19. Hailey
19
HAILEY
It was quite late when I finally shut down my laptop and stretched my stiff shoulders. I’d studied longer than I meant to, and if I was being honest with myself, I was kind of hoping that Night Owl would text. He was always the one that initiated our chats but somehow, it kind of worked for us. I didn’t know what he was doing at any given moment, but he likely knew if the light in my room was on or not.
But it was past two and he hadn’t messaged, so it seemed like he wasn’t going to.
I reached for my pajamas then froze at the quiet knock at the door. For a wild moment, I wondered if Night Owl had finally decided to reveal himself—and if so, why now.
But that was reading too much into the situation. For all I knew, it was Bennett out there wanting me to shine his shoes or something.
Pulling my robe tightly around me, I crept to the door and opened it.
Ian stood there, dressed in jeans and a tight green t-shirt.
“Ian?”
“Hailey,” he said, sounding almost surprised to find me here. In my own room. In the middle of the night. What on earth was going on?
Then I got a closer look at his haggard face. “Are you all right?”
“Theo took a sleeping pill, so I can’t wake him, and?—”
My blood ran cold. “He overdosed?”
“No, of course not,” he said, and I let out the breath I’d been holding. “He just hasn’t been sleeping well since he won that contest, so I can’t go to him, and Grant’s not in his room. I don’t know where he is, and?—”
I reached out and took his hand, squeezing it. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
He blinked and it seemed like it took a great effort for him to focus. “It’s John, my advisor. He had a stroke,” he managed to get out, his face ashen. “Will you come to the hospital with me?”
“Of course.” I said without hesitation.
I drove, which I hadn’t done in months. Ian sat next to me, staring out the window, his forehead lined with concern.
After a few attempts at light conversation, I gave up and concentrated on steering his SUV through the dark streets. I let him out at the ER entrance and then went to park the car. It was a good thing the lot was relatively empty because I wasn’t used to trying to park a car this big.
As much as I wanted to support Ian, I couldn’t help slowing down as I approached the entrance to the emergency room. I hadn’t been inside a hospital since my grandpa died. That hadn’t been here. He’d passed at a much smaller facility in Sloane’s Summit where the nursing home was. But still, I couldn’t help thinking of him at every step along the way.
Ian was at the reception desk, and the tired-looking woman behind it was giving him directions. He waited when he spotted me. “They’ve got him in imaging now. We can wait upstairs in the ICU waiting room.” He headed toward the elevators but then stopped before we reached it. “You don’t have to stay. It might be a long night.”
“I’m staying.” I moved around him and pressed the elevator button.
On the fifth floor, we found an empty little waiting room with padded chairs and a few loveseats. Ian stopped, as if even such a simple decision was too overwhelming at the moment. So I sat down on one of the loveseats and then he joined me.
“I’m sorry this happened,” I said.
“Me too.”
“Do they know how bad it is?”
“It doesn’t sound good.” The look of worry on his face nearly broke my heart. “The imaging will tell them if it’s an ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke.”
I didn’t know what either of those words meant, but he apparently did, judging by the sadness in his eyes. I wondered if in this situation, it was worse or better that he had basic medical knowledge. He wasn’t in med school yet, but he was majoring in biology, and I’d seen the medical texts he kept on his desk.
A new thought occurred to me. “How come they told you that?”
“I guess so I would understand the seriousness of it.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. Aren’t there privacy laws?” After all, though Ian was very fond of his advisor, he wasn’t family.
Ian looked older as he twisted his body to face me. “I’m not proud of this, but I named-dropped.”
“What?”
He sighed, looking tired in a way that had nothing to do with the lateness of the hour. “Over on the other side of the building there’s a cancer center, built and funded by the Forsythe family. All it would’ve taken was one phone call to Bennett, and the staff here would’ve told me anything I asked. Turns out I didn’t need to make the call—just the threat of doing it was enough.”
He sounded so miserable that I took his hand in both of mine. “Well at least now they’ll keep you informed.”
He shook his head. “I was a bully down there, throwing my weight around. I never wanted to be that kind of person, but maybe if you’re surrounded by people like that, you eventually become one of them.”
I couldn’t hide my surprise as I stared at his tired face. He was worried, he was tired, and he was concerned that a man he cared about was going to die. And yet, he was still concerned about the ethics of his actions.
He was such a good man.
“You’re not like them.” Though he didn’t acknowledge it, I knew he’d been talking about Bennett, and maybe Grant too. It wasn’t hard to see why he didn’t want to be like them, and I understood now why he was upset. In his concern for someone else, he’d become the kind of man he disliked.
Temporarily.
“You get a pass when it’s someone you care about.” I drew his hand closer and pulled it on my lap, still holding it in mine. “You see all the time on TV how a family member is upset, demanding answers from the doctor that’s wheeling away their loved one on a stretcher. They’re rude and they’re pushy because they’re scared. You wouldn’t blame them for that, would you?”
