40. Parker
40
PARKER
T hane sat on one side of me and Alec on the other as I bounced my knee the next morning and checked my watch for the fifth time in the last minute alone.
We’d already been here for three hours, and they had estimated that it would take four to six to remove the sliver from Xander’s liver before they even started on Hope, whose operation to remove her old one and insert the new should take another five to twelve on top of that.
We were going to be here all fucking day, so I had no idea why I was already so impatient.
Across the room, the entire Union clan clustered, talking loudly over each other. Foster’s dad and Uncle Jesse—who was Xander’s dad—looked almost like twins, even though Scott was six years older than Jesse. Their middle sister, Paula, was a tiny, petite thing that didn’t even appear to be a Union at all, except for their trademark blond hair, of course. They certainly argued like siblings, though, as they bickered about who would take which shifts watching Xander after she got out of the hospital.
When I met Foster’s gaze, he rolled his eyes, and I smiled slightly, almost glad for a second that I didn’t have any family to fret over and irritate me.
But then I glanced to either side of me, and I realized I did.
All the Eisners, Alec and his mom, and my seven, along with their girlfriends, were flipping through magazines, playing on their phones, or chatting quietly with each other, either skipping out on work or school to wait through the day with me.
Even Keene had stuck around after I’d thrown a magazine at him earlier when he’d made a dumbass crack about my breakdown over Hope’s hospitalization being the reason why he was never falling in love. He was staked out behind a tall plant in the corner, out of my reach, but he was still here. And I was glad.
Basically, everyone I cared about was in this hospital, and I drew in a deep breath, grateful for their presence.
I checked my watch again. Still fifteen hours to go.
Thane nudged my arm. “I’m going to get a coffee. You need anything?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m good.”
“When was the last time you ate?”
Slicing him with a hard scowl, I bit out, “Dude, I’m fine.”
He hissed through a sigh, seeking patience, but then he nodded and stood to wander from the waiting room and stretch his legs.
Alec nudged my other arm and leaned his face my way to say, “I’m starting to miss her last transplant. At least I was knocked out for most of that one and didn’t have to sit through all this awful waiting.”
Sending him a dry glance, I asked, “Want me to knock you out right now?”
It might make both of us feel better. He could drift off into peaceful oblivion and I’d get to punch something.
“Pass,” Alec said, making a face, and he shifted his attention to the other side to talk to his mother.
When Thane returned, he dropped a candy bar into my lap and ordered, “Eat. You’re starting to get hangry.”
I sniffed. “Yeah, that’s what’s been wrong with me for the last eleven years; I just needed a candy bar.” But when I looked down at the wrapper, it reminded me too much of the granola bar of Hope’s that I’d snarfed down at the hotel, which stirred up other memories that only made me even more anxious for this day to pass.
I held the candy bar out toward Alec without even looking his way or asking if he wanted it.
A second later, he exclaimed, “Ooh. Thanks,” and he snagged it up.
Thane sent me a frown. I only shrugged.
“Maybe you should go home and get a couple of hours of shut-eye, at least,” he said next.
I was going on my third day without sleep. “I’m not tired.”
He sighed and finally let me be.
An hour and a half later, a doctor came back to say that Xander had made it through her surgery, and they were on track to begin with Hope.
Half the room got up to go visit her in recovery when they were allowed, Alec tagging along with them.
Thane stuck by my side until his stomach started to growl so much that I snapped at him to go eat lunch. Most of the others had gone out for food; he should’ve too.
He tried to argue and stay with me until I agreed that he could pick me up something as well. And then he finally took off, leaving me alone in the waiting room for the first time since all this horror had started.
I stood and stretched my legs, pacing the floor for a while until I got tired of that. Then I flopped into a chair and wiped a hand over my face, finally starting to feel dragged down and exhausted.
Slumping deeper into a chair, I got more comfortable and rested one elbow on the armrest before propping my chin into my palm. My eyes were beginning to flutter when Raina appeared.
“It was getting crowded in there,” she explained, coming over to sit by me. “Foster has a… big family.”
“Well, welcome to the waiting game,” I invited, splaying out a hand and sending her a dry smile. “Where every moment is one blast after another.”
She snickered and bumped her arm into mine, only to grow serious a moment later. “I saw your parents again.” She rolled her eyes. “They’ve been coming to the beach every night since Hayes found them.”
“Shit. I forgot about that,” I muttered, running a tired hand over my face.
“It’s okay,” she assured. “I let them know what was going on. And they said that if Hope came their way, they’d look after her for you.”
With a nod, I had to draw in a deep breath to keep from crying again.
Before the last two days, I couldn’t remember when I’d last dropped a tear, and now I was a fucking watering pot. I hated it.
“Thanks,” I told Raina as I reached out to grab her hand in appreciation.
She squeezed back and then rested her head on my shoulder. “She’ll be okay, though. I have a feeling.”
