Chapter 15 Benny #2
Benny felt his chest hurt. “It was stupid,” he said. “Making an old man skate was stupid and trying to get you and my mom… Well, that was stupid, too.”
“And hopeful,” Olivia said softly. “But Benny’s right. It was pretty dumb, especially considering how smart we are.”
Marshall moved his hand to cover hers. “You had good intentions, both of you. And Gracie had good…instincts. I’m the one who jumped to the wrong conclusions.”
Benny wasn’t sure what all that meant but nodded anyway.
Marshall didn’t say anything for a minute.
Benny just sat there, quiet, waiting to find out what their punishment would be. The phone was history, that much he knew. But if anything happened to Grandpa—
“This isn’t your fault, you two,” Marshall finally said. “Not even close. And it sure wasn’t Gracie…scheming.” He winced as if he thought about something that hurt. “And Red wouldn’t have done it if he didn’t kind of want to.”
“He does love attention,” Benny said. “But not the kind with twenty firemen and an ambulance siren.”
“Nobody likes that attention.” Marshall’s whole face looked like it hurt when he reached for Benny to hug him. “Do you know how to pray? Do you want me to pray for Red right now?”
He blinked. “You can, but I just want to know if he’s okay. My mom said we could go, so can you take me there? I really want to see Red. He’s like my dad and my grandpa and my best friend all mixed up together. What if…what if I never see him again?”
“You certainly will, but, yes, let’s go. I’ll pray quietly on the way there.”
“Oh, what about Kat?” Benny asked. “Are dogs allowed in the hospital?”
Marshall smiled. “You know, Ben, it says a lot about a man who thinks about others—and dogs—at a time like this. We can take Kat and keep her on a leash. If they tell us she can’t come in, then we can wait in the car. You need to be close to your family.”
“Thank you, Mr.…Marshall. Thank you for not being mad about…what we did.”
“What I did,” Olivia chimed in.
“Well, there’s enough blame to go around,” Marshall said. “Even some for me. Come on, team. Let’s go. The hospital is less than five minutes from here.”
Benny’s heart lifted because they weren’t in trouble…and Marshall called him part of the team.
Now if only Grandpa was okay.
A few minutes later, they piled into Marshall’s truck, with Kat between Olivia and Benny in the back. The heater roared and snow hit the windshield under the streetlights as they drove.
Over Kat’s head, Olivia looked at him. “It’s gonna be okay, Benny,” she whispered. “You’ll see.”
Benny wanted to believe her. He really did.
He stared out the window as the Christmassy town blurred by them, everything twinkling and happy and festive. Benny felt like the only person in the world who just had Christmas crack in half.
They pulled into a big parking lot next to the hospital and found a spot, but before they got out, Marshall tried texting Mom again, shaking his head.
“It’s not going through,” he said, staring at the phone. “That’s good.”
“Why is that good?” Benny asked.
“Maybe they don’t have signal, and she just can’t text to tell us Red is fine.”
Clinging to that, Benny, Olivia, and Kat all climbed out of the back and walked toward the big gray stone and glass hospital rising out of the snow. The lights were bright, leading to a lobby that looked more like a ski lodge than a place for sick people.
Benny tried not to run, but he was ahead of the others when the automatic doors whooshed open and Mom walked out, looking at her phone.
“Mom!”
“Benny!”
They shot toward each other, her arms out. He collided with her like a cannonball, arms wrapping tight around her waist.
She fell to her knees on the pavement, hugging him so hard it almost hurt. “Oh, Benny,” she breathed into his hair. “I’ve been trying to call. There’s no signal inside—oh, sweetheart, he’s okay. Grandpa is just fine.”
Benny froze. “Really? He’s not going to die?”
“Nope, he just had terrible heartburn,” she said, laughing and crying all at once.
“It wasn’t a heart attack. The doctors said he scared ten years off all of us, but he’s fine.
