Chapter 16 Brooks
brOOKS
Ifeel sick.
I feel slightly better knowing that there is a plan. Julian was always good with the plans. My plan was just going to be to barge in and beat them all to a pulp.
I’ve had enough boxing training and family trauma to be angry enough to at least do some damage.
X seems like he knows his shit. He had answers for everything, including things I would never even think about.
But now, all I can think about is her. We get back to my apartment, and she’s taking off her coat when she turns to me.
“Are you okay?” she asks.
I feel my chest crack.
She’s about to put herself in harm’s way, and she’s asking me if I’m okay.
Buck up, Everett. It’s not about you.
I pull her into me and kiss her forehead, then her cheek, then her lips.
“Yes, baby,” I tell her. “I’m sorry. Just a lot of things running through my head. But right now, all I want to think about is how badly I want to be inside you.”
I nuzzle into her neck, and she giggles, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck. But then her phone vibrates between us, and she jumps back.
“Sorry,” she says. She digs into her pocket, and her face shows immediate worry.
“It’s my dad. It’s late. I better take this,” she says.
I nod, and she walks past me to my office.
She goes inside but doesn’t close the door.
I try not to eavesdrop, but when I hear her gasp, I high-tail it in there.
She’s clutching her chest, tears already forming in her eyes.
“Yes, yes, of course. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Where’s Cole?” she asks. “Oh, Jesus. Okay, I’m on my way. I love you.”
She hangs up, and I reach out to her.
“What’s going on?”
“My mom…she collapsed at home tonight. Cole…” her voice trails off, and I see her lip quiver. “Cole was home with her. He found her unresponsive. He had to call 911 and ride with her in the ambulance.”
“Oh, God, baby, I’m sorry. Come on. Eddie’s bringing the car up.”
She looks up at me.
“You’re…you’re coming?”
The question takes me aback for a minute. If she wasn’t in such a fragile state, I might ask her if she’s out of her mind. But I decide on a gentler approach right now.
“Of course I’m coming, sweetheart,” I whisper to her. “I’ll be there for whatever you need.” She nods as I lead her to the elevator, slipping my coat back on as we get back on.
In a few minutes’ time, we’re weaving through traffic on our way back to Jersey.
“I know it’s the cancer again,” she whispers, her eyes closed as she lays her head back.
“You don’t know that, baby,” I tell her, scooting closer to her so she can rest her head on my shoulder. She just sighs.
“I do,” she whispers.
I cradle her head on me while she rests. In a little while, she’ll have to be fully on. She’ll be asking questions about her mom, checking in with her dad, caring for her brother. So right now, I want her to be off. I’ll be on for her.
We finally pull into the hospital parking lot, and Eddie drops us at the door. We go to slide out of the car, but she stops me.
“Wait,” she says. “What if someone sees you? You can’t… Aren’t we not…”
“Sweetheart, do you want me to be with you right now?” I ask her. She swallows then nods.
“Then let’s go.”
She’s right. This is probably a bad call on my part. But right now, I don’t care. She needs me, so she’s going to have me.
I follow her through the doors and to the front desk.
“I’m here for Amelia Wright,” she says.
“Room 342,” the woman at the desk says. “Take that hallway down to the elevators, and go up to floor three.”
Once we get to her mother’s floor, she’s frantically reading the signs, turning left down the hallway past the nurses’ station. As we get closer to the 340s, I feel her start to quicken her pace. And then I see why.
Cole is sitting by himself in a chair in the hallway, his hood up, his head dropped. When he sees his sister, he sprints to her. She cradles him, and he starts to sob on her shoulder.
“I know, buddy,” she whispers. “I know. It’s okay. I’m here.”
I stand back to give them some room, but Cole opens his eyes and sees me, then he holds out a hand for me to join them. I bend down and wrap my arms around them both.
“Hey, man,” I say. “You were real brave today, you know that?”
He nods slowly against her shoulder, his hand clutched on my sleeve.
Since Wren came into my life, I never really knew what it felt like to bring someone comfort. Now I do, twice over.
I really like it.
They come apart, and she swipes at the tears on his face before she stands up.
“What’s going on in there, bud?” she asks him. Cole shrugs.
“Some people ran in a few minutes ago with a cart. Dad told me to wait out here.” She looks up at me. I turn to Cole.
“Okay, bud. How about you and I take a little break and go down to the dining hall? We can taste test all the food. Sound good?” I ask him. He looks up at me then at Wren. She nods, and he takes a step toward me. I put my hand around his shoulders, then I turn to her. “We’re good, baby. Go ahead.”
She draws in a breath then walks into her mom’s room.
I say a little prayer that whatever is going on in there is something that won’t completely shatter her.
We get down to the dining hall, and Cole takes one bag of chips at first. I shoot him a look.
“Dude. I’m rich, remember? Get as much as you want.”
