Chapter Twelve
EMIL LAUGHEDas Joey bounced around the fresh produce section, looking for the items on his list. They’d just gotten into Woodruff and were getting the groceries. He’d gotten Lotte’s permission to get a toy for Joey if he was good, but only after they’d found everything on the list.
“Emil, look, are these good tomatoes?” Joey called, and Emil went to examine the selection.
“What does your list say?” he asked, even though he knew.
“It has a picture of many little tomatoes, I think. Baby tomatoes?” He frowned as he turned the list toward Emil.
“Yeah, and those are a different shape too. Look, here’s the different shapes of tomatoes you normally see, okay.” He demonstrated the difference between the shapes and then the sizes, and finally Joey picked a box of Roma.
They had about half of the things on Joey’s list and were picking the noodles Lotte had wanted them to get, when Emil felt something weird. He turned around just as Joey called, “Jason!” in a cheerful voice.
“Hey, Joey,” Jason, still in uniform, said and came closer slowly. Emil could see Mark hovering in the background, looking extremely uncomfortable.
“What’s going on?” Emil knew already it wouldn’t be good. Not good at all.
“There’s been a shooting at Frank Matthews’s house,” Jason started, and Emil’s brain seemed to slow down.
“I-is my dad okay?” he asked, legs shaking suddenly. He took hold of the cart and felt Joey press to his leg from the other side.
“Yes, your dad is fine. He wasn’t there. It’s Makai,” Jason said, and Emil didn’t know the voice that came from his own mouth.
“Is Makai okay?” Joey asked, and nothing mattered more than the answer.
“We don’t know yet. We’re here to take you to the hospital, okay?” Jason said gently and held his hand to Joey. “Come on, buddy. We need to get Emil to see Makai.”
Even though his mother and Jason were dating now, Joey still looked at Emil for guidance first.
“Y-yeah, let’s go with them,” Emil said and abandoned the cart right there.
He followed Jason and Joey through the shop. Mark tagged along behind Emil, but even he had the decency to keep quiet.
Emil’s mind was whirling. What had happened? Frank and Lizzie’s house? Why was Makai there?
“Emil, give me your keys,” Mark told him, and for a moment Emil didn’t understand.
Then Mark held out a hand, and he finally realized that he wasn’t in a condition to drive, even the short way to the hospital. Emil gave him the keys to Lotte’s SUV and went with Jason and Joey to the cruiser.
“Can we use the siren?” Joey asked, and Emil’s breathing hitched. He remembered being small and asking the same of his dad every time he drove in the cruiser.
“No, buddy, I’m sorry. Maybe some other time,” Jason said patiently. “Go sit in the back with Emil.”
The trip to the hospital took minutes, or maybe it was more. Emil was pretty sure it was normal shock this time, not dissociating.
At the hospital they went to the emergency room, and Emil immediately saw his dad standing by the nurses’ station.
“Dad!” he practically ran to him, wrapping his arms around his dad for comfort.
“Oh, son,” Dad said, holding on to him tightly.
Emil couldn’t remember when he’d hugged his dad like this, and he wished the occasion for it was different.
“What happened? Where is he?” he asked, pulling away so he could see his father’s face.
“They got him in and immediately rolled him into surgery. Son, they think he’s going to be okay, but they need to make sure. There was some really heavy bleeding, but Lizzie helped at the scene until the EMTs got there.”
All Emil could understand at first was “think he’s going to be okay,” and the relief from that made him wobble on his feet. Dad grabbed him and said something to the nurse, who pointed them somewhere.