He sighed, his head bowed, his gaze on the spot where our hands were linked. “No. I guess I wouldn’t.”
“Good.”
He leaned back, resting his head on the back of the sofa. I scooted closer, and he lifted his arm, putting it over my shoulders. I leaned against him feeling his warm body supporting me.
And we waited together.
It was a long night. Thanks to Ian’s name dropping before, we got regular updates, which Ian understood but I didn’t. But it sounded like it was pretty touch and go for the older man.
When the sun rose, I went to get us some coffee. I bought a donut for Ian, but he turned it down.
I had class this morning, but for Ian’s sake, I’d miss it. He needed me.
Still, as I curled up next to him, my head on his shoulder I couldn’t help worrying. I was already struggling in my class, and exams were coming up.
But then an hour before class, Theo arrived. Ian had finally drifted into a light sleep, so I eased myself off the sofa and went over to him.
“I heard what happened,” he said softly. “Thank you for being with him. Are there any updates?”
I told him what little I knew.
His eyes narrowed as he took it all in. It was a serious situation. “You can go now,” he said.
“What?” Apparently now that he’d arrived, I was dismissed.
“You have class, right?”
“Oh, Yes. Are you sure?”
“Of course. Do you need a ride to campus?”
“No.” Miller Hall wasn’t too far from here. I regretted my misunderstanding about Theo’s intentions. He wasn’t dismissing me at all—he was helping make sure I got to class on time. “But thanks. Can you keep me updated, please?”
“Sure.” He gave me a one-armed hug. “Be a good student,” he whispered in my ear.
I’d try. But that sure didn’t seem like the most important thing right now.
The next two weeks were busy. Ian went to his classes and then rushed over to the hospital. His advisor didn’t have any remaining family. John’s wife had died years ago, and they didn’t have children. He was eventually upgraded to a regular hospital room, but it sounded like the situation was still pretty grim.
Whenever Ian came back to the house, which wasn’t often, there were dark circles under his eyes.
Theo was just as concerned as I was, but there wasn’t much we could do, at least not until John was moved to a nursing home very much like the one my grandfather had been in. Then we were able to visit the older man for short amounts of time and bring flowers and chocolate.
I was glad it seemed like he’d eventually recover, but I still worried about Ian. He looked like he’d aged ten years in a few weeks.
Perhaps because of how painful it was to go to the nursing home here, I skipped my Saturday volunteer shift at my grandpa’s old nursing home for the second week in a row.
I explained it all to Naomi by text, and she suggested we meet for coffee. To be honest, I didn’t really have time. The coursework for my class was getting more intense as the summer semester headed into the final stretch, and at the house, the guys kept me hopping. But I valued the friendship I was developing with Naomi, so I agreed to meet her on a Thursday morning when I didn’t have class.
We met at the coffee shop on campus, the very one Theo had been coming out of when he caught Sunny’s leash. I suggested it since I’d be able to walk the golden retriever right afterwards.
Naomi was at the counter. “Good timing,” she said. “What do you want to order?”
I ordered a latte, and she insisted on paying, which was nice of her. She also got us each a Danish. A few minutes later, we were settled at a table by the window.
Naomi looked cheerful and serene, the sun hitting her dark hair as I admired her fashion sense. She was dressed casually, but she looked like she’d just stepped out of a magazine. Maybe Bennett was right, and I did need to dress better.
My friend always had a smile for everyone, but she looked extra upbeat today. Or maybe it just seemed that way because I’d been thinking a lot about Ian, who was always down these days.
As we sipped our drinks, she asked me how I was doing, and I tried to think of how to answer. I could tell her about my class, but it still wasn’t going great. I could tell her about life in the frat house, but things were tense there because we were all worried about Ian. But I was also concerned about someone else, and it seemed like a safe topic. “I’m worried about my friend Tori.”
“What’s the problem?” Naomi had never met Tori, but I’d talked about her a time or two on the drives to and from the nursing home.
“It’s her roommates. They always let their boyfriends sleep over, and they keep her up late at night, they eat her food, and she really hates it there.”
“Sounds rough,” Naomi said. Then she grinned. “Good thing you don’t live in a house full of inconsiderate guys.” Her smile turned sly. “Me either.”
I had to laugh. “There are a few considerate ones there, too.”
“Want to tell me about them?”
“No. Yes,” I sighed. “Maybe. But let me tell you about Tori's big plan.”
Naomi listened attentively as I explained the situation. “She’s going to move in with one of her classmates, a guy she barely knows.”
Naomi raised her eyebrows. “Honestly, Hailey, her situation doesn’t sound a lot different than yours.”
“It is,” I insisted. “This guy, Todd, he’s got a crush on her. He’s always hitting on her and doing things to get her attention. But he’s got an extra room and she’s desperate to get out of her current place.”
Naomi gave me a sympathetic smile. “I don’t mean to sound callous, but it’s either going to work out or it won’t. If it doesn’t, she’ll need a friend like you to help her through it.”
