager a few times, but those conversations had centered on Ryan’s mom and how Ryan was holding up rather than the box scores.

  Now, instead of communicating with Ryan’s team, she was receiving messages for him from his mom’s friend, Jenny. The latest didn’t give any new information other than Susan’s appetite had increased a bit. Kari hoped that was a sign of improvement.

  She still wasn’t sure what to think of Susan’s reaction to her in the hospital, or rather her lack of reaction. Either the woman really didn’t like her, or she was too out of it to notice her. She hoped it was the latter.

  “Come on,” Maya said, tapping her shoulder. “Let’s go find the guys and get back to the hotel.”

  “I’m right behind you.” They made their way downstairs to the restricted part of the clubhouse, showing their passes to security as they went through.

  “Good game tonight,” Maya told Ben when he and Ryan approached them.

  “Thanks.” Ben slung his arm around his wife’s shoulders and tilted his head toward Ryan. “It was good having Ryan back in the lineup.”

  “It was good to be back,” Ryan said, although Kari wasn’t sure how true his words were. She saw the distracted look in his eyes and put her hand in his.

  “I got a text from Jenny a little while ago. Apparently your mom is eating better today.”

  “That’s always a good sign,” Ben said. He retrieved a business card from his pocket and handed it to Maya. “Here. This is the phone number for the driver who’s going to take you to the hotel. I didn’t want you guys to have to find a cab.”

  “Thanks.” Maya leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “We’ll see you over there.”

  Kari started to follow her, but Ryan caught her hand in his before she could take a step.

  “Thanks for being here tonight,” he said.

  Her eyes lifted to his. “I wouldn’t have missed it.”

  * * *

  Two straight wins over the Phillies, his free time spent with Kari, and numerous phone calls to the hospital for updates on his mom—Ryan was enjoying himself and going crazy at the same time.

  He was halfway to breakfast on his final day in Philadelphia when his phone rang, Dr. Michaels’ name illuminating the screen.

  “What’s the latest?” Ryan said the moment he hit the talk button.

  “Good news,” the doctor said, the relief obvious in his voice. “We operated on your mom’s knee again last night to clean out more of the infection, and we’re finally seeing the improvement we were hoping for.”

  Ryan stopped walking, taking a moment to absorb the doctor’s words. “That’s great.”

  “She’s still got a long road ahead of her, but if all goes well, she’ll be able to transfer from the hospital back to the rehab center in about a week.”

  “And then?”

  “One to two weeks in rehab and then home.” For the first time since Ryan answered the phone, he heard reservation in the doctor’s voice. “I have to tell you, though, I can’t release her from rehab until I’m sure her home environment won’t be detrimental to her health. She’s going to need someone to stay with her, and getting her in and out of a third-floor apartment simply won’t work.”

  “I can look into hiring someone to stay with her,” Ryan said. “As for the apartment, she has it in her head that once she gets inside, she can just stay there until she’s better.”

  “To get better, she will need extensive physical therapy, and that will mean leaving the house three times a week, not to mention follow-up appointments with me.”

  “So she has to move.”

  “She has to live somewhere else for at least two to three months, maybe longer.”

  “I’ll figure something out,” Ryan said.

  “Good luck.”

  “Thanks for all your help, Doctor. I really do appreciate it.”

  “You’re welcome. I’ll have my nurse follow up with you on her progress.”
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  Ryan hung up the phone, relief and concern merging together. Part of him looked forward to when his mother returned to her normal, independent self, the person who would fight against leaving her home. Another part of him prayed she would recognize her limitations and let him help her find a new place to live.

  He reached the hotel lobby and found Kari already waiting for him. He glanced around to find she was alone. He took advantage of the situation and leaned down to greet her with a kiss. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning.” Her hand slipped into his. “Any word on your mom today?”

  “Actually, the doctor just called.” Ryan related the conversation as they made their way into the hotel restaurant. As soon as they were seated, he asked, “I don’t suppose there’s any way I can convince you to come with me to Kansas City.”

  “I’d love to come, but Maya is closing on her house in a couple of days. I promised I would help her move.”

  “Is that happening already?”

  “It is.” Kari opened her menu. “I’m kind of surprised they didn’t try to move in last week while the team was in Washington. The owner offered to let them do a rent-back agreement so they could move in early, but Ben didn’t want to push things that quickly.”

  “A rent-back agreement?” Ryan asked.

  “Yeah. I guess it’s when you’re buying a house and you basically rent it until the legal transfer happens.”

  Ryan considered the possibilities, and a plan began to form.

  Their waitress approached and set water glasses in front of them. “Are you ready to order, or do you need a few more minutes?”

  Without looking at his menu, Ryan gave her his order and waited for Kari to put in her request. As soon as they were left alone again, he asked, “Do you or Maya still have the phone number for the real estate agent who took us house hunting?”

  “I’m sure Maya has it. Why?”

  “Can you get it for me?”

  “Yeah. I’ll text it to you tomorrow after I get back to Maya’s place.” She looked at him quizzically. “You aren’t thinking of buying your mom a house without her consent, are you?”