by Kolbet, Dan
"I guess."
But Chloe didn't seem satisfied with that and Amelia could understand it.
"Can we see him now?"
"Yes, OK."
The ICU room had glass walls with curtains on rails so they could be closed when something private, or terrible was happening. Amelia wondered why they were glass in the first place. The rest of the hospital had regular walls, but here they needed to see inside for some reason.
Chloe walked into the room. Amelia stayed at the doorway. The bed was situated at an angle toward the middle of the room. The dialysis machine was clicking away in the corner. Nate's body looked like a freeway off ramp, with so many tubes and wires converging on him.
A clear tube protruded from his mouth. It was taped to the sides of his cheeks, forcing air down into his lungs. The ventilator hummed away. Nate's chest slowly rose and fell again.
Nate wasn't breathing on his own, something Chloe neglected to say earlier. This didn't look good at all. She tried to be strong for Chloe.
"You can go inside ma'am," a nurse said. "You're the sister, right? You should see him."
Amelia nodded. She was the sister today. Chloe's aunt. Amelia knew as soon as she went inside that the situation would be real. Maybe if she never walked in, then it wouldn't happen. That Nate wasn't really being kept alive by a machine that would breathe for him.
She wondered what the nurse meant. You should see him. Like, you should see him because he's on the bed in there. Or you should see him before it's too late?
She shook her head to break loose the cowardice inside her, and stepped into the room.
His face was puffy and very yellow, which contrasted against the stark white sheets, blanket and pillows. The stubble on his face was long. He'd refused a shave earlier that day. He hadn't been too concerned about his appearance, and he certainly wasn't now either. He was asleep or unconscious. She didn’t know which.
A heart monitor beeped rhythmically.
Amelia put her hand on his shoulder. It was a reassuring pat that Nate never felt. Amelia pulled up one of the wooden chairs with vinyl padding next to Chloe at the side of the bed. Chloe was holding her father's hand—the one that wasn't connected to the IV. She fiddled with the hospital identification bracelet encircling his wrist, running her finger over his name again and again.
"Why don't they play music in hospitals?" Chloe asked.
The question was out of context. Amelia thought about it for a moment.
"Maybe because hospitals are serious places and music would take people's mind off that."
"But wouldn't that be a good thing?" Chloe asked.
"I guess it would."
"Like they could have a hospital DJ and you could call in and request songs."
"That might be fun, but there are a lot of elderly people here. They might request songs you don't like or don't know."
"Maybe you could have stations and tune into one just for your room," Chloe suggested.
"I'm pretty sure you can do all that with your phone now too."
"Good point, but they’ve got rules against using your phone in the hospital. I just think the hospital is too quiet. Just these machines and people coughing, and hushed voices inside the rooms. I don't like it."
Chloe was making conversation as a distraction to avoid the reality of seeing her father motionless in the bed.
A nurse came in and opened a little white door on one of the machines Nate was hooked up to. It required a key. She pushed some buttons and locked the door again.
"When is the doctor coming to see him?" Amelia asked.
"Dr. Munson was in earlier, but our on-call doctor, Dr. Ribald, is here on the floor," the nurse replied.
Amelia didn't press any further. She didn't have a question. She just nodded OK. It seemed natural to ask when the doctor would be in, it's just something that people do.
"I really liked hanging out with you guys last summer," Chloe said.
The comment shifted Amelia's mindset and made her smile.
"Yeah? Me too. It was nice to be away from everything for a while."
"Dad and I never had a summer like that before. I'm glad I'll have that to remember, when—"
She didn't finish her sentence, but Amelia knew she was going to say that she was glad that she would have that memory to hold on to when her father was gone. Amelia felt the same, but she tried not to think about it.
"Dad's gonna be pissed if he doesn't wake up soon," Chloe said.
"Why's that?" Amelia asked.
"He's going to have to miss that big meeting he keeps talking about."
"What meeting? Why is he attending meetings? He's supposed to be resting."
"You know," Chloe said. "The investors are coming to the house."
The look on Chloe's face said she had revealed something she wasn't supposed to.
"Spill it," Amelia said.
"I thought you knew about it. Sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned it. It's just that he's been on his iPad so much and he talked about it so often, I guess I just thought you were helping him."
"No, your father and I haven't had the best working relationship. It's something we need to work on. He didn't tell me about any meeting. What's it about?"
"That's why I thought you knew. It's about Mr. Z's.”
So Nate had been working on the company . . . but he excluded her. Why? He must have had his reasons, she thought, but it still hurt a little that there was activity going on that she didn't know about. She still considered it her company, no matter what happened to it. She leaned back in her chair and wondered what the meeting was all about. What Nate was up to and what would happen now. She was reluctantly hopeful. Maybe Nate had it all figured out.
She didn't have long to think about it.
The prolonged beeps from the heart rate monitor were loud and strong. Muffled only by the armada of other machines around the bed. Amelia glanced at the screen. The beats had become erratic, then absent.
