Chapter Seventeen
Carter
“Well, don’t you look like shit,” Kyle states, surprising the hell out of me as I walk into his room.
“Who are you to cuss?” I throw back at him.
“Come on, I’m eleven.” He rolls his eyes like that makes him old. “But don’t change the subject. What’s up with you?”
I ignore his question, lifting up his chart and reading any notes I missed while I was off.
“Girl problems,” he calls out like he’s all-knowing.
I laugh, dropping the chart down to my side. “What would you know about girl problems?”
“Believe me, I know. Sophia’s going home in a few days.” He looks defeated, and I know the feeling all too well.
“You can keep in touch with her.” I try to cheer him up, sitting down next to him on the chair.
“Yeah, but if I don’t get out of here soon, she’ll move on.”
“You’re almost there,” I say, hitting his arm slightly.
“So tell me, what girl’s got you in a funk? Did you finally ask a girl out, and she turned you down?”
“What makes you think I got turned down?” I ask, surprised.
“Because if she said yes, then your face wouldn’t look like that,” he teases.
“Come on, I don’t look that bad,” I say, turning to the mirror in his room and seeing he’s right. I look like shit. I keep my beard trimmed short, but it’s grown much longer and is in desperate need of a trim to at least even out the growth. And my hair, it’s beyond needing a haircut. I keep it cut very short normally, but now, I look like I’m trying to grow it out long, which really doesn’t suit me.
Then there are my eyes; the deep, black circles under them are ones I haven’t seen in years. They are the same ones Evangeline caused years ago. It’s a mixture of sleep deprivation and drinking too much that displays all over my face.
I glance at my watch. He’s my last patient on my rounds, and I don’t have any place to be for an hour, so I decide why not. I’ve been needing to get things off my chest and who better to tell than an eleven-year-old boy.
I shake my head at the crazy thought but pull up a chair anyway. “So you want to know?”
“Um, yes,” he demands. “I have to live my life through other people since I’m stuck in here, and I bet your life is way more interesting than mine will ever be.”
I laugh out loud. “I highly doubt that. Remember that girl I told you about the other day?”
“Your first girlfriend?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. Well, I found her.”
“I didn’t know you lost her,” he jokes.
“Actually, yes, I did. Or rather, she disappeared.”
“Shut up. How does someone just disappear? What did you do?”
“Why do you think I did something?” I say, trying to act offended, and he gives me a knowing tilt of his head, so I continue. “Her parents were killed in a car accident, and instead of dealing with it, she ran.”
“What…?” he draws out, surprised.
“Yup. I’ve spent years searching for her, and guess what, she just appeared, out of nowhere.”
“What did you say?”