“Yeah,” I murmured, hoping she was right. Heaving out a weary breath, I tipped my face toward her and rested my cheek on the top of her head. Then I closed my eyes, praying she was right.
The drowsiness bore down on me, and before I knew it, I’d fallen unconscious.
When I came to, I was lying on my side on an outside bench.
Groaning from sore muscles, I squinted through the sunlight and started to sit up, realizing my bench was set in the sand and on a beach.
“Raina never creates a bench for herself to wake up on,” a voice announced from beside me.
I glanced over and arched my eyebrows at the kid I’d seen before: Foster’s dead brother, Hayes, who acted as Raina’s mediator in her dreams.
She must’ve fallen asleep as well and was dream sharing with me by accident.
“Guess I’m already better at this than she is,” I said, glancing around for her.
“Hey,” her voice muttered from nearby. I found her a dozen feet away, picking herself up off the ground and dusting sand from her arms and legs. “I didn’t even know I could manufacture my own stuff to wake up on.”
“Well, it is your dream,” Hayes teased.
Pausing, she sent the boy a stern frown. “I thought the beach was your thing.”
“Oh, it is,” Hayes agreed cheerfully. “But you can still bring anything to decorate it that your imagination will allow.”
“In that case, I want to wake up on a fluffy king-sized bed next time,” she grumbled, only for a huge bed with white blankets and a tulle canopy to appear.
Glancing back at it in surprise, Raina blinked once, then twisted her gaze to Hayes to scowl. “Well, it’s too late for this trip.”
With a snicker, I shook my head. “So I guess you two are already fighting like brother and sister-in-law, huh?”
Raina transferred her scowl my way, but Hayes only laughed. “Apparently,” he answered, slapping my arm in amusement. “And speaking of family… Yours is still here. They’ve been hanging around my beach since I found them.”
Perking to attention, I shot to my feet. “What? Right now ? They’re here?”
Smiling, the kid tilted his head to the right. “They’re over there.”
I swung around, only to catch my breath and pull back in surprise.
A man and woman played in the distance, tossing a Frisbee back and forth with a golden retriever barking expectantly between them. The woman laughed and tossed the disc to the pooch. It caught the Frisbee in its mouth and then proudly pranced it over to the man. Barking happily when the man pulled the toy from its jaws and patted its head, it took off running down the sand again.
“Mom?” I croaked, barely uttering the word aloud. “Dad?”
The couple heard me anyway. Immediately, they stopped playing and turned their heads in my direction.
“Parker? Oh my God, Parker !”
The woman started racing toward me first, quickly followed by the man.
“Oh, shit.” I took a nervous step back. “They’re coming this way.”
“That’s kind of the point, isn’t it?” Raina told me, pushing on my back to prod me into moving forward. “So why don’t you go greet them?”
I nodded, but my legs didn’t move. “I don’t know what the hell to say to them,” I admitted.
My brain felt like mush, as if all the words in the universe suddenly eluded me.
Stupid words.
“How about hi ?” she suggested. “It’s nice to see you again. I missed you.”
Both of my parents reached me at the same time, stumbling to a stop in front of me and giving me my space, even as they breathed hard from their jog and couldn’t seem to stop smiling.
“Hi,” I said uneasily and waved lamely. “I—it’s nice to see you again.”
They hadn’t aged a day. My mom still had sandy brown hair, the same shade as mine, and Dad sported his usual dark beard and thick-rimmed glasses. They were undeniably my parents, and as pressure built in my chest, I grew choked up.
“God, I’ve really missed you guys,” I rasped.
“Oh, Parker.” My mom finally lurched forward with her arms open wide.
I hugged her hard and buried my face in her hair, sobbing when a familiar smell wafted over me that I hadn’t inhaled in years. Her perfume.
“Mom,” I said, amazed by her solid presence in my arms. “Fuck. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry?” She laughed out her confusion and pulled away to clasp my face between her hands. “Baby, what in the world are you sorry for?”
I shook my head as if I had no idea before I explained, “I was a complete shit to you the last time we saw each other. I never got to apologize for that. I never?—”
My dad chuckled and patted my back before pulling me from my mother so he could give me a side-arm hug. “Damn, kiddo. We forgot all about that. We were a little too concerned with hoping you were happy and healthy and being treated well.”
“Yeah.” I nodded to reassure them. “Yeah, the, uh, the Eisners took me in. They treat me like one of their own.”
“Zeke and Chauncy took you in?” Mom hugged her hands to her chest and sighed. “Oh, thank God. See…” She smacked Dad in the gut with the back of her hand. “I knew he’d be fine.”
Rolling his eyes my way, Dad spoke from the side of his mouth, muttering, “She’s only been stressing over it for the last fucking decade.”
I snickered while Mom harrumphed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, he was our only child; what was I supposed to do?” Turning back to me, she took my hands. “I’m glad you got them. The Eisners were probably better parents for you than we ever could’ve been. And we’re sorry about that,” she added before I could protest. “We were not the greatest, always leaving you with someone else so we could run off and go traveling on our own. We should’ve been more present with you. More?—”
“I don’t care,” I told her. “I still would’ve rather had you around than anyone else.”
