“Maybe I did.” He chuckled. “How are you, Jada?”
“I’m great. Fantastic.” Even I didn’t believe it by the sound of my voice.
Dad reached over and took my hand. “You should be great. You should be great every day of your life. Both of you girls,” he said, looking at Kari. “Because once you’re lying in a bed like this and realize that you can be called to the heavens faster than you want to be, you realize that the only thing that mattered in your life is what made you happy.” He smiled wistfully. “Do you know what I would give this very minute to go back and redo everything?”
I choked back my emotions, and Kari squeezed my hand.
“I spent too many hours in the damn office. I let your mother go to bed angry with me for stupid things because I wouldn’t just say I was sorry. I got irritated with you girls and your doll shoes scattered all over the house when you were little. All of that was wasted energy, girls. It is a waste of energy not to just be happy.”
A nurse came in behind us and walked to the side of Dad’s bed. “Ladies, visiting hours were over a long time ago.” She looked at the clock. “I would suggest coming back in the morning.”
“I don’t want you staying in the waiting room. Go home and get some rest.”
I bent down and kissed him on the lips, his aftershave scent only barely detectable. “I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”
Kari patted his hand. “See you in the morning, Papa.”
“Girls,” he called as we made our way to the doorway. “I love you both more than anything.”
“We love you, too.”
I watchedCane slip into the Denali beside me, the streetlights casting an orange-like glow over him. He patted my leg beforebuckling himself in and starting the engine. He took his hand off the gear shift and turned to face me.
“I’m taking you home with me,” he declared, his eyes braced for my response.
“I really think maybe I should go to Kari’s.”
He bit the side of his cheek thoughtfully. “Why?”
His simple question surprised me, and I found myself searching for words.
“Well, I live there, for one. Two, I need a shower and a change of clothes, and my things are there.”
He worked his head side to side, considering my point. “Good points, both of them. And I think they both need to be addressed.”
I leaned back a little. “I don’t follow you.”
He smirked, putting the car into reverse before speeding Cane-style out of the parking lot and onto the road. “You live at Kari’s. Your stuff is there. Both of those things are ridiculous.”
“Uh, you just said they were good points.”
He squeezed my thigh before returning his hand to the wheel. “It’s ridiculous that you live there.”
“I know,” I said, letting my head rest against the seat. I looked at Cane, and he flashed me a surprised look.
“That was easy.” He pressed his lips together in satisfaction.
“I was planning on looking for apartments before this, anyway. I want to start looking right away and get back to a normal life. I can’t live with my sister forever.”
“Ah,” Cane said, tsking. “Not what I was getting at, sweetheart.”
The lights on the side of the road got brighter as we exited onto the freeway. The lizards and desert flowers carved on the retaining walls lining the roads made me smile.
When I failed to comment, Cane continued, “What I was getting at is that you should move in with me.”
“Move in with you?”
“I didn’t stutter.”