The piercing sound was steady. Flat line. No heartbeat.
"Oh my God!" Chloe yelled. "Help!"
A light inside the room, and just outside the doorway flashed alternating colors of white and blue. Amelia could hear the ping from the light as it pulsed. She pushed back her chair further as the nurse burst into the room, assessed what she saw in an instant, and shouted into the hallway.
"Page Ribald! He's coding," she said, then turned to Nate. She unsnapped the buttons on the front of his hospital gown by yanking them apart in one swift motion. She moved in practiced, but hurried steps.
A robotic voice came over the speakers overhead, "Code Blue Adult ICU Room 1209. Code Blue Adult ICU Room 1209."
A stampede of hospital staff streamed into the room. Chloe and Amelia were forced backwards until they were pressed against the glass wall.
"Charging!" someone yelled. And there was a momentary break in activity as the hospital staff stopped their orchestrated symphony. "Clear!"
Nate's legs and chest jumped. Chloe clutched Amelia's arm.
A man in light blue scrubs entered the room and saw Chloe and Amelia against the wall.
"I need you two to step outside, now."
It wasn't a request. It was an order. They did as they were told and positioned themselves at the exact same spot, just on the other side of the glass wall. They couldn't see Nate now. There were too many people crowded around him.
A nurse grabbed the end of the wall curtain and pulled it tight, blocking their view.
Chloe turned to Amelia and collapsed into her arms.
They never got the chance to say goodbye.
Chapter 45
Spokane
November, nearly one year later
Amelia sat at the head of a long boardroom table. The bank that had put the deal together had allowed her to use their largest conference room for the first official Board Meeting of the new Mr. Z's Toys, Inc. No more Mr. Z's Corp., which was simple because that company, under the constraints of Riddell Industries
didn't exist anymore. The new company would be headquartered in Spokane, where it all started.
There were four men and two women sitting in high-grain leather chairs around the table looking at Amelia. Waiting for the meeting to start. But there was one empty chair. Nate's chair. She tried not to look at it. The empty place was reserved still, an enormous reminder of everything that had happened over the last year.
Amelia had been early for the meeting, as she had been for every meeting for the past year. It had become her standard. She was even early for the meeting that Nate set up without her knowledge, with the investors who funded the purchase of the nearly bankrupt Mr. Z's Corp. The investors had been surprised when she showed up for the meeting and not Nate. But they knew why he wasn't there. They all knew what had happened to him.
She had to hand it to Nate. The guy had a head for business. Since the day he left the cabin, he'd been working the phones trying to round up funding for an effort to purchase Mr. Z's Corp. which included the flagship Spokane store and the chain stores across the country—all 50 of them. Over the years, as the head of Mergers and Acquisitions at Riddell, Nate had made many enemies, namely the people he had outsourced, fired or reassigned. Many of whom chose to leave instead of becoming part of Riddell. But when Nate called these investors—those who didn’t hang up on him—learned that Nate wasn't part of Riddell anymore. In fact, these former enemies were being asked to become allies. Strange bedfellows indeed.
With each investment came a seat at the table and a promise to enact some revenge on the corporation they despised. Many of them got a kick out of sticking it to Graham Barnes, who was forced to sell the company at a considerable loss to Riddell. What Nate hadn't told them was that Walt Riddell himself had joined the cause as well, albeit through a proxy. There was no way that these investors would believe or trust Nate if Walt was sitting at the table across from them. Being frail and old wasn't enough to convince them that there wasn't some devious plot in the works. So Nate had proposed a proxy—Amelia.
Amelia retained 51 percent of the new Mr. Z's Toys, Inc. while the remaining investors, her Board of Directors, controlled 49 percent. That 49 percent, was currently staring at her across the table, waiting to hear what was next for the new company. But she wasn't ready. Not yet.
Walt had gifted the resources to Amelia. No strings attached. It was really a paltry sum to such a wealthy man. But he was happy to help, especially after what had happened to Nate.
Amelia had big plans for Mr. Z's Toys now that she would be able to call the shots alone. She knew the Board of Directors was anxious to hear how she planned to turn the company profitable again. It was their money on the line if she was wrong. Nate's earlier convincing could only go so far.
Amelia had to make several promises to make this deal work. The most important promise was to the people outside this room—Marcus and Susanna. It was a tough sell when she told them she was returning to the corporate world.
"It'll be different this time," she had told them. "I won't be absent. It's not the same as before."
Remarkably, they trusted her. She loved them and wasn't about to let them down. Josh was on her side too. He agreed to support her in any way he could, from a distance. She'd relied on him quite a bit over the last year, but their romantic connection remained a distant memory. They were friends. Parents. Nothing more.
Amelia fiddled with an old piece of paper on the table in front of her. It was a note written by Mary Klein years ago about how Mr. Z's should really be operated. She took inspiration from her parents Lloyd and Harriet Zimmerman. Everything from sincere customer service practices to how the shelves should be arranged was covered in this little note. It was sort of a mom-and-pop business mission statement. She treasured the document. Amelia had utilized the fundamental elements of the note as she built a recovery strategy for the new Mr. Z's Toys, Inc. She hoped the Board approved of the message because she wasn't sure she could be successful if she didn't follow Mary's advice.
