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“Thank you, Jessica. It was a wonderful party. I’m sorry, but I’ll be leaving now.” He leans down to kiss her cheek.
Kristie comes around the corner. “David, wait. David.”
Uncle Davey grabs his keys and heads toward the front door. He pauses before he opens it and turns around. “No, Kristie. We’re done.” He opens the doors, steps outside, and slams the door shut.
My eyes widen in shock, and I can’t believe Uncle Davey didn’t say goodbye. I hear Kristie mumble something to Momma, and then she runs outside after him.
* * *
Everything gets pretty quiet for the rest of the night. Not long after Uncle Davey leaves, the rest of the party starts to wind down. Everyone says thanks to Momma for hosting the party and comments on how they were sorry to hear what happened. But why were they apologizing? I’m not sure what happened, but I know Momma didn’t do anything wrong. Soon it was time to say goodbye to Chloe. Momma promises that we can hang out again very soon, maybe even talk to Michael about a sleepover next weekend.
When I’m getting ready for bed, our phone rings. Dad answers it, and his face goes through a variety of emotions. He says a few words, and then he hangs up.
“What’s wrong, Dad?”
“Jessica, it’s David. There’s been an accident,” Dad ignores my question. “I need to go to the hospital.” Then he turns to me. “Sky, go to bed. I’ll check on you when I get home.”
“Is Uncle Davey okay?” I shake my head.
“I’m not sure, Sky. I hope so,” Dad says as he grabs his keys and heads towards the front door, stopping to kiss Momma on his way out.
“Drive safe and call if you need anything,” Momma calls out. “Come on, Sky. Let’s get you to bed.”
I change into my pajamas and brush my teeth. “I’m ready, Momma.”
She comes to tuck me in and kisses me goodnight, assuring me everything will be fine. I nod and roll over on my side to get comfortable.
Nothing can happen to Uncle Davey. I love him; he has to be okay. A couple of tears roll down my cheeks before I could stop them. Finally, I fall asleep, hanging on to the hope that he would be okay.
Chapter Four
DAVID
“Son of a bitch,” I groan as I struggle to sit up.
I hear a voice beside me. “Take it easy, man. You were in an accident.”
“James?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Take a breath. You’re a little beat up, but you’ll make it.”
I take a deep breath: one, two, three. Exhale: one, two, three.
As I drift off to sleep, my mind wanders back to what happened last night.
* * *
“Jessica, have you seen Kristie?” I turned to ask.
“No.” Jessica spun around. “She was here just a second ago.”
“I’ll go find her.” I downed the last bite of my cake and got up from the table. “Thanks for the cake.”
The first place I looked was the garage. Kristie doesn’t know I know, but sometimes, she sneaks a cigarette or two when things get too tense for her liking. And I know it’s been tense these past couple of weeks. She’s a real estate agent, but her company is restructuring, and some of that extra work is falling on her. I couldn’t find her in the garage, although I couldn’t be too far behind. The smell of cigarette smoke lingers, confirming my suspicions.
I made my way down the hallway and opened the first door I came to. I peered in but didn’t see anything, so I moved down to the second one and felt like I heard something moving around. I slowly opened the door and peeked in.
And what did I find?
