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My own coffee went cold as I waited, ignoring my cracked phone as it blew up in my pocket. I’d heard from basically all my friends, my moms multiple times. Outside of telling them I’d gotten here okay, I answered none of them. I was too busy battling the war consuming my brain. That I’d been the reason my stepsister was here, that I was the reason our parents currently didn’t know anything about her state and we were all left in gut-rupturing fear of the unknown. Rick had come back multiple times after turning in Cleo’s paperwork. But each time, no information. He checked every hour on the hour, but eventually, decided his time was better spent with his wife.
He currently held her hand now, rubbing it with a far off look in his eyes. I was responsible for that.
I guessed I really had ruined his life.
I ruined both him and his wife, a shell of the people they’d been before I’d made it into their lives, and Cleo? God, Cleo was somewhere in this hospital now possibly fighting for her goddamn life. That was me. This one was on me.
“Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild?”
It was like their number was up, a golden ticket arriving that was both desired and unwanted when a doctor in blue scrubs with a kind smile appeared in front of my dad and Cleo’s mom.
The pair stood on autopilot.
“Yes. Yes, that’s us,” Rick said, “Do you have an update about our daughter?”
I stood too, as if I could. As if I had the right. Despite that, I couldn’t help myself. I needed to know she was okay.
I needed to know I hadn’t lost her.
I did that, and I could walk away, let her live her life. She’d live a safe life, a happy life, but before, I had to have that one thing. Selfish, I knew.
“I do,” the doctor said, and though her smile was kind, warm, it didn’t reassure. There was no false hope there, this kind smile the best she could give us. “I’m Dr. Fieldhouse. I’m the one who performed surgery on your daughter Cleo. She’s sustained some significant injuries. Do you know the details of the accident?”
“Just that she was texting.” Cleo’s mom leaned into my dad, the man holding her close. She’d explained that detail to him too, and though neither of them had given me grief, it was all out there. We all knew why Cleo was here.
Just find out if she’s okay, and you can let her go.
I had to. There really was no world in which this girl and me should be together. I knew that now, everything I’d texted to her this morning stupid. My phone had died last night, which was the only reason I waited to do it today. I realized the device was dead this morning, charged it, and odds were, all those texts had been what she was trying to respond to today.
God, I’m such a fucking idiot.
All this shit really was coming in full circle, my breath a heavy one as I slid my hands inside my pockets and forced myself to listen.
“She was,” the doctor said, frowning. “It was a pretty bad pile up. Cleo was hit from several angles.”
“But is she okay?” Rick asked, rubbing Maggie’s arm. “My wife said she had to have surgery.”
“She did, but there were no complications. In fact, Cleo’s doing quite well despite the extent of her injuries. She had a few broken ribs, a shoulder injury, and some cranial damage. The blow to her head was the most severe, but we were able to act quickly. She had some swelling to her brain, but we were able to release the pressure.”
“Oh my God.” Maggie squeezed Rick’s side. “My child had brain surgery?”
“She did, but the surgery was successful. We’ll have to monitor her overnight, of course, but we’re very hopeful she’s out of the dark there.”
“Can we see her?” Maggie started to go that way, but the doctor held up her hands.
“Normally, this is the point where, yes, we would say that, but there’s an issue that requires urgency, and that’s why I’ve come to speak with the family now.”
“But you said you felt she was out of the dark,” Rick said. “I don’t understand.”
“Regarding her head injury, yes.” Dr. Fieldhouse nodded. “But there are some internal injuries that hold our concern. More specifically, surrounding Cleo’s kidneys. She was impacted pretty severely on her left side, which has left the state of that kidney in pretty bad shape.”
“How bad?” My stepmom bunched Rick’s shirt.
The doctor sighed. “It’s destroyed I’m afraid. It’ll have to be removed.”
“But she can function with one, right?” Rick asked, the first waver I’d heard in his voice. He’d kept it together, together completely through this whole thing. “People can function just fine with one.”
“Again, normally.”
