I laugh. “It’s okay. I promise not to file a complaint against you.” I waggle my eyebrows, and he rolls his eyes.
“How do you feel about going into town for dinner tonight?” he asks. “We haven’t really gotten out much for the past few days…” He trails off and grins evilly.
“Works for me,” I say, and he turns back to his task while I lift the handles and head for the door. I get out to the porch when the cell phone in my pocket starts to vibrate. When I see the call is coming from my mother’s care home, my chest gets tight, and my stomach roils unpleasantly.
I hold up my phone and quickly bring up the live caption service built into it. It’s a cool feature that tells the person calling you that you’re using captioning. I don’t always use it, but when it’s something important, I find it helpful.
“This is Tyler Ritchie,” I speak into the phone clearly and wait for the computer to transcribe what the person on the other end says. A few seconds later, the words come up on my phone screen, and my stomach clenches painfully.
“Oh. Um. Hello, Mr. Ritchie? My name is Jericka, and I’m calling from Tall Firs Care Home. It’s regarding Ms. Shelly Ritchie.”
“Shelly Ritchie is my mother. Is there a problem?” I say and then wait for the transcription to appear. I’m frozen in place, waiting to see what the fuck is happening with my mother.
“Yes, um, okay. Well, unfortunately, Ms. Ritchie had a fall earlier today, and we’ve had to take her to the hospital. We’ve left a message for a Mr. Aaron Ritchie, but it’s been a few hours, and we haven’t heard back from him, and your name is next on the contact list.”
The blood in my veins turns to ice when I read the words. Fuck, fuck,fuck. I have to ask the question.
“Okay. Ah. Is it serious? I’m, um… I’m out of town right now. Do I need to come back?” I know asking that question makes me sound like an absolute asshole, but these people don’t know the heavy history of our family. They don’t know or care that my mother left my brother and me alone for most of our childhood, forcing us to raise ourselves.
There’s a slightly longer than normal pause before I see the words come across my screen that make up her response, so obviously she hesitated, probably a little shocked by the question.
“Ah. Well, of course, we can’t make that decision for anyone. Um. But my personal opinion is that you might want to try to get here. Ms. Ritchie has had some other health issues recently. She’s quite frail, and these types of falls can cause a lot of other issues.”
I grit my teeth and have to stop myself from swearing like a sailor at the poor woman on the phone. It figures. I’m having most amazing time of my life, floating on a high like I’ve never had before, spending time with an amazing man who makes me feel like the most important person on the planet, and my asshole of a mother swoops in to take one more thing away from me.
“Okay, ah, I’ll make arrangements to get there sometime tonight. Which hospital is she in?” Jericka gives me the information, and the hand not holding my phone clenches into a fist. I feel like slamming it into a wall.
Motherfucker.I close my eyes and blow out a long breath, and when I open them, Sam is walking toward me, looking concerned.
“Ty, is everything okay? I thought I heard you talking out here.”
“I’m fine.” I let out a frustrated sigh. “I have to go into Tacoma right away.”
“Huh? Why?” Sam asks.
“My mother’s care home called. She fell today, and she’s in the hospital. I guess it’s pretty bad since the woman from the home thought I should get there as soon as I can.”
“Oh, no. And your brother?”
“I guess they tried calling him first, but they haven’t heard back yet.”
“I’m sorry, Tyler,” Sam says, reaching out to wrap his arms around me. I don’t let myself sink into him like I usually do though. My brain is already going a million miles an hour, and I have to get moving.
“Yeah, I’m sorry too. This fucking sucks,” I mutter, feeling like a petulant child.
“Okay,” he says, pausing for a second to think. “I’ll drive you. Why don’t you have a shower while I call Mase and tell him you’ve got a family emergency. There’s already gas in the truck, so we won’t have to stop other than to maybe grab some fast food or something along the way.”
“Wait, you don’t have to…” I start to protest Sam driving me into Tacoma, but I stop when he shoots me a look that brooks no argument.
“I’m coming with you. I promise not to hover over you, but I’m driving you.”
Whoa. I kind of like this “take-charge” version of Sam Campbell. Even though it’s not exactly the ideal circumstances. He’s a little bossy in the bedroom, which I find incredibly hot, but this commanding attitude he has right now is a definite turn-on.
“Okay. I’m sorry for the hassle,” I say, letting out a huge sigh.
He steps closer to me and snakes his arm around my waist, grabbing my chin and turning my face toward his.
“Do not apologize, please. I want to help you. Okay?” he says, his eyes searching mine.
