Chapter Chad
Chad met his mother at the curb outside the hospital main entrance. She looked tired, with dark circles under her eyes and her hair made up in a messy bun, but when she saw him she smiled brightly.
“Chad, it’s so good to see you,” she said, hugging him tight. Since the top of her head only reached his chest, Chad had to bend down awkwardly to hug her back. It was wonderful.
“You too, Mom,” he said. “How’s Dad?”
His mom pulled back, still holding onto his sides as she looked up at him. The expression in her face was exasperated.
“He’s going to be fine. He has to take it easy for a week—and the doctors recommended he make some changes to his diet—but looking at him now you wouldn’t know he just had a heart attack.
” She shook her head like she couldn’t believe something like this had happened to her husband. “He’s looking forward to seeing you.”
Chad grinned, relieved that everything looked like it was going to be okay. He shifted his backpack further up on his shoulder, looking toward the hospital entrance.
“Can we go see him now?” he asked. He wanted to see his dad for himself.
“That’s the plan. He’s up on the third floor,” his mother said, taking his arm and walking him into the building.
They made their way up to his dad’s room, and when they stepped inside Chad felt a lump in his throat. Seeing his dad in the hospital bed with all kinds of wires and machines hooked up to his body was awful.
“Hey son, it’s good to see you,” his dad said, sitting up in the bed. He waved Chad over for a hug. Feeling big and clumsy, Chad reached down and hugged him, worried that he was going to mess up the wires.
“So how long do you have to stay here?” Chad asked when they broke the hug. His dad shrugged.
“The doctor said I can probably go home tomorrow if things keep going smoothly.”
Chad was relieved. If they were letting him go home, they had to be pretty sure he was going to be fine.
“But I don’t want to talk about me. I’m going to be fine. What’s new with you?”
Chad blinked. Peter was the first thing that popped into his mind, but telling his parents about what may or may not be a one-night stand was out of the question.
“Nothing much. I made friends with a guy in my building, and I’ve signed up for classes at the training center. Other than that… I haven’t been doing much.”
“What does your new friend do? What’s his name? Is he an alpha?” his mother asked, pulling up two chairs and angling them toward the bed. Chad sat down, preparing himself for what he knew was going to be a near-endless barrage of questions.
“He’s a computer science graduate student, his name is Topher, and yes, he is an alpha.”
Chad knew they would be happy that Topher wasn’t military or that he didn’t work for Tank Security. They weren’t afraid to tell him exactly what they thought he should be doing, and it didn’t involve working as a private contractor. According to them, Chad should be going to college.
“Computer science, that sounds interesting,” his dad said. Chad didn’t have to guess where this was going.
“Is that something you think you’d like to do?” his mother added.
And they were off.
***