All Consuming

by Jaci Burton

  “Bullshit. You look great. I’m glad you had a good time.”

  “Thanks. Sorry about Oliver. That must have been so scary for Hannah.”

  “Yeah, it was. But she’s handling it.”

  Carmen tapped her pen on the desk. “She’s handling it like a champion. Trust me, I see parents fall apart all the time when they bring their injured kids in here. And it just makes the kid even more scared. Hannah’s doing fine.”

  “I’ll let you get back to it because I know you’re busy.”

  “Thanks. We need to all get together and catch up. We’ll make plans.”

  “Okay.”

  He went back to the room and waited. It wasn’t long before Hannah and Oliver came back from the X-ray room. Oliver climbed back into the bed and started watching TV again, but he fell asleep within a few minutes.

  “Obviously, the pain meds worked on him,” Kal said.

  “I’m so glad,” Hannah said. “It hurts me to see him in pain.”

  Kal laid his hand over hers. “He’s gonna be okay, Hannah. This is almost a rite of passage for kids.”

  She laughed. “That’s true. It’s hard to go through childhood unscathed, without getting a bone broken or having to get stitches.”

  He leaned back in his chair. “Yeah? What was yours?”

  “Bonked my head on the edge of a counter. Concussion. Slid off a teeter-totter, five stitches on the back of my head. Broke my toe tripping over a curb while barefoot.”

  That one made him cringe. “Ouch.”

  “Yes, surprisingly, a broken toe hurts a lot.”

  Despite having a past with her, and all the years in high school they knew each other, Kal was surprised they still had things to learn about each other.

  He liked that.

  The doctor came in with Carmen after a few minutes.

  “His wrist is broken, and I’ll need to reset it,” Dr. Lance said to Hannah. “We can do a local anesthetic so he won’t feel anything.”

  Hannah exhaled. “That’s good. And I can be with him while you do that?”

  “Of course. I’ll have the staff gather the materials, and I’ll be in shortly.”

  Oliver stirred awake, so Hannah and Carmen helped explain to him what would happen.

  “It won’t hurt?” Oliver asked.

  “We’ll give you an injection, and that’ll sting a little,” Carmen said. “But after that, you won’t feel a thing.”

  “Can I watch?”

  Carmen smiled. “Sure.”

  They had to wait awhile before someone came in, but Oliver fell back asleep, and Kal went up to the dining hall and got Hannah and him something to drink. They watched TV for a while and waited. It wasn’t his first trip to an ER, so he was used to waiting it out.

  Finally, one of the techs came in with a tray filled with equipment and set it next to Oliver’s bed. Kal made sure to stay in the corner of the room, out of the way, while Dr. Lance and Carmen got to work on Oliver. Hannah held Oliver’s hand while they numbed the area, and the doctor got to work resetting the bone and splinting it.

  Oliver handled everything so well. He didn’t even wince when they numbed his wrist area. He seemed more interested in what the doctor was doing, asking a lot of questions through each step. Fortunately, this doc seemed to be a really good guy, patient in answering all of Oliver’s questions.

  Once the splint was on, the doctor told Oliver how brave he’d been and that he was his favorite patient of the day.

  Oliver grinned widely with pride.

  After Dr. Lance left the room, Carmen pulled out paperwork and went over it with Hannah. “Here’s your at-home care instructions. Minimal activity for Oliver here. No sports, mister,” she said to him.

  “Aww, really? I can’t play soccer?”

  “No, I’m sorry, buddy.”

  Oliver looked crestfallen. Kal felt a lot of sympathy for him. He knew what it was like to have his activities restricted, and it sucked.

  “He’ll need to see an orthopedist in a week to put a cast on after the swelling goes down,” Carmen said. “That information is in the packet, and someone will contact you tomorrow. There’s detail on pain management as well. And I’ve written down my cell, so if you have any questions, call me.”

  Hannah hugged Carmen. “Thank you.”

