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“He looks like an American Gladiator.”
Tuck laughs. “He totally does! But I bet we could take him in the joust.”
He may be right. We spent too many summers jousting with broomsticks to give in without a fight.
“For sure,” I agree. “The bigger they are—”
“The harder they fall,” we say in unison.
I laugh along with Tuck, but it’s forced. In truth, I feel sick. Because all I can imagine is Hazel falling into Victor’s beefy arms.
Falling in love. Withhiminstead ofme.
Because Mr. Turbo Maximus is the kind of guy who wins. And I’m not even in the game. I’m stuck in this stupid hospital bed running through worst case scenarios in my mind.
After a while, a nurse comes to tell Tuck that visiting hours are over. As he leaves, he pauses in the doorway. “Hazel would be much better off with you.”
Did Tuck just give me permission to be with his sister?
Before I can ask for clarification, he’s gone.
The next time I wake, Jared has taken Tuck’s seat. Like his uncle, he’s leafing through a fishing magazine. It may even be the same exact one.
I tap on the bed railing to get his attention. “Hey, kid.”
He looks up. “Hey! Mom was here. She weaseled her way in last night, despite the no-visitators-after-ten rule. She left about an hour ago.”
“She was here after visiting hours?”
“Yep. She wouldn’t take no for an answer. She said she waschanneling her diva.” Jared rolls his eyes. “The women in my life are acting weird lately.”
I adjust the heart monitor that’s clipped to the end of a finger. “What do you mean?”
He holds up three fingers, ticking them down as he lists his examples. “First, Grandma gets engaged to Chief Cooper. Then my girlfriend decides she’s moving to France—whether I like it or not.” His voice cracks with emotion, but he pushes forward. “And now Mom is behaving like some sort of a dia.”
My brow furrows. “Did you and Mandy break up?”
“We may as well have. She’ll be studying abroad for the whole year.”
“Your relationship can survive that, kid. You already go to different colleges in different states."
He looks at me like I’m an idiot. “She goes to school in South Carolina. It’s only a few hours’ drive, so I saw her almost every weekend last year. But I can’t exactly drive toFrance,can I? And I don’t have the money to fly.”
I hate to bring up the subject of Victor, but this seems like as good a time as any. “Maybe Victor can help? He has nineteen years of birthday and Christmas gifts to make up for.”
Jared scowls. “I don’t want anything from him.”
“Your Uncle Tuck told me you met with him yesterday. Did it not go well?”
Jared kicks the leg of the chair with his heel. “It was fine. But he’s a stranger, and now he wants to have some kind of relationship? It’s too late for that.”
I think of Sean, desperate to have a relationship with his father. As much as I selfishly want Victor to leave town and never return, it seems wrong for Jared to throw away an opportunity to know his biological father without even giving the man a chance.
“It’s never too late to form new relationships. Maybe this guy deserves a chance?”
“He did suggest starting some sort of Hank Heron Foundation. That could be cool.” Jared shrugs. “But I don’t need a dad. I’ve kind of always had one already.”
“Your Uncle Tuck—”
