27. Chapter 27
Lark
The call comes sometime between two and three in the morning.
Parenting a teenager has meant that I always leave my phone on, even though the ringer is turned down.
Doesn’t matter; I’m a light sleeper. I answer it quickly, without bothering to look at who is calling.
Lennon doesn’t even stir as I whisper “Hello?” and swing my legs out of the bed.
I step into the hallway and shut the door quietly behind me.
“Lark? Sorry to wake you,” a woman’s voice comes across the line.
I try to blink myself awake as I pull the phone away from my ear to look at the name. “Rachel?” I ask, panic starting to rise in my chest.
“Hi. Richard told me not to call. He said everything is fine, but I’m a mom, too, you know?” She sounds panicky, which definitely is not helping me calm down.
A few quick steps bring me to my bedroom, where I sit on the edge of the bed and take a deep breath. “What’s going on?”
“Well, Devin’s stomach started hurting this afternoon. We thought it was gas,” she starts.
“She texted me about it,” I say.
“Right. Well, it got worse. She started vomiting and spiked a fever. Richard just left with her to go to the hospital.”
I pull my suitcase out from the closet and toss it onto the bed with one hand. The other is holding the phone so tightly, I’m starting to lose feeling in my fingertips. “What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know. Probably nothing serious? But we thought it was best to take her to the ER, and I figured you’d want to know.”
“What hospital?” I start opening drawers and throwing clothes into my suitcase as quickly as I can.
“I don’t know. They left really fast. Richard said he’d text me with information once they got there.”
“Okay.” I try to stay as calm and collected as possible. Panic won’t help me get my stuff packed and get to the airport. “I’ll get on a flight out as quickly as I can. Will you text me updates?”
“Yes.” She sounds relieved, like she wants me to come. Like she thinks I should be there. That doesn’t feel like a great sign. “Fly safe. See you soon.”
As soon as we hang up, I check for flights.
The soonest departure is at five-thirty, which gives me about two hours to get to the airport if I’m going to have enough time to make it through security.
I book the flight, then glance in the direction of Lennon’s room.
This is going to kill him. I already know it.
But I have to be with Devin if she’s as sick as Rachel’s shaky voice suggested.
In a last-minute decision, I also book a ride to the airport.
That done, I start frantically packing everything of mine I can see.
I hadn’t moved anything into Lennon’s room, so all of my clothes are here somewhere.
When that’s done, I move to the bathroom, shoving bottles and creams and makeup into my toiletry bag.
I’m zipping up my bag when the door to Lennon’s room bangs open and his heavy footsteps sound in the hallway.
His big frame fills the doorway where he freezes, staring bleary-eyed down at me next to my suitcase. “What are you doing?” He rubs his eye with a fist and yawns.
“Devin is sick.” I almost trip as I hurriedly pull on a pair of leggings.
Lennon blinks as if his brain hasn’t quite caught up to what he’s seeing. “What?”
I tug half of my short hair into a ponytail, then put on my bra and a T-shirt. “She’s sick. Richard took her to the hospital. Rachel called to tell me.”
“In New York?”
“Yes.” I take one last look around the room. Funny how it felt like I had found a home here, yet I was able to pack up all my belongings in a matter of minutes.
“Wait, you’re leaving?”
My hands land on my hips, and I start shaking from adrenaline. I press my lips together and breathe through my nose. Now is not the time. I can’t freak out yet.
“I have to.” I spell it out calmly. “My daughter is in the hospital.”
“What are you going to do? Take the first flight out?” he asks incredulously.
“Yes.”
He shakes his head. “By the time you get there, she’ll be discharged.”
“Maybe, but it doesn’t matter. She’s sick, and I need to be there.”
“Lark, stay here. Wait for news. If it’s bad, we’ll fly out together,” he says, as if he’s trying to talk some sense into me.
I bristle at his tone. How can he not understand that this isn’t even a choice?
My daughter is sick, so I’m going to be with her.
He must see my reaction, because his face falls.
“If it’s bad, I need to be there,” I tell him. “I already booked my flight and a ride to the airport.”
He gapes at me, all of the sleepiness completely wiped from his expression. “You were going to leave and not tell me?”
“I was going to tell you, but I knew what you were going to say.”
Silence stretches between us as he folds his arms over his chest. “And what was I going to say?” he asks, his voice flat.
“This.” I wave, encompassing the conversation between us. “You were going to beg me to stay and tell me I don’t need to be there. But I do. She’s my daughter.”
From the grumble that starts in his chest, I can tell he’s trying to hold back. He runs a frustrated hand through his hair before saying it anyway. “She’s grown. She’s going to college. Richard is with her. What are you going to do, jump on a plane every time she gets sick?”
It lands like a knife straight to my heart. I exhale a quick puff of air as I press my hand against my chest. “She’s my daughter,” I repeat slowly. “If she’s in the hospital, yes, I will.”
His expression turns pleading, all upturned eyebrows and wide eyes. “Lark—”
“Don’t make me choose, Lennon,” I cut him off before he can try to persuade me further. “Support me. Tell me it’s going to be okay.” My voice cracks. “Don’t make me feel bad for leaving to see my daughter who is in the hospital.”
“That’s what I am saying. It’s going to be okay. You’re flying out there in a panic for nothing.”
“I’d rather fly out for nothing than stay and have it be something.
Why can’t you understand that I have to go?
” My phone chimes. I pick it up to see the notification that I have five minutes until my ride arrives.
My breath is shaky as I draw it in, then let it slowly out.
I heave my wheel-less suitcase past him, and he moves aside to let me.
“Are you coming back?” he asks quietly, his feet planted in the doorway.
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. The past few minutes have been like a bucket of ice water thrown on the heat of our time together.
I’ve been so consumed with the newness of our relationship that I never stopped to wonder what might happen when something like this inevitably came up.
I stupidly thought we’d figure it out, but I can see now that he hasn’t taken my very real responsibilities into consideration.
It makes me wonder if he ever would because he’s never had any.
Not like this. And it dawns on me now that he knows I’m a parent in an abstract sense, but he isn’t really aware of everything that means.
I fear that he won’t ever be happy with anything less than me giving my whole self to him. Which I can’t ever do.
Neither of us says anything. He looks as hurt as I feel.
My phone chimes again. “My ride is here,” I say as I glance at it.
“Lark—”
“I’ll call you when I land, okay?”
His mouth snaps shut. He nods once, and I leave quickly, before the quivering in his lips can turn to the tears that might make me change my mind.