  “Plus, you have an EMT here,” she said, looking at Kal, “and he knows how things work, too. He’s not entirely useless.”

  “Hey,” Kal said.

  Carmen and Hannah grinned at each other.

  They gathered the paperwork together, and Kal helped Oliver off the bed. He was still a little out of it from the pain medication, so Kal made sure to keep him close as they headed to the truck.

  “Sorry about this,” Hannah said as they drove to her house.

  “About what?”

  “We had a day planned.”

  “Hey, you have a kid. Life happens. We roll with it, right?”

  She reached over and squeezed his arm. “Thank you for understanding.”

  When they got to the house, Hannah’s mom came outside and helped Oliver out of the truck. She kissed Oliver on the top of his head.

  “My poor baby boy. What happened to you?”

  Oliver filled her in on his day while they walked into the house.

  “Well, I should go,” Kal said. “I know you want to get him settled in.”

  She frowned. “Wait. You don’t want to stay for macaroni and cheese?”

  Kal laughed. “As tempting as that sounds, I think you have enough to handle.”

  She laced her arm with his. “You don’t get away that easily. Come with me.”

  He thought he’d be in the way, but he had to admit, he was worried about Oliver and wanted to make sure he’d be all right. He was relieved when Hannah dragged him into the house.

  When he walked in, Oliver was sitting on the sofa, feet up, his slinged arm propped up on a pillow.

  “Grandma made lemonade, Kal,” he said.

  Kal went to sit next to Oliver. “That’s awesome. And I hear you’re having mac and cheese for dinner. That’s one of my favorites.”

  “Mine, too.”

  “I think I’ll go get some lemonade, buddy. I’ll be back.” He went into the kitchen to find Paige and Hannah talking.

  “When you called I was so worried,” Paige said. “He’s okay, then?”

  Hannah reached out and smoothed her hand over Paige’s arm. “He’s going to be fine, Mom. In a week he’ll get a cast on. Paperwork with instructions are on the table, so you can read everything.”

  “Thanks.” Paige looked out into the living room where Oliver’s feet were rocking back and forth to an action scene on the movie he was watching on TV.

  “He seems fine, Paige,” Kal said. “Kids break bones. They’re pretty resilient, ya know.”

  “Oh, I know. I went through it with Hannah.”

  “Yeah, she told me.” He reached up into the cabinet to pull out a glass. Paige filled it with ice and lemonade. “I heard all about the stitches and the concussion, and the broken toe.”

  “Did you tell him about the time you nearly cut your finger off when you decided you wanted to ‘help me’ in the kitchen?”

  “She did not tell me that.”

  Hannah wiggled all ten of her fingers. “As you can see, I have all my digits, and it wasn’t as bad as my mother is about to make it out to be.”

  “There was blood everywhere. She sliced her finger cutting a tomato. I couldn’t tell where the tomato was because of all the blood.”

  Kal could well imagine, since finger cuts, especially deep ones, tended to bleed a lot.

  “Did you get stitches?”

  “Two, which were hardly necessary, but Mom panicked.”

  Paige lifted her chin. “I never
panic. It was a deep cut that needed to be closed.”

  Hannah looked over at Kal and shrugged. “I lived.”

  He laughed. “Obviously. Were you allowed in the kitchen after that?”

  “Not for a very long time,” Paige said.

  “Whatever. It was a minor slip, and I’m very good with knives now.”

  “Good to know,” Kal said, looking over to see Oliver’s feet relaxed on the reclining sofa. He took his lemonade and strolled into the living room to see Oliver had fallen asleep, his head cranked in what looked like a really uncomfortable position. Kal repositioned him, laying him down so that his arm would still be propped up. Oliver had his knees drawn close like he was cold, so Kal dragged the blanket off the top of the sofa and covered him, then patted his shoulder.

  “You’re gonna be fine, buddy,” he whispered.

  He grabbed his lemonade off the coffee table and headed back into the kitchen to find both Hannah and Paige staring at him.

