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“Nah babe, what up?” Her words made me cringe, and I realized that I was grinding my teeth together. I unclenched my jaw, and took a deep breath.
“It’s about Dad,” I said, trying to convey the seriousness of the situation with my tone of voice.
Emma didn’t get it.
“What’s up with Daddy?” She asked. “Did he get a chance to send me that check—“
“Listen here you gold digger,” I said, unable to hold my emotions. Most of the public got the cool collected version of Adriana, but Emma knew how to get under my skin.
“Alright. Jeez,” Emma said. “Is everything ok?”
“How soon can you get a flight to Chicago?” I asked.
“What’s he on his deathbed or something?” Emma asked.
“Get out here,” I demanded. Then I hung up. I was always frustrated at the fact that father had chosen to spoil her, but I also think because of the rough breakup he had had with my mother, that he kept Emma at arm’s length.
Mom was next on my list of people to call, with Brody being last so I could check up on him
This time she answered, the phone only ringing twice before I heard her voice through the speaker.
“Yeah?” Mom said. She was the opposite of her name, Dawn. She was the shadow of night, and you could hear it in the scratchiness of her voice aged with the finest cigars and brandy money could buy. Despite all of that, she was still incredibly beautiful.
“It’s about Dad,” I said. Unlike her daughter, Mom listened to me.
“And do you think he’ll snap out of it?” Mom asked me about his coma.
I said yes, though days before the doctor had confided in me that he was afraid Dad would go septic. The doctor and I were on pretty good terms since he was the one that connected me with a more discreet and even better OB/GYN than the one I had seen before.
Mom said she would knock some sense into Emma, and I got off the phone.
Finally, it was time to call Brody. Fortunately though, he showed up. He hated it if I called when he was on business. I thought he would be glad to see me, because it had been a while since we had last seen each other.
He didn’t look happy however, when he arrived.
I started to tell him about my mother and sister.
“My mother said she’d come to see Dad,” I said. I didn’t know what to expect from Brody. He had come to me upset, and I could see him trying to pull himself together. But, though he was a man of few words that night, he did agree that was good.
I should have noticed that something was on his mind.But what?Instead of taking care to see what was going on with him, I figured he had it all handled. After all, he was my protector, the one who had saved my father. My knight in shining armor.
When my father finally awoke from his coma that night, he thanked Brody for being there for him. I don’t know if my father was genuine but he seemed happy that Brody was there. I was head over heels about it.
“Thank you for saving my life, Brody. You made sure I was ok, and I can’t thank you enough,” Dad said. Brody was gracious, and I beamed with pride at my man. He had saved the day.
We had a few things to care of while my dad was being cleared to go home, but overall, things seemed to be looking up. Brody had saved my father, and made sure that he got out of that coma.
And Brody was clearly taking care of me, which is why I asked him if he could go with me to my doctor’s appointment that Friday. He said yes, and I was excited that he would be a more integral part of mine and the baby's life.
The key word waswas.
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That morning,I was upset that Brody hadn’t so much as said a word to me before he left to “take care of business”. He had simply gotten up, and when I awoke, he was already getting dressed.
Worse was the fact that he hadn’t so much as explained himself when he left, only that whatever was going on was his priority. That should have been my first clue.
I had barely gotten dressed when I saw him heading out the door to go to whatever meeting was so important that he could afford to leave me. I felt abandoned, hurt, and didn’t want to go to the doctor feeling that way.
