CHAPTER 23
Kade waited with Ricky as Ali spoke to the nurse about his discharge instructions. KJ was still in the waiting room. Ali had tried to persuade him to let Ethan take him home, but KJ refused to leave. Ethan also stayed. He kept apologizing and felt responsible for Ricky’s accident, but Ali assured him he wasn’t.
Ali had been a rock star. He’d worried about her being back here after Patrick. He’d been concerned that this would all be too much for her. But, if anything, she’d seemed calmer, more in control, and more herself in the past eight hours than he’d seen her since he’d returned to Whisper Lake.
She was cracking jokes, teasing Kade about his driving like he was in the Indy 500 to get here, and teasing Ricky that he’d crashed his bike on purpose to get out of working at the shop during spring break, and that now he knew when you play chicken with a tree, the tree always wins.
She was Ali again.
Ricky seemed to be showing signs of his old self again as well. There was a particularly attractive nurse assigned to him and it was clear he had a bit of a crush. Ali told him that the best part of breaking a bone was getting pretty girls to sign your cast and Ricky saw that as his opening.
The next time the nurse came to check on Ricky, Ali and Kade stepped out of the curtained off area. They’d stayed close enough that they could hear what was going on. Instead of just coming out and asking her to sign it, he mentioned her Harry Potter necklace. Then he asked her what house she was in and told her he was Gryffindor. They debated the merits of each house and then he said he’d be honored to have someone from House Hufflepuff be the first to sign his cast.
Ali looked up at Kade, her face beaming with pride as she mouthed, “Smooth.”
Kade had to agree. The kid had serious game for thirteen. Patrick would be proud, he knew he sure as hell was.
“Do you think it’s going to leave a scar?” Ricky asked as he ran his fingers over the bandage covering the injury.
“Probably.”
Kade was about to point out one of his dozen or so scars to Ricky to show him that they weren’t so bad, but before he got a chance the kid’s face lit up.
“Cool.”
“Okay, we’re ready.” Ali joined them with a stack of papers.
“Let’s go,” Kade said as he turned and walked down the hallway toward the waiting room.
On the way out both he and Ali thanked the doctor that had treated Ricky. Then pushed the silver touch bar and held the door open.
Ethan and KJ crossed the waiting room to them as soon as they stepped out.
“First broken bone?” Ethan asked.
Ricky nodded. “Yep.”
“It’s a rite of passage.” He ruffled Ricky’s hair.
“Someone signed it already?” KJ pointed at the lone signature on his brother’s cast. “I thought I was gonna sign it first.”
“She was House Hufflepuff,” Ricky stated plainly.
“What?”
“And she was hot,” Ali added quietly.
“Oh, okay.” KJ’s face relaxed.
“Alright, let’s get out of here.” They’d been in the ER for close to eight hours and Kade was ready to take his family home.
“Kade?”
All five of them looked over and saw Nancy Peterson approaching them.
“Hi, Nancy.” Ali smiled.
“Hi.” Nancy lifted her hand awkwardly before turning to Kade, her brows furrowed in confusion. “How did you beat me here?”
“Beat you here?”
“Yeah. Didn’t you get my message?”
“No.” Kade pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw that he didn’t have any bars. “I don’t have service.”
“What’s wrong?” Ali stepped beside Kade.
“It’s George.” Nancy told Ali before looking back to Kade. “I went out to check on your dad and found him unconscious. I called an ambulance, they said they were bringing him here because it’s closer than the VA.”
“He’s here?” Kade repeated as he felt Ali’s hand rest on his arm.
“Yes. I don’t know more than that. But you can probably find out more—”
“No.” Kade shook his head. “I need to get them home.”
“Ricky got in a dirt bike accident.” Ali told Nancy before turning to Kade. “But we’re fine. You should stay.”
“I can take them home,” Ethan offered.
“No.” Kade wanted to take his family home. His dad could wait. “I can come back after I—”
“Kade.” Ali stepped in front of him. “Stay. Ethan can take us home.”
“No. It’s fine. I’ll come ba—”
“Kade.” Ali put her hand on his chest as she tilted her head to the side and with a warning tone said, “Don’t make me rock-paper-scissors you.”
He covered her hand with his, loving the feel of her touch.
“Stay,” she said softly.
He nodded his head, wanting so badly to lean down and seal this agreement with a kiss.
She reached up and hugged him, whispering quietly, “I wish I could stay with you, but I need to get—”
“I know.” He breathed as he wrapped his arms around her, absorbing the strength that holding her gave him. He was like one of the guys on the twins’ video games—she recharged his life force.
“We’ll see you soon,” she spoke against his neck. It wasn’t a kiss but it was intimate, and it gave him hope.
