“Well, you guys are my favorite Torontonians!” Eli exclaims.
“Eli, why don’t you take Mr. Jones and Charlie to the table. I’ll join you in just a second,” I tell him, because seeing them in their jerseys reminds me I forgot the gift bag full of Thunder gear I brought for them upstairs in my room.
Eli looks like he wants to argue, but he doesn’t. Instead he leads the way to the table. I hurry out of the restaurant and through the bar to the lobby. I’m marching across the marble floor to the elevators when I see Jude. He’s wearing the same clothes he was wearing in my room, which is nothing he would ever wear in public. I wonder why…
My eyes catch a glimpse of Levi just behind him. Levi is known for his stern expression, but I’ve never seen this level of seriousness on his face. It makes my blood grow cold. I change my trajectory so I’m walking straight at them, confusion and fear growing with each step.
They both notice me at the same time. My step falters at what I see next. Jude’s blue eyes are filled with tears and his face is awash in anguish. His step falters too.
Oh my God, it’s Dad.
24
Elijah
I decide to stop at the Starbucks across the street from the hospital and order a bunch of pumpkin spice lattes and a couple mochas, including one for myself with extra whip, and a couple caramel macchiatos and an herbal tea for Zoey, because pregnant women can’t do caffeine. Then I get some pastries too.
I yawn so hard as I wait for them that my jaw feels like it’s going to lock. Exhausted doesn’t even begin to explain how I feel right now. When Dixie didn’t come back to the dinner for almost half an hour I was furious. But then Levi appeared and explained to everyone that Dixie had a family emergency and had to leave. Our eyes connected and he looked so devastated—the same expression he wore when he was standing at the foot of my bed after my accident—and all my fury evaporated. I knew something serious had happened, likely to her dad, and my heart started to break for her.
As soon as I’d fulfilled my duties with the fans and Tom, I went straight to Levi’s hotel room. He explained Mr. Braddock had suddenly contracted severe bilateral pneumonia, and although the doctors in the hospital were trying hard to treat him, they told Mrs. Braddock to prepare the family for the strong possibility he would not be coming home. Dixie and Jude had gone straight to the airport.
“I’m going to go back and be with her,” I announced immediately.
“Elijah, you can’t. Even if you don’t start, we can’t play the game without two goalies. You know that,” Levi reminded me and then his expression softened into sympathy as he grabbed my shoulder. “We have a day between the game tomorrow night and the next game in Michigan. How about you fly back home in between them to check on her. We can make up some family excuse so no one knows what you’re doing.”
“You’d do that for me?” I was in awe. Levi takes his job as captain of this team very seriously, and I never thought he’d lie to the management or coaching staff for anyone, even me.
“You clearly care about her. This isn’t some fling. And if it was Tess, I would want to be there for her too.”
I reached out and pulled him into a bear hug. “Thank you.”
He nodded, and we sat and figured out a story. The next morning over the team breakfast Levi pulled the coach aside and told him we had a family emergency and that one of us needed to head back to California for a day, and he’d like it to be me. The coach was irked but trying not to show it, and Levi seemed to calm him down by reminding him I would only miss the travel day and the one practice in Michigan, and he agreed. It was nothing but a formality to me anyway, because I’d already booked an overnight flight to San Francisco for after the game. I was going whether he let me or not.
Now, although I wasn’t regretting that decision, I was growing nervous. Levi had texted Jude right after the game and their dad was hanging on, fighting hard, but it still seemed like the worst might happen. They were a close family, and I didn’t want to intrude, but I had to be there for Dixie. Maybe I was selfish. Thinking of the pain she must be going through made me ache like it was my own. Holding her, being there for her, felt like the only way to alleviate that. I hope it will give her strength too. I’m about to find out.
I take my Starbucks haul and walk into the hospital. I know from Levi’s text when I got off the plane that Mr. Braddock was holding on and that he was in ICU room 461. I don’t want to barge into his room. I haven’t even met her mom, and I don’t think Jude finding out about us by his dad’s potential deathbed is a fantastic idea, so my plan is to go to the nurses’ station and ask them to ask Dixie to meet me at the waiting area on that floor.
I don’t have to implement it though, because as soon as I get off the elevator, I see her. There’s a glassed-in room to the right with a little plaque saying LOUNGE, and she’s there sandwiched between her two sisters. Dixie’s head rests on Sadie’s shoulder, and her eyes are closed. But Sadie’s aren’t, and she recognizes me even before I come into the room. She smiles at me. “My instincts told me you were a good one. This proves I’m never wrong.”
“I don’t mean to interrupt. I just thought maybe you guys would want some non-hospital food,” I say.
“Starbucks! Oh my God, you’re a keeper,” Winnie blurts out and jumps up to grab a cup out of the tray. “Pumpkin spice, too. If she doesn’t marry you, she’s insane.”
I laugh at that and feel heat ignite my cheeks. Winnie grabs a second cup as Sadie nudges Dixie and her eyes flutter open. Winnie hands her a latte. Blurry-eyed, she starts to reach for it but then she sees me. Our eyes meet, and she looks like she’s seen a ghost. I feel my throat get thick and my chest get tight. Speaking is suddenly hard, but as Sadie stands and takes the coffee tray and bag of treats from me, I tell Dixie, “I wanted to be here in case you needed me.”
She stands and throws herself into my arms. I have never held anyone as tight as I am holding her right now. “What can I do?”
She buries her face in my neck, and against it I hear her say, “You did it.”
“He’s improved slightly,” Sadie tells me as she opens the pastry bag and looks inside. “They changed his meds and he’s breathing better.”
“They won’t let more than two of us in at a time, so we take shifts,” Winnie explains, reaching into the pastry bag and pulling out a chocolate croissant. “This shift is Jude and Mom. Mom tends to stay through several shifts. She doesn’t want to leave him.”
I nod and run my hand over the back of Dixie’s head, through her tangled hair. She’s still in the clothes she was wearing at the restaurant, and I’m betting she hasn’t been home yet at all. “When you go in for your shift, give me the keys to your place, and I’ll grab you some new clothes.”
She nods shakily and gives me a wobbly smile. “I’m sorry. I’m a mess.”
“Don’t be sorry.” I kiss her forehead.
