“Are you sure that this is a good idea?” I asked as we walked to the rental car, anxious. “I don’t even know what Kai’s doing right now. What if we embarrass them? What if we came out here and they don’t have the same feelings?” The idea made me want to throw up.
I was second guessing myself.
“Stop. It’ll be fine.” Steven was on his phone.
“Kai’s off to class, which means we have time to stop and buy some flowers.” He looked over at me.
I stared at him. “We’re buying Kai flowers? Why?”
“Well, yeah. We can’t show up empty-handed. Can we?” Steven paused. “I’m not actually sure what the protocol is on this.”
“Me neither.” I looked over at him. “Where do we go?”
“We’re actually not that far from the college, so we’ll just go to a grocery store and get some flowers? Or maybe a flower shop?” He looked at his phone. “Okay, I found a flower shop. Let’s head there first. Then we’ll get something to eat while we wait for Kai to get out of class.”
“Should we get a hotel?” While I couldn’t wait to see Kai, what were we even doing?
“I already booked one. I figured we’d stay the weekend. Kai doesn’t have classes on Friday, just research,” he explained.
Getting our car, we left the airport following the navigation.
“Did your parents ever text?” I hoped that they got their heads out of their asses long enough to realize what their son had accomplished. I never did understand why they pretty much ignored him once he got signed.
Sure, the Scorpions weren’t the top team they imagined him being on. He wasn’t a hockey superstar. But he was a professional hockey player, which was a huge accomplishment.
“Them? No. They haven’t posted in a couple of days either. I think they’re someplace without a reception. I absolutely vote for putting fish in their electrical outlets,” he replied.
I chuckled. “Me, too.”
Yeah, we could absolutely stop and play a prank on his parents’ house on the way toWashington. He had keys and the passwords to the cameras, since he’s the one who set it up for them.
“I’ve heard from a bunch of other people, though. Including my grandma, friends, and other relatives,” he added.
“Me, too.” I nodded.
There was also a text from Rhett asking if we were there. I replied with a photo.
We went to the flower shop and got a big bouquet of purple gerbera daisies. Then we set off for Kai’s college. Parking in the visitor parking lot, we grabbed the flowers, then went to find the building their class was in.
A chicken strolled about, as if there was absolutely nothing strange about a chicken walking across a college campus.
“Wow, Kai wasn’t kidding about the chickens,” Steven muttered as we saw more.
No, they weren’t.
We found the building and sat outside. I wasn’t even sure what class Kai had this morning.
Steven was texting and he frowned. “Kai’s not feeling good.”
My heart dropped at the thought of Kai being ill. “Well, we’re here. We’ll take care of them.”
I was guessing that whatever Steven had booked us probably didn’t have a kitchen, but I’m sure there was someplace that we could order some soup from. We’d get some cold medicine, too, and we’d take care of Kai at the hotel.
Kai might want to be home in their bed. Considering they were living at their auntie’s, it might be a little awkward. But we’d figure it out.
Steven stood. “Kai’sreallynot feeling good. She’s leaving class early.”
“Oh no. Let’s get them.” I stood as we watched the doors of the building.