“I guess so,” I said doubtfully. “But it kind of feels like I’m watching a friend walk toward an open manhole, and I can’t do anything to warn her about it.”
“Maybe it’ll work out. What about you? Where are you going to live in the fall?”
That was a subject I had hoped wouldn’t come up. I told her about the housing stipend offered by the school and made it sound like I was likely to get it, even though I had no idea how many other students had applied and whether they were strong candidates or not. But I didn’t want to concern Naomi with that. Plus, if I didn’t get it, I didn’t know what I’d do. I was barely halfway to the five thousand dollars I’d need to get a room in a shared apartment for the semester.
“How have you been?” I asked, because I genuinely wanted to know and, okay, also to change the subject.
“I’ve been under the weather,” she said. “Headaches. Fatigue. Upset stomach, and that kind of thing.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said automatically, but her demeanor was puzzling. She’d just rattled off a list of unpleasant symptoms with a radiant smile on her face. And then it hit me. “You’re pregnant?”
Her smile widened, and I scooted my chair around to give her a hug. It was kind of a dicey situation. When people my age said they were pregnant, it was generally an accident, and not always a reason to celebrate. But Naomi was a little older, and she lived with her boyfriend. His two best friends lived with them as well, so they’d have built-in babysitters.
Naomi was still beaming as I released her. “I just crossed the twelve-week mark, so we can finally tell people.”
“That’s great. Is your boyfriend happy?”
“Very happy. What about you? Is there any guy at the frat who’s caught your eye?” She grinned. “Or vice versa.”
I didn’t even know how to answer that, either to myself or to her. It was a complicated situation, and I didn’t know Naomi all that well, but something told me I could trust her. “There is this one guy,” I said. “He’s studying architecture and he’s really talented and a truly nice guy. He was the first one in the whole house to be friendly to me.”
“What’s his name?” Naomi asked.
“Theo.”
“Has he asked you out?”
“No,” I said with a small sigh.
She studied my face. “But something’s happened, right?”
Predictably, I blushed. “Yeah. You can say that.”
“So what’s the issue? Is he sending you mixed signals or something?”
Honestly, I wasn’t sure. Things had been tense in the house lately, but that wasn’t the main problem. “No, that’s not the problem.”
Naomi leaned forward, her expression concerned. “Then what is?”
She kind of felt like an older sister to me, and older sisters were the ones you were supposed to ask for advice. “Well, see, there’s this other guy too. Ian.”
She smiled, an eyebrow raised. “Ah, now I get it.”
“Is it awful of me to kind of have feelings for both of them?” I looked out the window at the people on the sidewalk rather than facing my friend after that admission.
“No,” she said immediately. “That can happen sometimes.”
“So what do you do? Just keep getting to know them until you choose?”
“That’s one possibility,” she said.
“I don’t even know how either of them feel about me.” Theo and I had done some intimate things, whereas Ian and I hadn’t. But I’d felt closer to the pre-med student these past few weeks, and it felt good to provide support to him instead of always being the one who needed help.
“Maybe that’s the first step. Figuring that out.”
“And then picking one? If they’re both interested, I mean.”
She took her mug in both hands as if warming them. “Look, Hailey, you’re young. You don’t have to decide anything right now. You can keep your options open. If you like both of them, spend time with both of them. As long as you’re not doing anything behind anyone’s back.”
“They’re friends. That kind of makes it more complicated.”
Naomi sipped her hot chocolate. I understood now why she hadn’t gotten a caffeinated drink. “It can be complicated. Maybe it’s also a good thing. You like them. If they have any brains, they like you too. And they like each other. So it’s less of a love triangle and more of a partnership.”
I frowned, trying to follow that logic. “Aren’t partnerships just between two people?”
“Not always,” she said. A secretive smile played across her lips. Then she set her cup down. “Why not just keep getting to know them for right now? And focus on your class. It sounds hard. Things will work out in the end. They did for me.”
“I’m glad they did.” But I was very worried about whether they would for me.
A few nights later, Ian actually joined us for dinner, and I was glad that I’d made a chicken dish that was one of his favorites. But he went right up to his room after dinner, not staying for drinks and conversation, and Theo and I exchanged glances as he left. But at least he’d joined us for a while.
Back in my room after the dishes were done, I thought about what Naomi had said. Theo was important to me, but besides a few flirty exchanges, we hadn’t done anything since that day I’d gone to my room.
And Ian and I hadn’t done anything, not even kissed, but I couldn’t help having feelings for him. And not just because he was going through a rough time, but because he was a good guy. I still wondered, from time to time, if he might be Night Owl, who still texted me from time to time.
I opened my textbook, but I was too restless to focus, so I went upstairs and took a shower. Even though it was late at night, I took some time to make myself look and feel my best. Then I changed, pulled on my robe, and went back downstairs.
Instead of going to my room, I bypassed it and went to Ian’s. A strip of light was visible under the door, so I knew he was still up.
Before I could change my mind, I knocked on the door.
“Room service,” I announced.