He’s getting a lecture about what he eats now…
” She looked up, her gaze over Benny’s head at Marshall, who’d just caught up.
“Guess we’ll send him to Craving Clean when he wants a cream puff. ”
For a second, Benny couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. And then everything inside him kind of fell apart when he realized Grandpa would be fine. Fighting another sob, he leaned into his mother as she slowly stood, still holding him.
“He’s really okay?” Marshall asked.
“Are you sure?” Olivia demanded.
“Really.” She nodded, smiling through tears and stroking Benny’s hair like she did when she was really worked up about something.
“He has zero indicators of a heart attack or any heart problems at all. They have a test they run that lets them immediately know if there’s been a cardiac incident.
This is definitely just severe heartburn. ”
“I told him not to eat that second hot dog before we skated,” Benny muttered.
Marshall groaned. “I need to spend a week with that man and straighten him out.”
Just then, more of Benny’s family came out—Uncle Jack, Cameron, and Nicole—all rushing to hug Benny and share the good news.
“Where’s Grandma?” Benny asked, looking around.
“She’s with my mom, talking to the doctors,” Nicole said, reaching down to straighten his glasses. “How are you doing, little dude?”
“I’m okay,” he said.
Everyone started talking at once, hugging and laughing, and making Benny feel a little dizzy with relief.
Then he saw Marshall move toward his mom, kind of taking her to the side. He said something to her, and Mom looked up at him, not smiling.
He couldn’t hear what she said, but Mom glanced at Benny, her eyes bright with more tears.
Olivia sidled up next to him, pushing him closer to eavesdrop.
“Gracie, I’m sorry,” they heard Marshall say. “I was completely wrong and I’m sorry.”
“What was he wrong about?” Olivia muttered.
“I don’t know,” Benny said, turning to her. “But I think we’ve caused enough trouble.”
She started to smile, looking right past him. “Maybe. But check it out, Benny McBride. All that trouble…worked.”
He turned just as Marshall and his mom hugged and—
“What?” he breathed, watching them…oh.
“And no mistletoe,” Olivia said under her breath. “Just magic.”
“And meddling,” Benny murmured, looking away. He wasn’t sure he wanted to see his mom do that, but still, he felt his whole face break into a smile. Olivia giggled and held her hand out for a secret low-five.
“Operation Mistletoe Madness for the win,” she said, looking smug.
“You’re crazy,” he said.
“Oh, here he is!” Nicole called out, waving them all inside. “Red is here!”
The automatic doors opened again, and Grandma and Aunt Cindy came out pushing a wheelchair. And there was Grandpa. Pale, tired, still in his Santa pants and jacket.
“We have good news and better news!” Aunt Cindy announced, rolling him forward. “Dad is healthy and discharged and free to go home. And, not quite as important but still exciting, I just got a call that we were chosen by Aisle Files to be their featured wedding.”
A noisy cheer went up, but not from Benny, who couldn’t possibly care less about the wedding stuff. All he could do was stare at Grandpa, who lifted his hand and crooked a finger to get Benny closer.
“C’mere, Benny-bean.”
Benny bolted forward, flinging his arms around Red’s middle so hard the chair rolled back an inch. “You scared me! You scared everybody!”
Red patted the back of Benny’s head. “My ticker’s fine, just a little rebellion from the second dog you told me not to eat.”
“You should listen to me, Grandpa.” Benny straightened and looked at the face of a man he loved more than anything in the world. “I told you hot dogs are dumb.”
“Yeah, well,” Red wheezed, smiling weakly, “you can’t fix stupid.”
Everybody laughed, and it sounded like music to Benny’s ears.
Benny clung to Red’s arm all the way to the parking lot. He kept glancing up, just to make sure his great-grandpa was still breathing, still cracking jokes, still there.
When they finally piled into the cars and trucks to head home, Benny leaned his head against the window and looked up at the night sky. The snow had stopped. The stars were back. Red was going to be fine.
He whispered, just loud enough for himself to hear, “Thank you.”