Page 35 of The Broken Hearts Club

“I know.”

“Do you? Because you literally just explained 911 to me like I’m five.”

I ignored that and told him, “I’m going to leave work by four tomorrow, so I can pick up your van. It’s supposed to be done by then.”

“I can pick it up.”

“You shouldn’t be driving. What if you pass out behind the wheel?”

“That’s not going to happen,” he said. “I have this heart monitor, but even without it I know the warning signs now, and what to watch for. If I start to feel any sort of irregular heartbeat, I can pull over and wait until it passes.”

“You’d be taking an unnecessary risk, and endangering not just yourself but everyone else on the road.”

He muttered, “I hate the fact that you have a point.”

“So, you won’t drive? You promise?”

Collie held up his hand and made some sort of gesture. “Scout’s honor.”

“You were never a scout, were you?”

“What gave me away?”

“You just signed the letter ‘K’ in ASL.”

He frowned at me. “Because of course, you were a scout.”

“I was. I made it to Eagle.”

“That’s good, right?”

“The best.”

I couldn’t tell if he was serious when he asked, “Are there other birds leading up to Eagle? Like, do you start as a swallow scout, then a pigeon, then a peacock?”

“No. There are no peacock scouts.”

“And that’s why I never enlisted.”

“You don’t enlist in the Scouts. You join.”

“I never did that, either.”

I said, “I just remembered that I got you something. Hang on.”

When I returned to the office with an Amazon box, Collie sat up and clapped his hands. “I love presents.”

Now I wished I’d gotten him something better. I sliced the tape with the tip of a pair of scissors and fished out a pair of slippers. “I promised to replace your hazardous Scooby slippers,” I said, as I handed them to him. “These were as close as I could get.”

They were printed to look like the Mystery Machine, with the whole Scooby gang looking out the van’s windshield on the top of the slipper. Since they fit snugly and had a nonslip sole, I figured they were a lot safer than his puffy, oversized pair.

He squealed with delight and put them on. Then he stuck his legs out so he could admire them. “Thank you, Miller. I love them!”

“There’s one other thing.”

I unpacked an airhorn and handed it to him. He raised a brow and said, “Thanks. Why, though?”

“I’m a really sound sleeper. If you feel like you’re going to pass out, or if you need something during the night, I might not hear you if you call out. But I’ll hear it if you push that button.”