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Ash shakes his head, tightens his grip on my hand. “Last night can wait. I’m here for as long as you are, Hana.”
“You don’t have to do this for me,” I say, shaking my head. “You have a life and people in it and—”
“You’re my life,” Ash says, peering into my eyes. “You are my people. And so is Mr. Fisher. Even if you were away at college or something, I’d still be here.” He glances toward Teig, who is sleeping. “This is my family. We’re all family.”
“The motocross family,” I murmur, gazing out into the distance. My eyes land on a painting of a western landscape, and I pause to reflect on those words. The motocross family is a powerful thing. Once you’re in it, you’re in it for life. My dad built this particular one from the ground up. He’d had a dream about a sport. He’d worked so hard to make it happen. Without my dad’s love of motocross and passion to make his dream a reality, I wouldn’t have Ash by my side right now.
Ash exhales and drags the table of food closer to us. He takes an orange juice and opens the plastic top. “I called Shelby. She’ll be here soon. Let’s just focus on getting your dad better and then we can talk about last night. I mean, if you want to.”
I nod and reach for a muffin. “I want to.”
We wake up Teig, and he joins us for a makeshift breakfast in the waiting room. There’s no one else in here all morning, and I take that as a good sign. All of the available doctors can spend their time solely on my dad. One of the doctors walks in the waiting room just as Shelby shows up.
She runs over and gives me a quick hug before taking a seat next to Ash.
“You’re the daughter?” the doctor asks me.
I nod and I’m trying entirely too hard to decipher some kind of hidden meaning in the middle-aged man’s features. If it’s bad news, he’ll tell me soon enough, right?
“Your dad had a massive heart attack,” he begins. My own heart contracts in response and everything seems to take too damn long. Spit it out, doctor. Is my dad alive?
Ash grabs my hand and pulls it into his lap. I barely register the movement when days ago that same gesture would have been the end of me. The doctor continues, first by offering me a sad smile. “We’ve put him in a medically induced coma so that his body can heal. He needs to be still and relaxed so that his heart is working just as needed and nothing more.”
“And he’ll be okay?” Ash says the words I’d been thinking.
The doctor nods. “I think he’ll make a recovery, yes.”
My relief is so great it comes out in a sob. Tears fill my eyes. “Thanks, doctor,” I manage to say. He says a few more doctor-medical things that I don’t really understand, but Ash nods along and asks some questions, too, so maybe he gets it. Maybe he can tell me about it later.
Finally, the doctor looks to me, his expression serious in a way that it wasn’t before. “Right now your main concern should be taking care of your mother. She’s refusing to eat or sleep, and she’s too worried for her own good. I’d like you go to back there and talk with her; try to get her to go home and get some rest.”
I nod. “Yes, sir. I’ll try.”
“Also, if there’s anything at home that you can help out with, that would really help your dad a lot. He’ll be here for several more days, and when he gets out, do everything you can to make his life as stress-free as possible. I’ll have counselors go over all of this with you, but for now, as far as pets, maintenance, general cleanliness…just see to it that the house is taken care of while he’s gone.”
I nod. “I will, thank you.”
“That’s a good point,” Ash says after the doctor has walked away. “I’ll mow your lawn for you while I’m in town. My mom will be happy to cook for you, too. Anything you need, we’ll help out.”
“You’re leaving tomorrow,” I say, breaking the promise I’d made to myself. I wasn’t supposed to fret about Ash anymore, but the truth is that he’s expected back in California tomorrow morning. And he can’t exactly mow yards when he’s not here.
There’s a shadow in his eyes but he tries to hide it. “I’ll fly back after the race.”
Shelby nods, and wraps me in another hug. If she’s noticed that Ash is holding my hand, she hasn’t said anything. “We’ll take care of you and Molly. It’ll all be okay.”
“Yeah,” I say, forcing a smile. It’ll be fine.
But I’m not worried about the stupid yard or dinners or even keeping the bills paid while dad’s gone.
I’m worried about the Regionals this weekend. About the fact that this one race alone will provide almost half of the track’s yearly income. Without Dad, how the hell are we going to pull that off?
Chapter 24
A few days later, Dad is out of the coma but still heavily medicated. The doctors are giving him a good prognosis, saying he should be able to come home in a week or so. He’ll probably need surgery later, but for now he’s alive. He’s been moved into a regular hospital room and out of intensive care. Without that wonderful news, I’m not sure how I’d be functioning. Molly has completely lost it. She’s been sitting next to Dad’s hospital bed every single day. And night. She hasn’t showered, and she’s only eaten a few things thanks to me practically force feeding her.
Luckily, Teig and I can manage on our own. We?
??ve ordered take out for lunch and gone to the Carter’s for dinner these last few days, but we’re managing. I spend most of my time at the track trying to keep things running smoothly, but I make sure to visit Dad every day. Teig has been really mature about the whole thing, and even though we’re both worried for Dad, he’s staying remarkably strong.
