She nods as if my statement is enough, then her thoughts change course. “Is tomorrow another early morning?” she asks as she toys with the taco-saurus.
“Yeah, little bit. Rooker will be here early, but we should be done by lunch.” I watch as her chin drops to her chest, dejected. “Do you want to tag along?”
Relief flashes through her eyes, and I once again question if I’m doing the best thing for her. She’s a good kid. A great one, really. But I hate the idea of her being stuck at rinks and gyms all the time.
“Go ahead and make sure your bookbag and gear bags are ready to go and by the front door.”
“On it!” she says before bolting from her chair and into the kitchen.
I take a sip of my sports drink and wait the few seconds it takes for her to reappear.
“Sorry,” she mumbles as she grabs her plate and takes it inside.
See? Great kid.
“Charge your tablet,” I holler after her as she bounces through the house.
I almost have the mess in the kitchen cleaned up and everything put away when my phone buzzes. Kate’s picture flashes acrossthe screen, and I nearly knock it to the floor in my attempt to answer it.
“Hey, baby girl. Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Um, so maybe I don’t really know how to do this whole close proximity friendship thing, but I’m trying to not be impulsive and I could really use one of your hugs.”
She’s obsessing over her doctor’s visit. About the possibility of surgery. I knew it was coming, what with the talk of anesthesia and whatnot, but I honestly expected her to call literally anyone else.
“It’s crashing down on you, huh?”
“Is this karma for quitting a toxic job?”she asks. “I mean, I literally stepped wrong off the escalator minutes after quitting and injured myself bad enough to need surgery.”
The hitch in her voice nearly has me loading Aubrey up and driving back over to the Slater residence.
“Hey, hey. Don’t let this drag you down.”
“That’s—”
“—easier said than done. I know,” I say. “But you are too tough to let this drag you down.”
“I don’t believe you,” she whispers.
“I’ll believe it enough for both of us, then.”
When she remains silent, I kill the lights in each room as I make my way to the bedroom. I peek in on Aubrey as I pass to make sure she’s out. It’s nearly nine, and she doesn’t usually stay up late. She’s snoozing soundly, her squishy pillows in the shapes of awkward-looking animals tucked around her.
I close my bedroom door behind me, leaving it slightly ajar in case Aubrey needs me, and settle against the edge of my king-size bed and listen to Oakley’s panicked breathing.
“Oakley Kate, I want you to listen to me, yeah?”
“Hmm.”
“Youwillget through this. It’s scary and means you have to depend on others for a while, but you have one of the best support systems I’ve ever seen.”
“It just feels so heavy.”
I sigh quietly into the phone as another hiccup travels down the line, feeling her need to get more than this off her chest.
Oakley Kate has always been a private person, never letting others see her struggle. She is the friend everyone goes to for a laugh, a hug, a pick-me-up, but she has one of the softest hearts and it often gets damaged before she thinks to protect herself.
“Talk to me, Kates. What’s going on behind those baby blues?” I ask softly.