A little smile crosses his lips, and then he goes ham. He’s grabbing sports drinks, ice cream bars, more chips, and a bowl of soup. We grab a table toward the back corner of the dining hall, and he digs in. Poor kid. God knows how long it’s been since he had something to eat.
“Doin’ okay, kid?” I ask after a few minutes. He nods slowly. “You wanna talk about anything? Doesn’t have to be your mom. Can be anything.”
He thinks for a minute.
“I wanna talk about Jerome,” he says. I smile, then I pull my phone out. I dial him, and to my luck, he answers.
“How about we talk to Jerome?” I ask him.
A huge grin on his face now, he shoves another handful of chips in his mouth.
“Hey, buddy. You remember my friend Cole? Right, yeah, the other running back. He’s had himself a tough day today.
Wondering if you had a sec to say hey. Awesome.
Hang tight,” I say, handing my phone over. Cole practically snatches it.
“Jerome?” he asks. His smile is from ear to ear, and I can’t help but smile as I steal a few of his chips. They talk for a few minutes, and I can tell Jerome is talking to him about football and school. He finally says goodbye then hands me back the phone.
“Thanks, bud. Yeah, I’ll fill ya in. Talk to you soon. Bye.”
Cole is still smiling, eating his food. But slowly, the expression on his face sinks back into worry, and he looks up to me.
“She wouldn’t answer me,” he says. Oh, buddy.
“I’m sure that was really scary,” I say, trying not to say too much or too little. I haven’t spent a lot of time around kids, and this seems like a bad time to fuck something up. He nods.
“I thought she… I thought she wasn’t going to wake up.”
Oof.
“Well, you did all the right things, bud,” I tell him. “It was so smart of you to call for help.”
He nods.
“I’ve never been in an ambulance before today,” he says. “It was scary.” I reach out and put my hand on his arm.
“It is scary. But you did it anyway. That’s what it means to be brave, Cole.”
I think about my own words for a moment.
It is scary, but you did it anyway.
That’s what Wren’s doing. She’s scared. But she’s doing it anyway.
“Can we go back up now?” he asks me.
“Of course, bud. Let’s go.”
We get back upstairs, and the hairs on my neck stand up when I hear her voice. She’s raising hell with someone, and when I round the corner, I realize it’s her dad. Cole and I freeze, and when she sees us, she stops.
“Hi, guys,” she says, wiping the tears.
“What’s wrong?” Cole asks. She smiles and shakes her head.
“Nothing, bud. I’m just upset. I’m okay.” She turns back to me. “We have to go back in. Are you okay out here with him? If not, I can see…”
“Stop,” I tell her. “Go. I’m here as long as you are.” She bites her bottom lip to keep it from trembling then goes into the room. Her father takes a breath then walks toward me.
“Brooks?” he asks.
“Yes, sir?”
“Do you have a moment?”
I clear my throat and look down at Cole.
“I’m okay,” he reassures me, so I follow Mr. Wright around the corner.
He rubs his temples and takes a breath then looks up at me.
“Son, I’m not sure how serious things are between you and my daughter,” he starts, and I hold my breath. “But if ever there is a time when she’s going to need someone, it’s now.”
“Sir?” I ask.
“Her cancer is back. And it’s worse,” he says. Fuck. “None of the treatments she did the first time will work this time. We are still working through everything. We found out a few weeks ago.”
Whoa. A few weeks ago?
“We decided to wait to tell the kids until we had some more answers. A treatment plan. Something. But I guess the cancer had other plans. Wren is a little upset with us for not telling her sooner, but I…we just wanted to protect her.”
If anyone understands that, it’s me.
“I totally get that, sir. What can I do?”
He just shakes his head.
“Just be there for her. She’s intense, but she’s the best human I know,” he says, his voice cracking.
“As long as she will have me, sir, I’ll be there.”
He nods, the tears welling in his eyes. He’s a fairly small man. And while Wren favors her mother’s looks, she has his eyes.
Then he walks back around the corner and into the room.
A few hours pass, and I hear the room door creak open. My eyes shoot open, and I see her standing in front of us. Cole is passed out on my shoulder, and I must have dozed off myself.
“What time is it?” I whisper.
“It’s three in the morning,” she whispers back. “I need to get him home.”
I nod.
“‘Course,” I say. “I’ll text Eddie.”
We wake Cole up, get him in the car, and get him home. After a hot shower and a snack, he passes out on the couch between us. She looks up at me.
“I can’t leave him,” she whispers. “You really can go. I can take the train back whenever my parents get home.”
I put my hand on top of hers.
“Is it okay if I stay?” I ask.
Her eyebrows knit together, and her lip trembles. She doesn’t say anything. She just pulls a throw off the couch and hands it to me, covering herself with another.
“Brooks?” she says.
“Yeah, baby,” I whisper.
“Before you even try, I’m still going through with it. This doesn’t change anything.”
If it were another situation, I may have laughed. She really does know me.
“I know, baby. I know.”