We finally pull into the hospital parking lot, and Eddie drops us at the door. We go to slide out of the car, but she stops me.
“Wait,” she says. “What if someone sees you? You can’t… Aren’t we not…”
“Sweetheart, do you want me to be with you right now?” I ask her. She swallows then nods.
“Then let’s go.”
She’s right. This is probably a bad call on my part. But right now, I don’t care. She needs me, so she’s going to have me.
I follow her through the doors and to the front desk.
“I’m here for Amelia Wright,” she says.
“Room 342,” the woman at the desk says. “Take that hallway down to the elevators, and go up to floor three.”
Once we get to her mother’s floor, she’s frantically reading the signs, turning left down the hallway past the nurses’ station. As we get closer to the 340s, I feel her start to quicken her pace. And then I see why.
Cole is sitting by himself in a chair in the hallway, his hood up, his head dropped. When he sees his sister, he sprints to her. She cradles him, and he starts to sob on her shoulder.
“I know, buddy,” she whispers. “I know. It’s okay. I’m here.”
I stand back to give them some room, but Cole opens his eyes and sees me, then he holds out a hand for me to join them. I bend down and wrap my arms around them both.
“Hey, man,” I say. “You were real brave today, you know that?”
He nods slowly against her shoulder, his hand clutched on my sleeve.
Since Wren came into my life, I never really knew what it felt like to bring someone comfort. Now I do, twice over.
I really like it.
They come apart, and she swipes at the tears on his face before she stands up.
“What’s going on in there, bud?” she asks him. Cole shrugs.
“Some people ran in a few minutes ago with a cart. Dad told me to wait out here.” She looks up at me. I turn to Cole.
“Okay, bud. How about you and I take a little break and go down to the dining hall? We can taste test all the food. Sound good?” I ask him. He looks up at me then at Wren. She nods, and he takes a step toward me. I put my hand around his shoulders, then I turn to her. “We’re good, baby. Go ahead.”
She draws in a breath then walks into her mom’s room.
I say a little prayer that whatever is going on in there is something that won’t completely shatter her.
We get down to the dining hall, and Cole takes one bag of chips at first. I shoot him a look.
“Dude. I’m rich, remember? Get as much as you want.”
A little smile crosses his lips, and then he goes ham. He’s grabbing sports drinks, ice cream bars, more chips, and a bowl of soup. We grab a table toward the back corner of the dining hall, and he digs in. Poor kid. God knows how long it’s been since he had something to eat.
“Doin’ okay, kid?” I ask after a few minutes. He nods slowly. “You wanna talk about anything? Doesn’t have to be your mom. Can be anything.”
He thinks for a minute.
“I wanna talk about Jerome,” he says. I smile, then I pull my phone out. I dial him, and to my luck, he answers.
“How about we talktoJerome?” I ask him. A huge grin on his face now, he shoves another handful of chips in his mouth. “Hey, buddy. You remember my friend Cole? Right, yeah, the otherrunning back. He’s had himself a tough day today. Wondering if you had a sec to say hey. Awesome. Hang tight,” I say, handing my phone over. Cole practically snatches it.
“Jerome?” he asks. His smile is from ear to ear, and I can’t help but smile as I steal a few of his chips. They talk for a few minutes, and I can tell Jerome is talking to him about football and school. He finally says goodbye then hands me back the phone.