“Yes, well.” She smiled sadly and stroked my face. “I’m sorry about that too. But I’m happy that you grew up so well. I mean, look at you.” Spreading her arms, she took a step back and looked me over, shaking her head in awe. “You’re so handsome and tall. And Raina says you’re good with money. You’re richer than we ever were.”
“Plus you got a girl?” Dad joined in, nudging my arm with a way-to-go lift of his brows. “Hope, was it?”
“Yeah.” I nodded, feeling strangely sheepish for the first time in my life. “Yeah. Hope,” I told them. “But she’s, uh, she’s not doing so well right now.”
“She’ll be okay,” Mom assured me as she clasped her hands to her chest and looked at me as if she were actually proud of me. “No matter what happens to her, she’ll be okay.”
I heaved out a steadying breath and nodded along with her. “Yeah,” I murmured. “Thanks.”
The dog came up and licked my hand as if to console me as well, and I pulled my fingers back to frown at him. “What the fuck is up with this dog, anyway?” I asked.
“Parker!” Raina scolded.
But my parents only laughed. “Oh, we just—well, you wanted a dog, so…” My mom motioned to it awkwardly.
I lifted my eyebrows and glanced between the dog and my parents. “So… You brought me a dead dog to meet?” I asked slowly.
Dad scoffed and bumped his arm into Mom’s. “Told you it was a dumb idea.”
“Well, I don’t know!” Mom threw up her hands in frustration. “We hadn’t seen him in over ten years, and he wanted a dog.” Turning to me with imploring eyes, she begged, “Please tell me you finally got a dog.”
I sighed and shook my head. “No, I never got a dog. Chauncy’s allergic. Besides”—I shrugged—“I kind of didn’t want one anymore after what happened.”
“Fuck that,” Mom cried in outrage, making me smile and remember just where I’d picked up my potty mouth. “If you want a dog, baby, get a damn dog. Live your life. Enjoy it. Love your people and don’t let anything that ever happened between us prohibit you from being happy. You hear me?”
“We’re proud of you, kiddo,” Dad added, smiling as he looped an arm over Mom’s shoulders and started to grow unfocused. “And we love you. Always.”
“Congratulations on falling in love,” Mom added as they started to drift further away from me, even though none of us moved. “Appreciate the good and forgive what needs forgiving.”
I shook my head. “What—what’s happening? Where’re you guys going?”
“They’re not going anywhere. You’re the one who’s waking up,” Raina told me and gripped my arm in support.
“What? No.” I panicked.
“It’s okay. We’ll see you again,” Mom shouted from what sounded like a great distance. “Someday.”
“Bye, kiddo,” Dad added. “You’ve got this.”
“I love you,” I called, lifting my hand to wave back, only to bump it into a solid shoulder.
“Hey,” Thane’s voice persuaded. “Parker, wake up.”
I blinked my eyes open and gasped, lurching upright. “The fuck?”
I glanced around the waiting room. Pretty much all of the Union family was gone, except for Foster, who was sitting with a sleeping Raina cradled in his lap.
Alec and his mom were missing too.
“Shit. How long did I sleep?”
Not answering, Thane patted my arm. “You needed the rest. But Hope’s out of surgery now.”
“ What ?!” I surged to my feet, suddenly wide awake. “When? What the fuck time is it? Is she okay?”
He only laughed. “She’s good. They said she did great. Younger and his mom already went back to her recovery room, and I can take you there now, if you want?”
“What the hell kind of question is that?” I sputtered, motioning him to move. “Yes! Let’s go.”
He laughed and shook his head. After taking me down about four different halls, he paused in front of one room with the doors opened.
Tipping his head, he said, “In here.”
He patted me on the arm as I started to pass by, but I stopped and turned to give him a full hug. “Thanks,” I rasped. “For everything.”
“I got you, brother,” he assured, stepping back to send me a serious nod. “Always.”
After we exchanged a significant look, I turned and stepped into the room to find Alec and Nina standing on either side of a bed with a sleeping Hope on it.
“There he is,” Alec said, motioning me forward. “You’re just in time. She’s been starting to stir for the past few minutes.
I stepped to his side and looked down at the love of my life. When her eyelids flickered, I took her pale hand and squeezed her fingers.
“Hey, Trouble,” I said softly. “You going to wake up anytime today or keep us waiting all night?”
Her lips spread into a smile. “Always such a grump,” she slurred and finally blinked open bleary eyes. When she focused on me, she added, “So I didn’t turn into a ghost?”
Pulling my ghost detector from my pocket, I held it over her and started to smile when absolutely nothing happened inside the vial. “Hell, you’re not even dying anymore, darlin’.”
She sniffed a small laugh. “I guess you’re stuck with me for a while longer.”
“I guess,” I agreed, only to lean down and press my lips to her brow. “And thank God for it.”