He paused. “She’s been admitted to the hospital. She’s very sick.” His voice rose an octave and I could hear the fear creep in. “Your sister needs you, Beck.”
“I’ll be right there. I was already on my way back to Atlanta. Which hospital?”
“Northside.”
“Okay. I shouldn’t be more than an hour.”
I pressed the gas pedal firmly to the floor. All I could think about was sweet, innocent Harper lying on a hospital bed somewhere, not the speedometer inching closer and closer to ninety miles an hour. It was a miracle I didn’t get a speeding ticket before I pulled into the parking lot of the hospital.
Ben heard me when I reached the admissions desk, ready to demand her whereabouts, and waved me down the hall. My heart nearly stopped when I saw my niece on the all-white hospital bed, hooked up to IVs and monitors. Her small face looked so pale and gaunt, and her arms were impossibly weak when she tried to lift a hand to wave.
“Hey, Rugrat,” I whispered, leaning over to press a kiss to her too-hot forehead. “I’ve missed you.”
“Hey, Uncle B,” she whispered back, her voice barely audible. I held her hand as I turned to Tosh, whose eyes were swollen and wet with fresh tears.
“Appendicitis,” she said in response to my unspoken question. “They’re prepping an OR for her now.” She gripped the rails of her daughter’s bed. “Why haven’t you answered your damn phone?”
I opened my mouth to answer her, but nothing came out.
“I’ve been calling you since yesterday.”
“I’m sorry.” I pleaded emphatically. “It was on silent for part of the time. I was with Riley. I found him, Tosh.”
Something dark flashed in her expression before she turned her back on me, collapsing in a chair. Only then did I realize how completely exhausted and frazzled she looked.
“How long have you been here?” I asked.
“Since about 10 AM,” Ben offered. “Her fever hit 104 and she couldn’t keep any liquids down. Then she started complaining about stomach pains a few hours ago…” he trailed off, running a hand over his daughter’s head.
“Shit, I’m so sorry, guys. Truly.”
After a few minutes, I went and bought them each a coffee from the café downstairs and found the perfect blue stuffed horse for Harper in the gift shop. She cuddled it tightly to her chest until the nurse came to wheel her back for surgery. Tosh and Ben looked completely stricken, and my poor, sweet Harper looked absolutely terrified.
I bent beside her and whispered, “You know how your dreams are kinda wacky every night? With all the crazy colors and wild stories?” She nodded meekly. “I’ve heard it’s even more like that when they give you the medicine that makes it so you don’t feel anything during surgery. So you focus on the dreams, okay? Because I want to hear all about them when you wake up.”
Harper’s green eyes brimmed with tears, but she blinked them away, trying to be brave. “You’ll be here right, Uncle B?”
I kissed her forehead. “I’ll be right here, Rugrat. Always. Be strong for me, okay? I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Once Harper was gone, I offered to run home for clothes and toiletries for Tosh and Ben since they would likely be staying a few nights at the hospital. I called Riley while I drove, but he didn’t answer.
After I tossed some socks, underwear, and pants on the bed, I rummaged around in their closet for a bag to throw it all into. A duffel bag from the top shelf came easily as I pulled, but something else came with it, slipping off the top and nearly hitting me in the head on the way down.
At first glance, it looked like an old yearbook of some kind, but when I looked again, my heart lurched. I forced myself to blink and read the words three times, just to be sure my mind wasn’t playing some kind of cruel trick on me.
The Adventures of Detective Beach and Psychic Eagle Eye
Our old comic book. What the fuck was it doing here?
All the air left my lungs as I sank to my knees and opened it, caressing each of the well-loved pages. How many times had Riley and I stayed up late reading this book together by flashlight? How many stories did we conjure up in the dark when we couldn’t sleep? How many countless hours did Riley put into creating something so beautiful, so precious to us? It was a physical representation of everything Riley and I held dear, everything that had made us…us.
All this time, Tosh had it. Tucked away where I wouldn’t find it.
I realized I was holding it too tight and quickly let go, not wanting to damage the beautiful cover Riley had worked so hard to create. When the book slid down my legs to the floor, it opened to the last page that Riley had drawn on, and I knew immediately it was one I hadn’t seen before.
Detective Beach and Psychic Eagle Eye were sitting on the top of a building, watching a sunset as they sipped their sodas. There was a bag of Twizzlers open between them as they congratulated each other on another case solved. One frame showed Eagle Eye blushing and looking away. The next, Detective Beach putting a hand on Eagle Eye’s shoulder saying,“We’re a team, Eagle Eye. You can tell me anything, you know that.”Eagle Eye looked right into Detective Beach’s eyes then and said,“I just think you’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever known. That’s all.”
