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When I stopped for gas, I called Ben and got the hospital information, and let him know I’d be there within the hour. Somehow, the last hour, felt more like three, and when the hospital finally came into view, I wondered if it was like seeing a mirage in the desert. I wandered the halls, stopping once to ask for directions, and eventually went down the right hallway and spotted Ben and my mom lingering.
“Allison!” My mom yelled, breaking into a trot as soon as she spotted me. Ben was right on her heels, and within seconds they both had me gripped in a tight embrace. I burst into tears and sagged against them, overwhelmed with thankfulness that I’d made it, and that they were finally within reach.
“Oh honey, you’re soaked through!” My mom said as we all untangled from one another. “Let me get you something from my overnight bag and you can go change.”
I wiped away a streak of tears. “Can I see Daddy first?”
“Of course! Oh honey…” She wrapped her arms around me and held me for another minute. When she finally released me, she kept one arm around my waist and Ben opened the door to the room, letting us both inside. The room was small, but someone had rolled in a cot that was laid out with rumpled sheets next to the bed my dad was lying in. My gaze dragged over all the details of the room, noting the multiple floral arrangements on the counter by the sink, and the cards taped to the mirror, before lifting my eyes to see my dad. I stifled a sob as I took it all in. He was still sleeping, and while he looked peaceful, I was shocked by how he looked small, lying on the hospital bed, amid the careful arrangement of wires and tubes. His hands and arms were covered with bruises, probably from the various IV’s used during the surgeries, and now, to attach him to the machines that hummed and buzzed in the background. Something about seeing my six-foot dad so small in the hospital tugged at my heart and I felt myself misting up again as I just stared at him.
“Is he okay?” I asked, trying to keep the tremble out of my voice.
My mom looked up at me from across the bed, and nodded her head, but I could see the question in her own eyes.
“He’s going to be fine, Allie,” Ben assured me. He wrapped an arm around my mom and pulled her into his side and squeezed her shoulder. “The doctors and nurses all have positive things to say and they haven’t spent that much time hovering, which I can only assume is a good sign.”
“Your brother’s right, he’ll pull through.”
I nodded again and tried to tamp down the guilt that had consumed me since I received my mom’s phone call. I hadn’t been home in quite a long time and the fact that this is what it took to get me here made me feel like the worst daughter in the world. It didn’t matter what Cooper said, I should have been there. When I left home, I’d been running from so many different things, I hadn’t stopped to consider what I was leaving behind. My oldest brother, Luke, had left home when he was 18 and I’d seen firsthand how it had affected my parents, but when my time to run came, it didn’t seem to matter. Ben, on the other hand, had stayed nearby, and ran a local auto body shop. As I stared at him across my father’s hospital bed, I was silently grateful for the fact he’d stayed close to home and had been able to be by my mom’s side since day one of this nightmare.
“Is Luke coming?” I asked, my voice quiet.
My mom looked up at me, tears rimming her eyes, and shook her head no. Ben’s face crumpled into an expression that appeared to be a mix between anger and despair. I wanted to ask more—to find out where he was and what his excuse was this time, but the grief on my mom’s face silenced me. Ben glanced at me and I knew he’d tell me later, once we were alone. I could only imagine what it was this time. The last time I’d asked about Luke, he’d been working some kind of sales job, and besides sending home generous checks around the holidays, no one had heard much from him. I couldn’t imagine he was missing this, even though things seem to be turning around, I couldn’t help but wonder what if the outcome had been different? Would he have come if surgery hadn’t gone well? Or would he have simply waited until the funeral?
I shuddered at the idea of a funeral, and pushed the dark thought from my mind.
I heard soft footsteps behind me, and automatically took a sidestep—assuming it was a nurse coming to check on my dad. Ben was standing on the opposite side of the bed, next to my mom, and when he caught my attention, he looked over and jerked a nod of his chin towards the door. I turned back to see what he was pointing at, and my heart jumped into my throat at the sight of Cooper crossing the room, balancing three paper coffee cups in his hands. “Here you go, Mrs. Rand.”
“Cooper!” I yelped.
His eyes flew to mine. “Hey baby,” he flashed me a quick smile before continuing across the room to hand off one of the cups to my mom and then to Ben. “When did you get here?”
I sputtered for a few seconds before my words could get traction. “When did I get here? What are you doing here? And when? And how? And why?”
I’d make a riveting journalist.
Cooper smiled in his calm, cool, relaxed way and rounded the foot of the bed. He pulled me into a firm embrace and despite my irritation—and the unanswered questions—my body relaxed and melted against him, soaking in his warmth and strength. He held me for a long minute, before I pulled back a step. “Cooper, what’s going on?”
I shot a glance past his shoulder, in time to catch a small grin between my mom and Ben. How long had they known he was here? How had he introduced himself? A spark of panic flickered in the back of my mind. I hadn’t told my parents—or my brothers—about Cooper. Had he introduced himself as my boyfriend, lover, boss, friend? And what had they said in response?
“You didn’t tell us you had a boyfriend,” my mom prodded gently.
Well I guess that answered that question.
“It’s new,” I said, shooting a questioning look in Cooper’s direction. He just smiled back and kept a firm hold on my shoulder.
My mom waved a hand, and I knew there were no hard feelings, if any
thing, the giant smile that had spread across her face tipped me off that Cooper had probably said a little more than I’d ever expected. “Well, I don’t know why you were hiding him, honey. He’s absolutely adorable!” She was practically purring as she beamed over at the two of us standing together.
Before I could think of anything else to say, a nurse entered the room, and after introducing herself to me, shooed us all from the room so she could change my dad’s bedding. Cooper grabbed my hand, locking our fingers together, and led me from the room. Out in the hall we all gathered around a cluster of chairs and the three of them sipped nonchalantly at the coffees Cooper had brought.
“Are you serious?” I asked shooting each of them a glance. “Is anyone going to tell me what’s going on?”
“What do you mean dear?” My mom replied.
I turned to Cooper, narrowing my eyes in his direction, giving him my best icy stare. “I mean, what are you doing here? You didn’t tell me you were coming when we talked on the phone last night.”
My mom and Ben dropped their gazes to the floor, studying their shoes for a beat before my mom chimed in, “Ben, darling, why don’t we go take a little walk, stretch our legs, maybe get a refill at the coffee shop. Would either of you like anything?”