Ali, Ethan, and the boys left and Kade and Nancy walked the short distance to the front desk check-in.
“Hi, again.” Kade waved at the same woman from earlier. “I’m Kade McKnight. My father George McKnight was just brought here.”
The woman cocked her head to the side. “I thought you were here with Patrick Walsh.”
Hearing her call Ricky “Patrick” was odd, but it didn’t feel like the punch in his gut that it used to be when he’d hear his best friend’s name. “I was. I just found out about my father.”
“Wow. Busy night,” she commented before turning to the computer and typing. “It looks like they’re working on him now. You can take a seat. I’ve made a note that next of kin is here, someone will be out to update you soon.”
“Okay.”
Kade and Nancy both took a seat in the waiting room, and after a few minutes of small talk, she pulled out her Kindle and Kade was left to his own thoughts.
He’d never thought he’d be sitting here waiting to hear news about his father, and he still wasn’t exactly sure why he was. His father had been a mean drunk, and not so great sober, either. Before he’d stopped by his trailer last week, Kade wouldn’t have spit on him if he were on fire.
But seeing him so frail, broken, and alone had shifted something in Kade. He wasn’t going to be sending him Father’s Day cards or anything, but the anger that he’d been carrying around had dissipated. It was replaced with pity. His old man had been faced with knowing he was in the last chapter of his life and had no one. It was sad and Kade felt sorry for him.
After an hour or so, he walked outside to call Ali and check in.
“Any news?” Ali asked when she answered.
“No. Not yet. How’s Ricky? Are you guys home?”
“Yeah. He scarfed down some pizza and is already asleep. Dumbass is snoring beside him and KJ is camped out in a sleeping bag on his floor. It’s pretty sweet. I took a picture. I’m going to look at it when they’re driving me crazy.”
Kade smiled. “Good plan.”
“Do you need me to come back there? I can call Jess to come stay with the—”
“No, I’m fine,” he cut her off.
“Are you sure? I can bring you food and…” She wasn’t able to finish her thought because she yawned.
“Ali. Get some sleep. I’m fine. I’ll be home soon.” He loved the sound of that. Home. He’d looked at some places when he’d met up with Kennedy the other day but none of them felt like the Walsh house had always felt to him.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Okay…and Kade…” she paused.
After a few moments he prompted, “What?”
“You know I love you, right?”
He closed his eyes and inhaled through his nose, trying to contain the emotions that hearing those three little words inspired in him. He reminded himself that there were a lot of different kinds of love. She wasn’t necessarily saying that she was in love with him, but his heart still translated it as amazing.
“I know. I love you, too.”
They disconnected the call and he walked back in feeling like he was walking on cloud nine. Today had been such a roller coaster, but right now he was loving the ride. He’d just lowered down into the seat beside Nancy when he noticed a doctor walk out and talk briefly to the nurse who pointed their direction.
Kade nudged Nancy, and they stood to meet her.
“Mr. McNight?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“I’m Dr. Robinson. Are you George McNight’s son?” Her expression was unreadable.
“Yes.”
“Your father appears to have suffered a massive heart attack. When he arrived he was unresponsive and we were unable to find a pulse. The paramedics performed CPR and administered the defibrillator twice. We continued manual CPR, intubated him, and gave several drugs to try to restart everything in the body…however all our attempts failed. I am sorry but your father has passed away.”
Kade stood there, waiting to feel what he’d always imagined he would feel when this time came, but nothing happened. He wasn’t happy. He wasn’t relieved. He wasn’t anything.
“I’m so sorry for your loss. I can arrange for you to see him if you’d like to say goodbye.”
Kade wasn’t sure what to say. He didn’t know if he wanted to say goodbye.
“We’ll let you know,” Nancy responded for him.
“Okay. Let me know if you have any questions, and once again. I’m sorry for your loss.”
Kade watched as the doctor disappeared back through the door she’d come in and he sank back down in his chair. Nancy sat beside him.
“I’m not sure if this is the right time, but…” She reached down and rummaged through her bag. Then, she pulled out a VHS tape. “Your father recorded this right after he was diagnosed. When I became his sponsor he asked if I would give it to you when he…was gone.”
“You’ve been carrying it around in your purse?” he asked as he took it from her.
“No.” She smiled. “It was at the trailer, I grabbed it just in case. He just told me where it was, he never actually gave it to me, I think because he didn’t trust me not to watch it. I wouldn’t even know how. I haven’t had a VCR in over a decade.”
Kade looked down at the white strip of tape that had his name scribbled on it in his dad’s handwriting. He wasn’t sure how he was going to watch it either, but surprisingly, he wanted to. He wanted to hear what his dad had to say to him.
And that was something he’d never thought would happen.