“Acute rehabilitation. Already?” Elaine sounded skeptical of the decision. Dr. Vale had rounded up Chad’s family and Katie to hold a family conference of sorts, with the main goal of explaining Chad’s transfer and answering any questions they may have.
“It’s been more than two weeks since the motor vehicle accident,” Dr. Vale explained with a brief nod. He’d obviously anticipated the hesitation he was being met with. “As I have explained somewhat to you, Chad, a recent x-ray has shown the progression of healing of the collapsed lung. Your fractured ribs, while not fully healed, are on the mend, and you’ll still require pain medication on an as-needed basis if and when the pain hinders you from taking deep breaths. As for the trochanteric fracture and the pelvis fractures, I said it once before; the surgeries were successful and have repaired your injuries as best as possible. You’ve shown how strong you are, Chad. Now, the rest is up to you and your determination.”
Chad was still reclined in his bed, still in a hospital gown and covered to the hips with a drab-looking blanket. Katie and his family knew that the physiotherapist and nursing staff had begun to aid him daily in trying to mobilize, but she had no idea where he was exactly with that, mostly because Chad refused to allow her—or any member of his family, for that matter—to be with him when the therapists came. He also wouldn’t discuss his mobility status, leaving every one of them in the dark with regard to his progress.
As Dr. Vale signaled him out, Chad’s eyes darted from Jillian and his mom, to Katie—once again ignoring his father completely—but he gave the doctor a curt nod. He’d stayed relatively quiet throughout the duration of the meeting. He obviously had no intention of changing that.
“And when can this transfer take place?” Again, Elaine couldn’t hide her hesitation. Katie couldn’t help but agree with her. Were the doctors pushing Chad too quickly, expecting too much too fast? Or was Chad behind the expedited transfer, pushing his own limits?
“Two days’ time, Mrs. Kirkwood. Perhaps tomorrow, but therapy wouldn’t formally start until the next day. Chad, here, has already advised me of his agreement with this transfer, so I am confident we’re making the correct choice. You have a very strong son.” Dr. Vale offered her an encouraging smile.
Katie shifted her gaze to Chad, but he wouldn’t meet her eyes. He’d already agreed to the transfer to acute rehabilitation...without letting her know anything about it. The reality of his solitary decision stung, but she understood. He was struggling with his injuries and lack of mobility and freedom. He would want to push through this and get back to his own life as quickly as possible. Katie admired his determination, and she always would love that about him, but she feared his quest to heal too quickly could hamper his progress rather than speed it up.
She also wondered if he was okay—not physically, but mentally. Emotionally. He’d barely mentioned the accident itself, or the series of events that had preceded it. He wouldn’t discuss his injuries, choosing instead to make small talk with her or focus his attention on Mason, who gladly accepted the chance to play cards or write funny songs with him.
“Are you sure—” Hayden’s voice broke through her thoughts, but Chad cut him off.
“Yes,” he stated in a clipped tone. “I’m sure.” He turned to the doctor near the foot of his bed. “Thank you, Dr. Vale.”
With that, the doctor ended the meeting and carried on with his rounds, leaving Chad surrounded by Katie and his family. He refused to look up until, at the last moment, he caught Katie’s stare. She held it, refusing to look away, even as Hayden and Elaine quietly left the room.
“Your dad was only trying to help you,” she advised, once she knew his parents were out of earshot. “You know, you can’t keep pushing everyone away. I can’t even begin to imagine how hard this is on you, Chad, but they’re suffering, too.” She pointed a finger in the direction his parents had gone. “Your parents and sister flew here thinking they might lose you. Hell, I thought I was going to lose you. But you’ve been given another chance here. Don’t mess it up just because it’s easier to be angry than to resolve the issue.”
“I’m not angry—”
“You are. Maybe not at me, or at the situation you’re in—which you’d have every right to be, by the way. But you’re still angry with your father, and you need to fix that. The sooner, the better.” Katie reached out a hand and ran her fingers softly down the side of his face, careful to use no pressure against the yellowish bruising that was beginning to fade. “Talk to him. I mean it. I’ll see you later.”
