Page 64 of He Hate Me

“That’s awful.”

“Yeah, well.” He clears his throat. We walk back to the car in silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts. We sit in the car, watching traffic drive past on the busy road outside the hospital.

“I’m so sorry,” I say. “Is there anything I can do?”

He shakes his head. “Just be with me. Just be you with me, that’s all. There’s no fix for what’s wrong with her.”

“What caused it?”

“Nobody knows for sure. Doctors say it looks like the kind of injury that happens when the supply of oxygen to the brain is cut off, but we’re not aware of anything that could have caused that. I took her to specialists, but there’s nothing you can do once brain cells start dying. Just keep her comfortable until time runs out.”

“Are you sure you’ve done everything you can? There might be someone in a bigger city⁠—“

“I took her as far away as New York. There’s no-one else to see.” He must see the surprise on my face because he goes on. “You don’t want to know what I had to do to pay for it. For all of it.” He gestures towards the hospital.

“I don’t even know what to say.”

“Let’s go home, okay?”

I nod and start up the car.

Brandon

Deja’s agitation is obvious by the time we get home. She stares out her window, trying to control her breathing. I hear it speed up and then the deep breaths as she tries to bring it under control.

“Do they know about your mom?” she asks.

“Tanisha and Devin? Of course they know. She’s been sick since before she was fired.”

“But my mom doesn’t know her.”

“Were you listening? They all knew each other. Your dad was Jules.”

“I don’t understand what that means. My dad’s name was David.”

“For years she told me these rambling stories about Devin and his best friend Jules and Jules’s wife, Nia.”

“I get how Nia can be short for Tanisha, but why Jules?”

“No idea. A private joke? The point is your parents lied big time. I don’t know why, but it can’t be good.”

Her face droops. “I’m gonna ask. I have to know.”

“Do you think they’ll tell the truth?”

“I don’t know, but I can’t just let this go. I need to hear their side.”

“You honestly think there’s some version of this where they’re the good guys.”

“I’m not saying that,” she says, “but maybe there are no bad guys either.”

She wouldn’t say that if she knew half the shit Devin has done. For years he’s embezzled money from his company and based on what Anton told me, if it’s ever discovered it will be Deja’s mom who takes the fall. The man has everyone fooled. Only my mom has ever warned me to be cautious.

“All right,” I say. “Let’s talk to them after dinner.”

“Sorry, guys,” Deja’s mom says, buttoning her coat. “I left some money on the counter for takeout. The Kiwanis dinner is tonight. Maybe we can talk tomorrow after church.”

“There was nothing on the calendar,” Deja says, which is totally in character for her.