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She called her mother first. If her father was on the way to the hospital now and was awake and talking enough to have her called, there wasn’t a need for her to rush there. She didn’t know anything about his medical history, so she’d be of no help at the moment.
“Kendra,” her mother said. “What’s going on? You don’t normally call me during the day.”
She took a deep breath. “Dad’s neighbor just called me. Dad fell down the stairs and Clinton found him and called the ambulance. Guess Dad asked him to call me.”
“And that pisses you off?” her mother asked.
She sighed, realizing her tone of voice was sharper than normal. “Yes, it does,” she said. “I haven’t talked to him in years. I don’t even know how long. Maybe five or more. I don’t keep track. When I did talk to him it felt forced at best and was only a few times a year. Now he gets hurt and wants me called.”
“He probably has no one else,” her mother said.
“Not my problem,” she said. “Maybe he should see what it’s like to be left alone.”
Her mother sighed. “We had each other.”
“I was a kid and you were going blind. Really? No comparison.”
“You have every right to feel the way you do. But you’re better than him. Did Clinton say how badly your father is hurt? Maybe it’s not a big deal, but your father still wanted you to be aware. If something happened to you I’d call him.”
She knew her mother was right. “He said Dad must have hit his head and been knocked out but came to and was calling for help. His leg is broken, is my guess. He couldn’t move.”
“What are you going to do?” her mother asked.
“I suppose I should go to the hospital and find out what I can. I wasn’t going to rush there. I could be sitting around with no answers for hours. Am I a horrible person to feel that way when I haven’t talked to the guy in years?”
“No,” her mother said. “I’m sure you can call and find out if he’s there or anything else. Can’t you?”
“I’ll do that now. I doubt I’ll get through to anyone, but it’s worth a shot.”
She hung up with her mother and spent another hour on the phone being patched around, disconnected and then finally talked to someone that said her father was in a room in the ER and being attended to but nothing more. They did tell her she’d be allowed in to be with him.
She was almost hoping that wasn’t the case but wouldn’t be that horrible of a person.
She shut her computer down, then went to see if Cade was in his office. It was only one and he could be out to lunch. She wasn’t going to call Ella and bother her with this, but she had to tell someone she was leaving.
Cade wasn’t there, but she knew Brody was. She didn’t need to report to anyone if she had to leave, no one other than Ella, but she didn’t feel right not telling at least someone.
Before she got down the stairs, Cade was coming up. “Hey, I was looking for you. I need to leave for the afternoon and wanted you to know.”
“No problem,” Cade said. “Everything okay with your mother?”
That brought a smile to her face. If it was something with Ivan, Cade would probably know, so he assumed or worried it might be her mother.
Men she worked for and hadn’t known that long had concern for her mother when her father couldn’t.
“Yes, she’s fine,” she said. No reason to go into details of where she was going. She didn’t like bringing drama into the office.
She drove to the hospital and tried to calm herself down over seeing her father for the first time in probably ten years. Even when she’d talked to him in the past it was on the phone or a text message. She hadn’t actually seen him since her first year in college. She’d been busting her ass working, going to school, taking care of her mother and running a house. She had no time for the man that couldn’t pick up the phone to say hi.
That year he’d asked her to come for Christmas, and she’d gone on her mother’s urging. Or gone on Christmas Eve. He’d had a few gifts for her; she gave him something. They barely talked, it being uncomfortable for them both and that was the last time she was positive she’d seen him.
She found a parking spot, went in the ER and to the desk. “Hi, my father, Kevin Key, was brought in by ambulance. I was told I could come in.”
“Yes,” the woman said. “Can I see your ID and we’ll get a visitor’s badge on you and one of the security officers will bring you back to where he is.”
She’d never been in an ER before. Only urgent care a few times with her mother. For the most part they were both healthy.
Aside from her mother spraining her finger, the last time one of them was sick enough to see a doctor was years ago too. She never wanted to bring her mother here because of the congestion and difficulty she’d have moving around.