“Where are you going?” Chad looked appalled that she was leaving. So much so, that she fought the urge to find it amusing.
“I’m taking Mason back to your apartment with your parents. Visiting hours are over, and you need rest.”
“You can stay, though. The nurses won’t say anything, you know that.”
The suppressed laughter escaped from her lips. “Chad, you sound like Mason when he’s whining to spend five more minutes in here with you. I think he’s rubbing off on you, and not the other way around.”
Chad rolled his eyes, but there was amusement set in the lines of his face as well. “Well, just five more minutes, then?”
She shook her head, still chuckling as she bent forward to kiss him softly. “Mason needs a night with a normal dinner and an early bedtime. You both need rest. I’ll be here in the morning, okay?”
He sighed, but his shoulders lowered, giving in. “I love you, Katie.”
She beamed at him. “Even after...everything?”
“Especially after everything.”
***
“Can I have another slice, Ms. Mom?”
Katie’s eyes bulged dramatically as she reached into the middle of the table and reopened the pizza box. She pulled a slice of pepperoni pizza onto the plate he held out to her, the cheese stretching in a long string before snapping toward him, making Mason giggle.
“Someone’s hungry,” she teased.
“It’s pizza. I could eat a hundred thousand slices!”
“If that’s the case, I can’t afford to feed you.” Katie laughed, followed by choked laughter from Jillian and her parents from across the table.
Three hours since visiting hours and two large pizzas later, something that resembled easiness and comfort had been established within the walls of Chad’s apartment. No hotel room could ever compare to the hominess of a real, lived-in apartment, and, for the tenth time that evening, she telepathically sent Chad a message of thanks at offering to let them all remain at his place instead of the hotel.
It was a bit awkward, though. She’d walked in to find everything almost exactly as it had been the night she’d come there, before Chad’s accident, and before everything else in her life began to blow up.
That night, she hadn’t known there was already a slow burn beginning to spark when it came to the heated triangle consisting of her, Chad, and Jay. Just waiting to be fueled so it could fully ignite. Or, maybe she did know or at least should have known, and she’d ignored all the warning signs.
Foolish, foolish girl.
Nevertheless, walking back into that apartment, without Chad, and with his parents in tow, had curdled her stomach. Everything was neat and tidy, but Katie saw the two coffee mugs still sitting upside down in the dish rack, and the bed sheets from Chad’s bed still sitting wrinkled in the dryer. Heat immediately burned in her cheeks, and she was careful not to look his mother in the eye as she helped her to make Chad’s bed so she and Hayden could sleep there.
A phone suddenly rang shrilly on the kitchen counter, and Katie recognized the ringtone as her own. She arched a brow as she pushed her chair from the dining room table and went to it, praying it wasn’t Jay.
Chad’s name glowed back at her on the screen.
She answered it with a grin on her face. “Someone got their cell phone back.”
“I really don’t like being here, knowing you’re in my apartment. I want to be there with you, doing what we did l
ast time you were there.”
It took all of two seconds for Katie’s face to turn crimson red, and she turned her back to his family, who were watching her questioningly. “That makes two of us.”
Chad’s laughter rang out in her ear. “You sound strangled. Let me guess, my parents are standing right there with you.”
“You’re exactly right,” she breathed, trying to keep her voice even.
“Well, that makes this even more fun for me, now doesn’t it?”
Katie leaned against the kitchen counter, pleased to hear the smile in his voice. She’d missed that. “Someone’s got a sunnier disposition.”
“Just imagine how sunny it would be if we were together and not talking on the damn cell phone. You should really come here.”
“Oh, guilt. Nice touch,” she jeered.
“It was worth a shot. It’s not working, is it?”
“I can’t, and I stand by my decision,” Katie stated unsteadily.
Chad laughed again. “I’m pretty sure your voice just wavered.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re hearing things.”
