THEO
It’s just past one in the morning. My legs are stretched out in front of me and crossed at the ankles. The emergency waiting room is finally quiet since most of Sierra’s friends left a little after 10:00 p.m. when the doctor came out and gave us an update, telling us she was going to be just fine.
I would have left, too, but Caleb’s parents insisted on staying, so I stuck around as well. My eyes are now past the point of being dry, and I think I dozed off a couple of times in the last hour.
“You know you don’t have to stay with us,” my uncle, Jensen, says from beside me. “We can meet you at the house.”
“What kind of nephew would I be if I just left you alone in a new town by yourself?”
He just smirks. “The smart kind.” He slaps my leg, and I look up at the television in the corner of the room, which has been playing the whole night with no sound.
The doors swing open, and Caleb comes out. His face is finally getting a little bit of color back. The whole night, he seemed one second away from passing out, and then, in an instant, he looked like he wanted to destroy the walls in the room. I sit up as he comes in. Sierra’s parents get up and go to him. “How is she doing?” her mother, Marian, asks him.
“She’s coming in and out,” he reports. Sierra’s father puts his arm around Marian as she picks up her hand with a white Kleenex in it, silently crying. “Would you like to go in and sit with her? Figured we can take shifts.”
“I would like that very much,” Marian sniffles and smiles, her eyes rimmed red with all the tears she’s cried.
She and Joseph walk through the swinging doors to Sierra’s room.
“How you holding up?” Caleb’s mother, Hailey, gets up from her seat and rushes to him, rubbing his arm. “Do you want to sit down? Do you want something to drink?” She looks around at the cups of coffee Everleigh brought from the bakery. “You should eat something.”
“No, Mom,” he answers softly, “I’m okay.”
“But you didn’t eat anything.” Her voice is low.
“He’s going to eat when he’s ready to eat,” Jensen interjects. He’s now stretched out just like I was, with his hands on his stomach. “Leave him be.”
“I’m good, Mom,” Caleb assures her softly, then he looks at me. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“He’s the most polite when he’s tired,” I mumble to Jensen, making him laugh. “I think what you are supposed to say is, ‘Theo, thank you so much for staying here and making sure I’m okay.’”
“Yeah, whatever,” Caleb says, “but seriously, why didn’t you leave with everyone else?”
“And leave these two alone? Where would the fun in that be? Let’s say something happened to Sierra, and you go apeshit bonkers.” I sit up. “That makes your mother go a bit more bonkers. Which then would make your father really go bonkers. Who is going to keep everyone calm?” I wait for him to answer.
“I would have been okay,” Hailey says, and Jensen gives her a look that says he doesn’t believe a word she says.
“Sure, you would have been because I would have talked you down.” I stand up. “Okay, then. Since I’m really not needed . . . Aunty Hailey,” I walk to her, “you call me when you’re ready to come to the house, and I’ll come and get you.” I kiss her cheek, and she puts her hand on it, just like she did when I was younger. “I might even let him come with us.” I point over my shoulder at my uncle.
“As if he would leave me alone.” She rolls her eyes and then turns to her husband.
“Till death do us part.” He smiles at her big.
“Or till I kill you, either-or,” Hailey retorts.
“I’m heading out.” I look at Caleb. “Unless you want me to stay, man. Say the word.”
“No, no.” He shakes his head. “She’s going to be fine, we’ll be good.”
“I’m a phone call away,” I remind him, and he nods at me before I turn and walk out of the emergency room. The sun is long gone, and in its place is a quarter moon that barely lights the sky. The warm breeze rolls through as I walk to my truck and open the cab door.
I get in and opt to drive home with the windows down. There isn’t another car on the road. The soft chirp of crickets sounds in the distance.
As I pull into my driveway, all the houses are quiet, with their inside lights off, while some have their porch lights illuminated. I walk up the steps, and the crick in my neck starts to nag me.
I slide the key in the lock and turn it. Stepping into the darkness of the house, I bend to untie the laces of my construction boots before I’m able to kick them off. I bypass everything and make my way up to the shower. Taking my phone out, I see I have texts from Mikaela.
Mikaela:
