WE’VE GOT TO GO HOME
ADDISON
C hristmas and New Year’s had come and gone. I still hadn’t made a decision yet about opening up my own restaurant with an investor, even though it occupied my thoughts daily. I honestly wasn’t sure what the right decision was, and I was grateful for the time he’d given me before requiring an answer.
My cell phone danced as it vibrated, and I glanced at it quickly, wondering who was actually calling me instead of sending a text. It was Sugar Mountain’s area code, but I didn’t recognize the number.
“Hello?” I answered, my tone more than a little apprehensive.
“Hi. Is this Addison Whitman?” the voice on the other end of the line asked.
“It is,” I responded as I sat down on my bed and crossed my legs.
“This is Nurse Fiona at Sugar Mountain Memorial Hospital. Your dad has been admitted here.”
My heart started pounding so hard inside my chest, like it was trying to escape somehow. I swore that I broke out into a sweat with her words.
“Is he okay? What happened?” I pushed up from the bed and started walking around my bedroom.
“All I can tell you is that he’s here. You’re his emergency contact. Do you think you could come down?”
Of course I was his emergency contact. He was mine as well. Followed by Patrick. At least they had been when I was in Sugar Mountain.
“I’m not in town at the moment. Can you at least tell me if he’s okay?”
I started panicking as I waited for her response.
“His injuries are not typically life-threatening,” she said.
A sliver of calm washed over me. But it only lasted a second.
Not typically life-threatening.
“What does that mean?”
“I’m sorry, but I’m not at liberty to give you details over the phone. I can have the doctor call you back with the specifics. Or is there someone else I should call to come down?” she asked.
My irritation grew. I’d never felt farther away from Sugar Mountain than I did in this moment.
“Please have the doctor call me when they can,” I instructed before we ended the call.
I stared at my phone for only a second before pulling up Patrick’s contact. If I thought about it for too long, I’d talk myself out of it completely, even though he was the only person I trusted to go get my dad.
I pressed the Call button as my heart continued to race. It only rang twice before Patrick’s breathless voice was on the other end of the line.
“Addi?”
The tears spilled over my cheeks as I sobbed into the phone. The combination of hearing his voice after all this time and my dad being in the hospital for some unknown reason overwhelmed my emotions.
“Addi, talk to me. Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
I knew that tone. He was worried. He still cared.
“Patrick”—I continued to sob—“it’s my dad. He’s at the hospital, and I can’t get to him, and they won’t really tell me anything. I know I have no right to ask you this, but—” I said, but he cut me off.
“Addi, I’ll head over there right now.”
I sniffed. “You will?”
Of course he would. It was the whole reason I’d called him in the first place. I had known Patrick would help me. Even if he’d hated me, which I knew he didn’t, he still would have come through for my dad.
“Of course I will.”
“I’m sorry I had to call you,” I apologized.
“Don’t be sorry. I’d have been pissed if you hadn’t.”
He let out a quick laugh, and my heart wanted to leap through the line and go right into his hands, where it belonged.
“Thank you.”
“I’ll call you as soon as I know the details and fill you in, okay?”
He was so calm, so in control, and, God, I missed that part of him so much. Especially now, when I felt like I had no control over anything at all. Patrick had always balanced me, and vice versa.
“Okay.”
“Addi,” Patrick said softly, stopping me from saying goodbye, “he’s going to be fine. I’ll make sure of it. I’ve got him. You don’t have to worry.”
“Thank you,” I said, almost adding I love you out of habit and truth.
He ended the call, and I attempted to pull myself together.
I opened up the web browser and did a quick search on flights, pleasantly surprised by the price. Usually, when you searched for something last minute, the cost was so exorbitant that it rarely seemed worth it.
But I would have paid whatever the airlines asked in order to go see my dad and make sure he was okay. Regardless of what Patrick told me when he eventually called, I was going home. At least for a few days.
Wiping at my eyes, I threw open my door and passed my mother in the kitchen as I headed for Sarina’s room. She shouted my name, but I ignored her and kept walking.
“Sarina!” I yelled as I knocked on her door and threw it open without waiting for a response.
She was sitting in front of her mirror, doing her makeup.
“You scared the hell out of me,” she chastised as she turned toward me before focusing back on her face.
“Dad’s hurt,” I said, my voice shaking.
Sarina instantly jumped up from her chair. “Is he okay?”
“I don’t know yet. Patrick’s headed to the hospital to check on him.”
“You called Patrick?”