He laughed louder, and Katie couldn’t help but smile. There he was; the old Chad, the one she’d feared she’d lost in the accident.
“God, I miss you. All of you.” The sincerity in Chad’s voice caused a lump to form in Katie’s throat. No playful guilt trip accompanied his words this time. “But I actually didn’t call to talk to you.”
“Wow, you really know how to make a girl feel special,” she chuckled, rounding the corner of the kitchen island out of range of his family. “A couple joking comments, then you want to talk to my son instead?”
“Oh, I wasn’t joking about any of it. And, actually, I was wondering if you could pass the phone to my father.”
On many occasions, Chad had surprised her. Upon hearing his request, however, someone could have knocked her over with a feather. “Of course,” she replied, dazed. “Just one second.”
“I love you, Katie. You don’t have to say it back with my family standing right there.”
“I love you, too.”
She’d said it without hesitation, not giving a damn if anyone overheard, and then went back around the kitchen island and into the dining room, holding her cell phone out to Hayden. “It’s for you.”
Hayden looked more shocked than confused, but he took the phone from her without protest. Anxiousness outlined his expression, however, and Katie knew he must have guessed it was Chad on the line. She didn’t stay to eavesdrop. Instead, she busied herself with removing her plate from the table, doing the same with Mason’s when he went in to get ready for a bath. When she did look back over toward the table, however, Elaine was staring from Hayden to Katie and back again. She caught Katie’s glance and mouthed, Is that Chad?
Katie nodded, and one side of her mouth upturned when Elaine closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh, as though the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders.
“I’m going to the hospital. Does anyone need anything while I’m out?” Hayden asked as he stood, acting like it was just another everyday jaunt to the convenience store, and not a meeting with the son he hadn’t spoken to in twelve years. He handed the phone back to Katie wordlessly, but Hayden’s eyes held hers for a moment, and Katie thought she saw the corners brimming with tears. He headed for the door.
Elaine intercepted him before he left, and whispers carried through to the dining room where Katie and Jillian now stood, unsure whether to ask questions or remain silent. Hayden left after kissing his wife’s forehead gently, and Elaine remained by the entrance, staring at the closed door and clutching her hands tightly to her chest. She turned around after a long moment, staring at Katie with such emotion that she actually wondered if something was wrong.
“Thank you,” Chad’s mother choked out, overcome with emotion.
“Don’t thank me.” Katie held her hands up, her eyes wide. “I didn’t do anything. Chad did.”
“Liz tried for years to get him to...to convince our son...” It was no use. Elaine couldn’t form full sentences through the tears and sobs that flooded from her.
Katie stayed in place, unmoving, and Jillian leaned sideways to whisper into her ear.
“Looks like you finally proved yourself to them.”
She wasn’t sure if she should feel relieved or celebratory over the idea, but she was. A grin tugged at the corners of her mouth when she realized that, as much as she hadn’t been trying to get in their good books or prove she was worthy of their son’s affection, if this meant she had accomplished that, she’d damn well take it.
Chapter Ten
Hayden had been gone almost an hour. Fifty-eight minutes by Katie’s cell phone, but she wouldn’t admit to Elaine or Jillian that she’d been watching the clock tick by. She was a nervous wreck, to say the least. It shouldn’t bother her that Chad and his father were finally going to discuss their past, but it did. If the conversation didn’t go well, not only would Chad have her to blame for convincing him to resurrect the past, but any common ground she’d found with Hayden and Elaine would be lost.
“If you look at that phone again, I’m taking it from you,” Jillian smirked. “Chad and Dad are fine. Well, at least the nurses haven’t called to say a fist fight broke out in the ICU.”
Katie set the phone down on the arm of the sofa she was stretched out on. “Your father wouldn’t hit a wounded man, would he?” she pondered jokingly. Mostly, anyway.
“It wasn’t Dad I was worried about.”
