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Chapter 23
Levi
As I began the walk from the parking lot of the rehab center to the front entrance, I asked myself again what the hell I was doing. I’d spent the morning avoiding Phoenix, going so far as to turn off my phone so I wouldn’t be tempted to answer his calls, yet here I was, rushing to his side.
After leaving him in bed, I’d walked to the nearest bus stop and had begun the journey of making my way back to my apartment. It had taken over an hour and several transfers. But I hadn’t actually gone to my apartment. No, I’d stopped at Dina’s and pounded on her door until she’d woken up and answered it. I hadn’t even gotten her permission before I’d strode into the apartment to get Henry from his crib. I’d merely told Dina I was taking him and that I’d bring him back later. She’d spouted some shit about having plans with a friend, but I’d ignored her. The fact that she’d made plans for a work day had me guessing she’d lost yet another job. Normally, that fact would have pissed me off, but I was kind of glad because when I called Children’s Services, it would go a long way in proving Dina wasn’t fit to care for Henry.
My plan was to make the call the following day, so I’d decided to spend today saying my goodbyes.
To Henry.
To Father O.
But my visit to Father O had changed things.
I’d still had Henry with me when I’d entered the church and found Father O replacing candles. He’d been relieved to see me, though I hadn’t understood why until he’d mentioned that Phoenix had stopped by looking for me. I’d made up some excuse about Phoenix probably wanting to talk to me about our shift that afternoon and had prepared myself to tell Father O that I wouldn’t be able to volunteer anymore. I hadn’t planned on telling him why, since I’d known he’d find out soon enough when he saw the news about me admitting to the Nichols family home invasion.
But before I could say anything, Father O had mentioned how worried he was about Phoenix because of the phone call Phoenix had gotten while they were talking.
The phone call about his daughter.
I’d been surprised to learn that Phoenix had told Father O about Amani, but all of that had disappeared as soon as Father O had explained that the call Phoenix had received had been about some kind of emergency with the little girl. Phoenix had left right after that, but not before asking Father O to give me a message.
Tell him to trust me just one more time.
One more time. I didn’t know what that meant, but it was a request that was hard to ignore. If I hadn’t heard about Amani, I might have managed it. But concern for Phoenix had overshadowed my judgment.
What if something had happened with Amani’s condition? What if she’d taken a turn for the worse? Phoenix was alone. He had no family to lean on if the worst did happen.
It was that thought that’d had me saying my goodbyes to Father O and hurrying back to Dina’s place to drop Henry off. As much as I hated taking Henry back to Dina, I needed to be able to focus on Phoenix while I was at the rehab center. I had to hope that Henry would be okay for one more day.
Once I’d dropped Henry off, I’d gone to my own apartment to get my father’s car keys. I’d seen his car out front and had known what it’d meant. He’d called in sick to work…that, or he’d gotten fired. I didn’t care either way because starting tomorrow, he was on his own. And I found that I didn’t care.
He’d been passed out on the couch when I’d walked in the door. In the past, I’d always looked at him through the fearful eyes of a child, but all I’d seen this afternoon was a pathetic old man who’d never been my father.
Because my father would have protected me.
The walk to the rehab center took longer than it had last time I’d been here with Phoenix, because I had to park in the lot on the farthest side of the building due to construction that was happening near the entrance. A large pond separated the parking lot from the building, so I cut through the grass and walked alongside the pond rather than on the walkway. As I got closer to the entrance, I could see a little girl standing several feet back from the water. She was feeding the ducks from a bag of bread. A young man and little boy were several hundred feet away playing on a small playset that was part of a little playground. I guessed the girl to be maybe eight or nine and the boy only three or so. I could see the little boy smiling as he and the young man played, but I couldn’t hear them over the sound of the construction work happening just up the hill from the pond.