  “What? He fell asleep and his positioning was awkward.”

  “It was very sweet of you, Kal,” Paige said.

  Hannah looked like she might cry, tears glistening in her eyes. “I’ll be right back.”

  She headed down the hall, went to her room and shut the door.

  “Did I do something wrong?” he asked Paige.

  Paige grasped his arm. “No, honey. You did everything right. She’s done it all by herself for so long that even the smallest things that you do to help are a big deal to her. Thank you for that.”

  “I’m glad I was around to help today.”

  She squeezed his arm. “I am, too.”

  Hannah came down the hall. “Sorry, I had something in my eye. Allergies, probably.”

  She looked like she’d been crying. After the day she’d had, no one could blame her. As strong as his mom was, he also knew how much she cared about all of them. She’d held it together every time one of them got hurt. And then she’d go to her room, and when she came out later, her eyes would be puffy.

  You could be a strong woman and still cry.

  He went over to her and folded her in his arms.

  “I’m okay, Kal,” she said, but she didn’t pull away.

  “I know you are. I also know that’s your baby asleep on the sofa, and he fell and broke his wrist today, and that was some scary shit. So it’s okay to be upset about it.”

  He felt her shuddering sigh as she leaned into him. He rubbed her back, hoping in some way to let her know that she didn’t have to go through this alone. He laid his chin on the top of her head and closed his eyes, and just . . . stilled. This moment right here? He could do this forever, could feel her heart beating against him, could feel her arms around him. It made him want to protect her—and Oliver—so that nothing could hurt either of them.

  Paige cleared her throat. “So, who’s hungry?”

  Hannah stepped back, swiped her cheeks where tears had fallen again and smiled up at Kal. “I am. How about you?”

  He grinned. “Are you kidding? The only reason I stayed was for the mac and cheese.”

  She laughed. “Okay, then. Let’s get cooking.”

  Kal offered to help, but Hannah and Paige shooed him out of the kitchen, so he went and sat in the living room. Oliver woke up and said he had to go to the bathroom. Kal went with him and helped him out in there since he was going to have to learn to manage things one armed for a while, at least until the sling came off and he got the cast on. After that, they sat at the table and Oliver drank his lemonade.

  “At least you broke your left wrist and you’re right-handed,” Kal said. “You can still do homework.”

  Oliver gave Kal a look. “That’s good?”

  Kal laughed. “Yeah, it’s good. And wait ’til you go to school tomorrow. Everyone will want to see your splint with you looking all cool now.”

  “I look cool?”

  “Yeah, you do. Like a bad— Well, you look really awesome.”

  Oliver beamed a smile.

  Dinner was good. The macaroni and cheese was spectacular, and they had chicken tenders with it, along with a green salad and a fruit salad. He was happy to see that Oliver ate well. Typical for kids. No matter what happened, they could still fill their stomachs.

  After dinner, Hannah said she was going to give Oliver a bath, which meant a lot of wrapping and maneuvering, so Kal knew it was time for him to leave.

  Kal walked over to Oliver. “Get some rest, buddy. I’ll be back to check on you soon.”

  “Okay. Thanks for hanging out today, Kal.” Oliver put his one good arm around Kal to hug him.

  Kal’s heart squeezed as he hugged Oliver back.

  “I’ll walk you out,” Hannah said.

  Kal said goodbye to Paige, then walked outside with Hannah. It was a clear night, and humid.

  “Looks like a rain shower’s coming in soon,” she said.

  “Yeah.” He stopped at his truck and turned around. “He’ll be okay.”

  She nodded. “I know he will. Thank you for being there for me. For Oliver.”

  He tipped her chin and brushed his lips across hers. “Always will be.”

  She gave him a look he couldn’t figure out. Maybe surprise, maybe disbelief. He wasn’t sure. And now wasn’t the time to question it, so he got in his truck, waved and backed down the driveway.

  What he really wanted to do tonight was stay, to make sure Oliver slept okay, to be there for Hannah because he knew she’d be emotional about what happened today.