“Oh, Jillian. Enough.” Elaine did her best to sound disapproving, but her words her edged with softness. She and Chad’s sister occupied the couch adjacent to the one Katie was on, with an end table situated where the corners of both couches met. Mason had promptly fallen asleep following his bath, which left him smelling oddly grown up since all she could find to wash his hair was Chad’s shampoo/body wash combination. He smelled like Chad, which he thought was extremely cool, and which Katie thought was a little difficult to handle.
So, after tucking Mason into bed in the spare bedroom—she had insisted that Elaine and Hayden take Chad’s room, not only because she felt it would be unbearable to sleep in there knowing Chad was alone in the hospital, but also because the bed was bigger—and helping the women with cleanup of the table and dinner dishes, they’d all settled into their respective places in the living room, Elaine with her Sudoku book, and Jillian and Katie with their cell phones, content to engage in sporadic banter in hushed tones.
The quietness in the apartment made Katie’s ringing cell phone sound like an alarm going off, and everyone jumped at the sudden shrillness of it. Katie dove for the phone, worried it would wake up Mason.
“Hello?” She answered without checking the display screen, her heart still pulsing wildly in her chest.
“Hey, Katie.”
“Oh, hey.” Hearing Jay’s voice caught her by surprise, and she shook her head at Elaine and Jillian to let them know it wasn’t Chad.
“Can I talk to Mason?”
She picked up on the fact that he was asking, not demanding, which was a nice change. “You can’t, actually. He’s asleep.”
“Where are you two? At the hospital?”
“We’re staying at Chad’s apartment,” she told him cautiously.
Wisely, Jay didn’t respond to her admission. She wondered if maybe he was sick of all the fighting, too. If he was, that was finally something they could agree on.
As though summoned, Mason trudged out of the bedroom, wiping his partially opened eyes. He made his way over to Katie, crawling up onto the couch with her without a word.
“One sec, Jay. Mason just woke up.” She pulled the phone away from her ear and held it out to her son. “It’s Dad. You awake enough to talk?”
Mason perked up at the mention of his father, and his excitement pulled at Katie’s heartstrings. He hadn’t tried to contact either her or Mason since the day he’d shown up at the hospital. Mason hadn’t s
aid anything, but it obviously had been weighing on him. His movements were awkward, his limbs still heavy with sleep, but Mason plucked the phone from Katie’s fingers and crawled back off the couch, disappearing back into the spare bedroom to talk to his father.
“I’ll bet you anything, right now, he’s asking Mason if he was actually asleep,” Katie said, letting her head tilt to the right to face Elaine and Jillian.
Elaine gave a noncommittal nod. “Mason’s daddy, huh? I must say, he didn’t strike me as a very nice man. What’s the story with you two, if you don’t mind me asking?”
It was the first real point-blank question Elaine had asked her, and Katie wasn’t even sure how, or if, she should answer it. “It’s kind of a long story,” she replied.
“We’ve got time,” Jillian quipped. “It’s not like we’ve got much else going on right now.”
Maybe not, but Katie understood that her truthful answer would shatter the images and beliefs Chad’s family held of Chad’s past, mostly because it would change their view of the Liz they’d always held in such high regard. “Jay left last spring...” she began, and immediately regretted her choice of words. Why hadn’t she just said they’d parted ways or something vague and poetic like that? Jillian was all over it in a matter of seconds.
“Did he cheat on you?” she blurted, and Elaine reached over and gave her daughter a swat on the knee, making a tut! tut! noise with her tongue to silence her.
“Well, yes, actually.” There was no use denying it.
“Shameful!” Elaine hissed.
“That’s horrible, Katie. That some hussy—”
Jillian’s impending rant was cut off by the reappearance of Mason, and Katie was so relieved to see him she could’ve laughed so hard she cried.
He held the phone out to her, his face split in an ear-to-ear grin. “Dad wants to talk to you. He wants me to hang out with him in a few days. Can I?”
The room grew quiet as she took the phone from Mason. “Give me a chance to talk to him, okay, Mase?” Mason stood ridiculously close to her, not bothering to move as she put the phone to her ear. He was eager, that much was clear.
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