The group assembled around the table was growing anxious. All of them had flown in from places other than Spokane just for this meeting. She didn't like to keep them waiting.
Just then the final member of the Board entered the room.
"You're late," Amelia said.
"Sorry," Nate said. "This kidney your son gave me has a mind of its own."
Chapter 46
Nate died that day in Dallas. At least for a few moments.
No heartbeat.
The medical professionals who rushed to save him performed no less than a miracle. To put it simply, Nate had a heart attack. His body was weak from the previous surgeries and cancer. Had he not been a fighter, he would not have survived the trauma.
The doctors concluded that Nate needed more than what dialysis could provide. He needed another kidney, but the same challenges remained. What hospital transplant committee would agree to give an organ to Nate? Chloe was tested, against her father's protests. Amelia offered too. Neither was a match.
And then another volunteer came forward: Marcus.
Marcus' outlook on life changed after that night at the Annex when he defended Denny against Logan. The big chip on his shoulder was gone. He'd gained confidence and proved to himself that he was worthy of being in this world. When presented with the chance to save Nate, to let another live, he didn't hesitate. He needed to help.
The odds were incredibly long that the two were even a match, but by a stroke of luck or another miracle, they were compatible. Given the extenuating circumstances around Nate's previous illnesses and his general good health previously, the Transplant Board allowed the surgery just six months after Nate had the heart attack in Dallas. It was extremely unorthodox, but it worked.
His dialysis routine would never end, but it was a small price to pay for life.
* * *
Amelia stood and started her presentation, one that she'd been rehearsing night and day for weeks in front of a mirror.
"Over the last few years, Mr. Z's lost its core purpose," Amelia told the Board of Directors. "We expanded beyond what we were ready for and lost why the stores were built in the first place. Our new company will rectify that in every way possible."
Amelia pressed a button on a remote control and a PowerPoint appeared on the screen opposite her. On the screen was a picture of the Annex and then one of St. Mark's Church.
"The reason Mr. Z's Toys gained national attention was for giving. Selfless, unquestioned giving. And it's going to save us again."
Amelia told the familiar story of how Edwin Klein gave away Mr. Z's entire inventory one Christmas Eve. A move of desperation from a store that was finished. That act became the trademark of Mr. Z's, but the company failed to capitalize on it.
"Each store will now partner with a local charity and donate a portion of its proceeds there each month. During the holidays, our busiest season, we'll double that effort to have a greater impact."
One of the Board members spoke up.
"But the stores failed. There's no profit to donate."
"You're correct," Amelia replied. "The chain stores did fail. But they failed because we didn't differentiate them from the competition. They were slick and polished. Unremarkable. And located in strip malls in the suburbs. That's not Mr. Z's. Our stores will be in downtown locations, in historic buildings. We'll become part of the neighborhood and provide products and customer service that can't be matched at any big box store."
She clicked the remote again. An image of the Spokane store appeared. Then an abandoned building in Chicago. Then others from New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta.
"Rehabbing these buildings with the charm and nostalgia of our Spokane store is just the beginning, but it's hard to understand if you don't see it for yourself."
She set the remote on the table and walked to the window of the third-floor conference room.
"Will you join me at the window?"
The Board members stood from the table, walked to the window and peer
ed out. The location of this conference room selected wasn't by chance. Amelia wanted the Board to see the real store in action. Below them was the flagship Mr. Z's Toys store. A thin layer of snow blanketed the street. The large green Z was the most prominent feature of the storefront aside from the large glass windows that at the moment were dark.
A crowd, in jackets and scarves was assembled down below. Store manager Derek took Amelia's cue from the conference room window and flipped the switch. A bright, green and red holiday display illuminated half of the windows. A large sleigh and requisite reindeer flew across the space—suspended by wire.
A green-and-white scene of children playing on a sledding hill filled the other side window. The crowd cheered at the reveal of Mr. Z's annual holiday window display. Over the past few years, the surrounding stores and businesses had made an effort to keep up with Mr. Z's, and created holiday displays too. One by one, they illuminated their scenes as well. The passersby stopped to take in the entirety of the displays.
"We're a little early this year, since it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I wanted you all to see how much these stores can mean to the communities we're in," she said. "The window displays are a symbol of what we stand for. Do they take up retail space? Yes. But what we're selling can't be stocked on a shelf."
The Board members gathered their coats and headed down to street level, eager to see the displays themselves. Nate and Amelia were left standing at the window, arms wrapped around one another.
"You did great, honey," Nate said. "I'm so proud of what you've done."
"We've got a lot of work ahead of us," she said. "Let's not forget that."
"How about we just enjoy this for today and get back to work tomorrow?"
"I can handle that."
Chapter 47
The next summer