“Oh. Bummer.”
I ignore her and rejoin Winnie and Dixie. “They think it’s a dislocated hip, not a broken leg. They’re going to bring him down for X-rays. Mom should be back out here soon.”
Dixie nods. Winnie sniffs. I sigh. Fuck. This isn’t good. More times than not what they first think is a dislocated hip, they discover is broken once they do the X-ray. Broken hips are filled with complications for people like my dad who already have compromised health. At the very least it means a prolonged hospital stay. But I’m not going to share that info with my sisters until we know more.
Eli rounds the corner at the other end of the waiting room carrying a tray of coffees. When no one takes them from him, he puts the tray down on the empty seat next to me and drops into the chair across from us. Our eyes meet, and he looks confused. “Where were you?”
“Out for dinner,” I reply vaguely.
“In a tornado?” he asks and waves a finger around in front of my face. “Your hair is like…a disaster. And your shirt is on inside out and backward.”
I glance down, and I see the little white tag that should be inside my shirt is between my shoulders, staring back at me. Damn. I shrug. “I went to the gym and was rushing to get here.”
“Really?” Eli questions, and then he motions to my sisters beside me. “Because judging by the look on Winnie and Dixie’s faces you’re feeding me bullshit and they know the truth.”
I turn and look at my sisters. They’re both grinning wildly. I glare at them.
“Where is he?” Jude’s deep voice cuts through the room.
Zoey is right beside him with Declan strapped to her chest in a Baby Bjorn. I stand up as he and Zoey walk toward us, and I give him the recap of what I know. He runs a hand roughly through his blond hair, and Zoey lays a hand on his shoulder and squeezes. He reaches up and takes it in his own as I reach for Declan and rub his head. His hair is like peach fuzz, and the feel of it is comforting. God, I want him to know my dad…I want my kids to know…
“Hey,” Jude says to me. I look over at him to find his face panicked. “Is this serious? Like more than I think? Because you look like you might cry.”
“Is she crying?” Winnie asks, her voice cracking. “Because if Sadie is crying, then someone isn’t telling us something. This is a big deal, isn’t it? Oh, God…”
I force myself to look relaxed. “I’m not crying. Calm down, Win. I don’t know anything more than you told me on the phone. Let’s not freak out yet.”
“Do you want to call Ty?” Zoey asks.
“No. Things are bad enough,” Winnie replies and walks away.
“You know your shirt is on inside out and backward?” Jude asks me. His eyes narrow, and that devious little brain of his starts spinning at a lightning-fast pace. I can virtually see it happen behind his eyes, which are almost identical to mine. “Where were you tonight?”
Thankfully, my mom walks out to join us, and the focus turns to her. Somehow she looks older than she did when I left the house this afternoon. And more frail. We all walk toward her, but Jude and I pull ahead of the pack.
“He’s in X-ray,” my mom explains. “The first doctor thought his hip was dislocated but the second is thinking it’s broken.”
“Which doctors?” I ask.
“Dr. Murray thinks dislocated, but he called Dr. Staal for a consult, and he thinks broken,” Mom says. I feel my heart drop from my chest into the soles of my shoes. Murray is just a resident. She’s bright but still new, and Dr. Staal is one of our best orthopedic doctors. Chances are he’s right. Fuck.
“Okay, well, there’s nothing that can be done or decided until he’s out of X-ray and we know what we’re dealing with, so let’s just sit,” I say and wrap an arm around my mom’s shoulders, guiding her to the chairs.
“I got you a chai tea. I know it’s your favorite,” Eli says and plucks one of the cups from the cardboard holder. I smile at him approvingly.
“Sweetie,” my mom says as she sips the tea. “Your shirt is on wrong.”
“Yeah.” I nod and grit my teeth. Why does my family have to pick this moment to notice everything about me? I’m a middle child. I’m supposed to be ignored, for crying out loud.
“She’s trying a new look,” Jude informs her. “I’m calling it ‘Hot Mess.’ It actually really suits her personality when you think about it.”
“You’re lucky your child is here or else I would be calling you lots of colorful, accurate names right now,” I warn him, and Zoey smiles.
“I can do earmuffs if you’d like,” she tells me and covers little Declan’s ears with the palms of her hands. Even my mom laughs at that.
Dixie and Jude picked perfect mates. They aren’t additions to our family; they’re both like members we didn’t realize we had. They’re perfect. Unlike Ty, Winnie’s boyfrenemy. I wonder how Griffin would fit into this crazy family tree. I feel like he’d be the same, just fit right in like a branch that was already a part of our tree. I mean after all, I feel abnormally close and comfortable with him after just one date. I give my head a shake. It’s crazy. Thinking about him with my family…how he’d fit in…is getting ahead of myself. It’s inappropriate and borderline insane. But so was kissing him in the parking lot and having our first date at his house and ending it with oral sex, but yet…it still feels right.
“Oh, my gosh!” My mom gasps, and it startles me back to reality. Everyone turns toward her, on edge, panicked. She’s looking only at me. “You were on your date tonight! Your shirt is on inside out because you were on your date.”
