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Clay adds, “He’ll pull through again. I’m sure. Matty won’t let us down.”
I just nod, still thinking about what to tell our baby brother about Mom and Dad. There’s also another matter that has been weighing me down. “How did it go with Bjork?”
My brother holds his breath, his head shaking hopelessly.
“He’ll ask for the bear when he wakes up,” I sigh. “What do we say?”
After the crash, Bjork, Matty’s teddy bear, was found lying next to him—in pieces. Clay has been running around LA looking for someone who can fix the teddy, but so far, we’ve had no luck. If our little brother wakes up without Momandwithout his beloved companion, I won’t be able to handle his heartbreak.
“The woman said we needed a Steiff expert.”
The bear needs a friggin’ specialist? “Where the hell do we find a Steiff expert?”
“I called a friend. He’s a Christie’s auctioneer, and he knows someone who knows someone. Anyway, Amber The Mender, he said she’s the best in California.”
“Okay. We’ll take Bjork to her, then.”
“She’s in Santa Maria.” Clay shows me the ‘contact me’ page on her website—apparently, the lady’s name is Amber-Rose.
“Right… let’s hope we still have time.”
“Hi there.” A man approaches me. “I’m Tom, and this is my wife Sandy. I’ve seen you guys around, I thought we should introduce ourselves. That’s our son Rupert in there.” He points at the room next to Matty. A boy is lying on the bed, intubated just like my baby brother. “He’s just had brain surgery to remove a tumor.”
“He’s a brave boy,” I say. “I’m Rob.”
My brother gets up to shake hands with the couple. “Hey, I’m Clay. And that’s Matty. He was in a car accident.”
“Poor little guy,” Sandy says, holding her husband’s hand lovingly. Meanwhile Tom lets her lean on him, putting his arm around her waist.
My heart warms seeing the couple. They’re probably in their early thirties, about my age. I wish I could hold someone like he does her, but I’ve got to head to another universe for that.
Having been shipwrecked by a woman who was supposed to be the one, I can justify my pessimism. She cheated on me, but I’d forgiven her for that. The thing that made me lose faith in the relationship was her atrocious lies. For a woman to be capable of faking a pregnancy for money is like confessing that she’s not even human. So my trust in romance is lower than dinghy level—it’szip.
It would require two comets to collide in the sky right above my house on Valentine’s Day to get out of my bachelorhood. It would take an impossibly extraordinary woman to change my mind about getting married and having a family.
“It’s not easy to be parents, huh?” Tom says, looking at us.
“Oh, Rob and I are brothers,” Clay says. “And Matty is our brother, too.”
“Oh my, I’m so sorry.”
I smile. “Don’t worry.” When the three of us brothers hang out, because of our age gaps, strangers sometimes think that Clay and I are a couple, and Matty is our son.
“Excuse me.” I leave the couple when I spot Matty’s doctor. Clay is following behind.
“He’s making progress,” the doctor says. “We’ll still need to perform multiple surgeries on his arm. We’ve scheduled another one tomorrow. Lucky for him, it’s his left arm.” He smiles, obviously trying to tell me everything is under control.
“Lucky?Lucky?” I snap. “He’s left-handed.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” the doctor says. “We’ll do the best we can.”
I breathe hard, not wanting the doctor to take my silence as calm.
The doctor adds, “Go home, Mr. Hartley. You need sleep.”
“Rob,” Clay says and pulls me back. “I’m sure the doctors here will do their best.” His voice sounds like an echo.
I leave Clay and the doctor, finding refuge inside Matty’s room. I haven’t slept in days, but my anger is warranted, because a doctor should never associate the word ‘lucky’ with an injury.