  He realized on the drive home he had gotten himself deeply involved. Not only with Hannah, but with her son.

  And he honestly had no idea how she felt. Which meant he might be in trouble.

  * * *

  • • •

  “Momma, is Kal your boyfriend?”

  Hannah paused as she was tucking Oliver into bed, not knowing how to answer.

  Honestly, she supposed. “Yes, I guess he is. What do you think about that?”

  He shifted since he was piled up with pillows under his broken wrist. “I like him. He’s nice to you. And to me. And he doesn’t make you cry.”

  Her stomach knotted and her heart clenched. “He is nice, and I like him very much. So it doesn’t upset you that I’m seeing him?”

  “No. You need someone to love. I mean, you got me and Grandma, and we love you and you love us. But it’s good that you got Kal now, too. You can never love enough people, right?”

  She smoothed her hand over the top of the blanket, then kissed Oliver’s forehead.

  “Right, baby. Get some rest now. I love you.”

  “Love you, too, Momma.”

  She turned out the light and left his door partially open. She went into her room, shut the door and leaned against it, finally releasing the tears she’d been holding in all day.

  CHAPTER 20

  Hannah’s mom had to boot her out of the house Thursday night when her friend Veronica invited her to a girls’ night out. She initially begged off, claiming she had to stay home and take care of Oliver. Then, when she told her mom about Veronica’s call, her mother argued that Oliver was fine, she could take care of him, and that Hannah needed to get out and relax, because she was wound up and hovering over Oliver way too much.

  Mom was right, of course. She had been hovering, and it was probably annoying her son. She knew she was irritating her mother. She felt the tension sitting on her shoulders like a boulder. Maybe a night out wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

  Kal had stopped by this morning before Oliver went to school, and even he’d mentioned that she looked tired. Not exactly the thing she wanted to hear from the guy she was dating. He’d asked her if she wanted to go out tonight, and she’d told him she wanted to stay home and be with Oliver. And then she hadn’t even invited him over.

  She laid her head in her
hands and realized what a hot mess she was. Her kid had a broken wrist. It wasn’t exactly the end of the world. In fact, Oliver was managing his arm just fine, even though he had to work with the sling until he got his cast on next week. To him—no big deal. To her? Huge. She’d been a giant stress ball all week long.

  That did it. She was going out tonight. But first she was going to text Kal.

  She got out her phone and started typing.

  I’m sorry about this morning. My head isn’t in the game this week.

  He replied back a few minutes later. You were fine. Don’t worry about it.

  She sent another text: I know you asked me out, and I said no, but I’m going out with my friend Veronica for girls’ night. Don’t be mad.

  He sent back a laughing emoji. Not mad. Have a good time. You deserve it.

  What she didn’t deserve was a man like Kal in her life. Why was he always so understanding about everything? Didn’t anything piss him off?

  She typed a return text: Thanks. Talk soon.

  There was so much more she’d wanted to say to him about how she felt, but she couldn’t say it in a text message. She wasn’t even sure she could form the words, since they were more emotional than logical.

  How did she feel? And did she have the right to those feelings? Because she really was a mess right now. How could she bring a man into her life when said life was so unstable? She lived with her mother, she was just starting to make the salon work, and then there was Oliver. No way could she include a relationship in all of that.

  In fact, she decided the best course of action was not to think about it. Instead, she got ready to go out. She put on a skirt and top, slid into her heels and kissed both her son and her mom and headed out the door before she changed her mind about that, too.

  They met at Veronica’s house, which meant she could say hello to Veronica’s husband, Eddie, along with their three-year-old daughter, Shay, an adorable strawberry blonde with the cutest curls Hannah had ever seen. Eddie sat patiently on the floor while the toddler clipped small bows onto his hair.

  “Best you’ve ever looked, babe,” Veronica said.

  “I like the purple one the best,” Eddie said, batting his lashes at her. “Brings out my eyes.”