Page 141 of Slapshot Baby

"I'm coming over tomorrow."

"You don't have to."

"I'm coming tomorrow and we’re talking about everything, including why your boyfriend's priorities are so backward that hockey comes before his child."

She hangs up before I can respond.

I force myself to stand and walk back to the couch. Kai's hoodie is draped over the arm. I pull it on and the fabric swallows me, the sleeves falling past my fingers, the hem hitting my thighs. His cedar scent wraps around me.

My phone is still in my hand. I scroll to Kai’s name, double checking it this time before calling him.

"Hey." His voice is low and warm, hitting my bloodstream faster than any IV drip the hospital pumped into me. "I was just thinking about you."

"Hi." My voice sounds like someone scraped it off a sidewalk.

"What's wrong?"

"I had a blood transfusion today."

Silence. The kind where you can hear someone's entire body go still.

"What?"

"A transfusion at the hospital. I'm home now."

"Ava, what do you mean a blood transfusion? Why? What happened?"

A drawer slams on his end, then there’s the sound of keys jiggling. He's already moving.

I want to tell him everything, but my vision is dimming at the edges. The room tilts. My hands have become very heavy.

"Ava, talk to me. I'm coming. Which hospital?"

"I'm home," I mumble. "I'm on the couch."

"I'm on my way. Stay on the phone. Ava? Ava."

His voice gets farther away.

I slide sideways into something dark and warm and quiet. The phone slips from my fingers. Biscuit whines somewhere near my ear.

The last thing I hear is Kai's voice, small and frantic through the speaker on the floor, saying my name over and over like it's the only word he knows.

24

KAI

Physical Therapy

Her front door is unlocked.

That’s what scares me the most.

Not the fact that her phone died a long time ago, while her voice was getting lower and her words slurring until I could hear her no more. Not even because I ran two red lights getting to her house, or that I pulled onto her street so fast the tires caught on the curb when I parked.

Ava doesn’t leave her door unlocked. She checks the deadbolt twice before bed.

I hope nothing has...