“I had to. The hospital called me, but then they wouldn’t tell me anything. I didn’t know who else to call.”
I started getting emotional once more, and she pulled me in for a hug, squeezing me tight before letting me go.
“Don’t you have any girlfriends in Sugar Mountain?” She cocked her head to one side.
“Not really,” I answered, feeling weird about my response before adding, “Patrick was my best friend, you know? We were together for years. I mean, I had friends, but I spent all my time with Patrick and his family. And with Dad.”
“That makes sense.” She shrugged it off like I wasn’t some odd girl who had no real friends outside of my boyfriend.
“I want to go home and see Dad regardless of what his prognosis is.”
Sarina walked back to her makeup mirror and sat down in front of it once more. “Okay.”
“Will you come with me? He’s all alone, Sarina,” I said as the realization smacked into me like a slap across the face. I suddenly felt a little cruel for ditching my dad the past few years and never coming back.
He had always been there for me. He’d raised me on his own and put me first, no matter what. My dad never complained. Not a single time. If there was a sacrifice to be made on my behalf, he’d made it willingly. I’d never felt unloved, and I knew it was because he always made me feel like I was worth it.
My dad was the best of them, and even though I knew I’d broken his heart a little when I said I wanted to move to New York and in with my mother, he never encouraged me not to go. The one person who he felt had stabbed him in the back, and there I was, choosing her for an unknown length of time.
But coming to New York had never been about my mother. It was always about me and my career and the opportunities that the city alone provided. And it had provided in bulk, if I was being honest.
“For how long?” Sarina asked as she reached for her phone, pulled up her calendar, and started scrolling through it. I could see it in the reflection of the mirror. There wasn’t a single day that didn’t have something in it.
“Three or four days, tops.”
“Okay. I’ll go with.” She grinned like this was going to be a fun adventure.
She started typing fast and furiously into her phone. I assumed she was moving or canceling her obligations.
“Thank you.” I felt relieved that she’d be coming with me. “Dad will be so happy to see you.”
I smiled, and her grin met mine in the mirror.
“And I’ll get to meet Patrick?” She wagged her eyebrows, but my stomach felt like it dropped to my knees. “Why did your face just turn pale? Oh, do you want to avoid your ex while we’re there?”
“I’m not sure that’s possible,” I breathed out as I placed my hand over my belly.
“I’ll do whatever you want, but honestly”—she paused before giving me a shrug—“I kind of want to meet him.”
“You do?” I asked through my shock.
“Hell yes. You can’t get over this guy, and I want to see why,” she said, sticking out her tongue in the process.
“Maybe you should stay here instead.” I made a face, and she laughed.
“Not a chance. If I’ve learned anything about my older sister these past few years, it’s that you’re obsessed with three things. Cooking,” she said, putting up one finger before adding a second. “Your ex-boyfriend.” She put up a third finger. “And Sugar Mountain.”
I wanted to argue.
“I’ve already seen you cook. Can’t wait to see the other two.” She kept grinning. “You going to book the flights, or would you like me to handle it?”
“No. I’ve got it. I’ll send you the details. I need to call out at the restaurant,” I said, my mind overwhelmed with all the things I needed to get done in order to make this last-minute trip happen.
“Don’t forget to tell Mom,” she added, and I groaned out loud.
“She’s in the kitchen. I’ll go let her know.”
“Want me to do it?”
Sarina had a way of talking to our mother that didn’t incite her temper. Unlike me. Everything I said always seemed to either disappoint her or make her angry.
“No. This is about Dad. I don’t really care how she feels about it,” I said defensively.
Sarina laughed like she didn’t believe me, and I wasn’t sure I believed myself either. I hated disappointing people, even when they deserved it.
I walked out of her room, closed the door behind me, and sucked in a steadying breath. My mother was still sitting in the kitchen, one leg crossed over the other as she sipped on her coffee and browsed through a magazine.
“Addison, why were you rushing around?”
“Dad’s in the hospital. Sarina and I are going to go home and see him,” I said, the words spilling out of my mouth in a rush.
“You’re taking Sarina to Sugar Mountain?” She looked at me with disbelief.
Of course that was the only thing she had taken from what I just said.
“She wants to go.” My tone was a little too defensive.
My mother laughed like I amused her. “She’s going to absolutely hate that tiny town. How long will you two be gone?”
“A few days.”
“Don’t distract your sister from her obligations, Addison. And don’t forget yours either.”
I hurried toward my bedroom and away from her venom. I had enough on my mind without adding her negativity to it.