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Tori smiles. “Hey, you two. You didn’t have to come by.”
Mom rushes over. “Oh, anak. Are you kidding? Of course we’re here. We wanted to make sure you were okay.”
Mom hugs her. Dad steps over and greets her. While Mom and Tori chat, I notice the room is crowded at this point.
I see Theo looking around. He glances at me. “We’re probably violating some maximum room capacity policy,” he jokes.
“You’re right.” I nudge Gage, who’s tugging loose his tie. “We should step out for a bit.”
He nods. Declan, Austin, Gage, Theo, and I filter out of the room and take the elevator to the cafeteria. As we head to the beverage table and grab coffees, I notice multiple hospital workers do double-takes at us.
“I think we’re a little overdressed for this place,” Theo says. Gage chuckles.
Gage, Theo, and I grab extra coffees for Tori and everyone else still in her hospital room. When we make it back to her room, my dad’s standing outside the door, which is half open.
“Coffee?” I offer.
“Thank you.” He grabs the paper cup from my hand. “Your mom is currently telling Tori that she will prepare and deliver all meals to her for the next month so she doesn’t have to cook while she recovers.”
I chuckle before taking a sip of coffee. “Of course she is.”
Gage, Theo, Austin, and Declan are a few feet away, sitting in some chairs nearby.
My dad clears his throat. “You think you’ll be okay for your flight in the morning?”
“What do you mean?” I have no idea what he’s talking about.
“Your flight back to LA is scheduled for early tomorrow morning.” His tone is borderline indignant.
Oh, right. I live in LA now. I have a job as a line cook at MGT that I need to get back to.
I’m shaking my head even before the thought materializes.
“I’m not going back to LA,” I tell him.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Theo, Gage, Declan, and Austin whip their heads at me.
My dad frowns. “What?”
“I’m not going,” I repeat.
Clarity hits me. Actually, it feels more like it’s ramming me right in the chest.
I don’t belong in LA. I don’t belong at MGT. I belong here with Tori.
My dad shakes his head. “Tyler, what are you saying? I thought you were excited to be working at MGT.”
“I was.” I take in the look of disbelief on my dad’s face. A pang of guilt lands inside of me. This must be so disappointing to hear that his son no longer wants to work for him.
“Dad, it means so much that you gave me this opportunity. Truly. I learned a lot. And I’m certain that if I kept working there, it would do a lot for my career. But I also realized that’s not what I want. I mean, I thought I wanted that, but when I started working at MGT, I realized that it’s not the right place for me. It’s not the work I want to do. I don’t really like LA. I miss Denver. I miss the work I do on Instagram. But I miss Tori the most. I don’t want to be away from the woman I love any longer.”
My dad blinks at me, clearly surprised at what I’ve said. I glance over to Theo, Gage, Declan, and Austin. They’re all looking at me with the same intrigued look on their faces. Just then Gage nods at me, like he knows exactly what I’m talking about. He nods and starts to smile, like he’s proud of me for saying all that.
When I look back at my dad, I brace myself for his disappointed response.
But to my shock, he doesn’t appear disappointed or mad at me. He purses his lips, the look on his face thoughtful.
“I’m proud of you, son.”
