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"I was getting to that next." I wiped my hand over my face.
"You look exhausted," he whispered.
"I'm fine. Had a few long days at work." I glanced back over at Mom. "How is she doing?"
"As well as to be expected."
Which meant not well at all. I swallowed a groan and tried to formulate a list of things I needed to do to fix this. It'd start with taking Mom back home to rest. The hard waiting room chairs had to be wreaking havoc on her back. I'd have to talk to the doctor about TJ, ask about his current state and recovery, and then there was…
I did another quick scan of the room. "Where's Dad?"
When Ash didn't respond immediately, I whipped my head back to him.
"Huh?" I pressed.
"I don't know." He twisted his mouth to the side.
"You gotta be kidding."
"He was here earlier." Ash quickly tried to cover for him. "But had to step out, and…he's not answering his phone. He looked scared. He'd been crying. You know how he hates hospitals."
I shook my head. Like most kids, I hated the idea of either of my parents being moved to tears, but once again, he wasn't here when we needed him. "Has he really been sober? Or was that TJ telling me what he thought I wanted to hear?"
Ash's silence makes me scratch checking on Dad off the 'to do' list.
"It's hard on him, you know," Ash said. "Dad wants to get better. He has. It's not complete sobriety, but it's as close as he's ever been, and TJ wanted you to feel like we were good without you."
They weren't good without me, but with so much anger boiling in my veins, they wouldn't be good with me either. Ash had already admitted to being afraid to talk to me. TJ wanted me gone for good if I didn't go back to the agreeable version of myself. Now, Dad was MIA, Mom was staring at a wall, and I was as upset as I was all those months ago when I stopped responding. Nothing was changing. Something needed to change.
"You paid Faye's Dad back," I said, forcing myself into autopilot. "What else do you need money for?"
"Sage–"
"No more games or hiding stuff. The fact of the matter is, you guys can't do this alone. As tired as I am of being the one swooping in, that's my job. I will suck it up as long as you guys do. We don't have to like it, but we have to do it. So, tell me: what else do you need?"
He stared at me for a moment before eventually opening his mouth. "A couple hundred for my car. It's in the shop. I need it to get to work."
"What kind of work?" I asked as I pulled out my phone.
"I know this guy who does lawn work. His kid's away at school, so he has a spot on his team for me."
"Nothing shady about him?"
"No. He's boring. The job is boring, but it pays pretty well."
I nodded and sent over four hundred to his account. "Is that enough?"
Ash checked his phone and nodded numbly. "Yeah. More than."
"Good. Save the rest," I instructed. "Go get your car and get to work. On your break, send me your resume so I can look over it. You're not doing spotty lawn jobs for long. Unless that guy wants to hire you full-time, you're applying for something more permanent. I don't care what it is, but it has to require you to clock in and out regularly."
I was done handling them with kid gloves. If I was stuck in a shitty situation, then they'd have to take active participation in it, too.
"Got it?" I asked when Ash stared at me blankly.
"Yeah, yeah." He nodded. "I think so."
I shook my head. "No thinking. Just doing."
