SIX DAYS (14 page)

“Do you know anything about the necklace she wears with the medallion on it?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Asher said something about it when we ran into him the other night that upset her. I asked her about it. She said it was off limits, that she didn’t want to talk about it,” I said, and then, our waiter, Lawrence, arrived with the drinks and bread Stella had promised, ready to tell us the specials and take our order, which dropped the subject of Hazel and Asher altogether.

After dinner, we thanked Stella, who’d refused to allow Kasey to pay for anything, and snuck a slice of amaretto cheesecake into the bag containing our leftovers.

While Kasey went to get the car from the valet, I stopped by the restroom. When I came outside Kasey was standing next to his Lotus, his phone in his hand, pale as a ghost. I instantly tensed.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ll tell you in the car,” he said, holding the door open for me. 

He peeled out of the parking lot and sped down the street, staring only at the road ahead.

“What’s going on? Where are we going?” I asked, feeling sick. Something was wrong. I instantly thought of Hazel. Neither of us had talked to her all day.

“Your mother’s in the hospital.” 

“My mother?” I gasped, surprised. “What happened to her?”

“I’m not sure. Hazel said that she and Chase heard an ambulance and police sirens. They went over and saw your mom being loaded into an ambulance. No one would tell them anything, but they heard one of the paramedics say something about an overdose when he radioed the hospital.”

“She overdosed,” I breathed, feeling a dizzying confusion tingle through my body. “On what? What did she take? What the hell was she trying to do?” I cried, hoping there was no way the answer was kill herself.

“We’ll find out what’s going on when we get to the hospital. That’s only what Hazel overheard. The paramedics might not have even been talking about your mom.”

Kasey was trying to soothe me. I knew better. Why would the paramedics radio the hospital about a random overdose while loading my mother in an ambulance?

It felt like it had only taken a few seconds to get from the restaurant to the hospital. As soon as Kasey pulled underneath the covered entrance of Saint Mark’s I jumped out of the car and ran straight to the information desk.

“Carolyn Wiley! Where is she?”

“If it was an emergency, she’ll be just around the corner.” I barely waited for her to finish before I started running. Kasey caught up to me. I knew he’d abandoned his car, and hoped for a moment that it didn’t get towed as I rounded the corner where I found Hazel and Chase standing.

“Did they say anything? Is she okay?” I cried.

“They won’t tell us anything since we’re not family,” Hazel said, looking unsure of something.

“What?” I asked, sharply. I didn’t have time for her to waver. I needed her to spit out whatever she needed to say.

“Your dad’s here. He’s with—” I knew the rest; I didn’t
need to hear it. I instantly set out to find him, pushing through the people in my way until I saw Nico.

“Where is he?” I demanded though clenched teeth. She pointed to the right, holding her belly with both hands, as if her unborn baby needed protecting from me. It only made me hate her more. I slung the curtain back and glared at my father.

“Ryen,” he gasped, surprised. “How did you…”

My eyes went to the doctor standing beside my father, and then to the empty bed behind them. What I’d imagined on the ride over had happened. She was dead. My mother had died. She’d killed herself.
Because of
him
.

“This is your fucking fault! You did this,” I yelled at my father, starting to cry again.

“This is not my fault, Ryen,” he said sternly.

“Oh, right.” I conked myself on the head with the palm of my hand. “It’s your dick’s fault.”

That was a pretty harsh thing for me to say to him, but in that moment, I believed it, and would have said it a thousand more times if I needed to. My father’s expression changed. He was angry, but somehow kept his cool.

“I know you’re upset and confused, but you will not speak to me like that.”

“She was so sad,” I mumbled. “Because of you, and your infant girlfriend, and your disgusting spawn!” I screamed. “Trying to rush the divorce so you can marry Nico—” “You don’t know the kinds of things your mother has been doing,” he interrupted. “She’s been harassing us and following us around. That’s how she found out that Nico is pregnant.”

“Don’t you dare try to blame any of this on
her! You’re married! You are married to my mother! You can’t just do whatever you want! You can’t just decide that you’re not happy with the family you have and go make a new one—especially without divorcing your old family first—you cheater!”

“I’m still your family, Ryen.”

“That’s bullshit. I don’t even know you. I wouldn’t want to know someone like you. I hate you and I will never forgive you for what you’ve done. You or Nico—not ever,” I cried, my bottom lip quivering, my fists closed tightly. “And I will never consider that bastard she’s carrying to be my family either. We’re finished,” I sobbed. “Me and you are done.”

My father stared at me looking as broken hearted as I felt. It felt good to hurt him. I wanted him to hurt. He deserved it after what he’d done.

The doctor stepped between us and looked at me. “This conversation also needs to be finished,” he said, a certain strictness in his tone. “You’re going to upset the other patients.”

I glared at him hard through his thin-rimmed glasses. “My mother is dead, you inconsiderate asshole! I don’t care if I upset the other patients!”

My father’s breath caught. “Your mother is not dead, Ryen. She’s alive. She’s going to be fine,” he said, sounding distressed that I’d thought otherwise.

For some reason, that news made me cry harder.
Maybe it was relief from knowing that I wouldn’t have to bury her two days from now and rifle through her possessions, deciding what to give away and what to keep, and where I would go, and how I would survive losing her.

“She called me a couple of hours ago. She sounded loopy; her speech was slurred, so I called an ambulance. They pumped her stomach en route, but she’s going to be fine. I’m sorry someone else told you she was here—” “So, she’s alive?” I asked the doctor, ignoring everything my father had just said, along with his attempt to start a civil conversation with me. At that moment, I didn’t care if he was sorry. It didn’t matter anyway. It wasn’t going to change anything.

“Yes, she’s alive. We will keep her a few days for observation and testing.”

“I’m sorry I called you an asshole,” I whimpered.

“It happens,” the doctor said.

“Is she awake?”

“She’s resting.”

“I want to see her.”

“I don’t think you should,” my father said weakly. I ignored him.

“Where is she?” I asked the doctor.

“She’s sleeping. You can come back during visiting hours tomorrow and see her then.”

“No!” I gasped. “I want to see her now.
Tonight. I need to see her. Just for a minute, just so she knows that I was here. Please.”

“We gave her something to help her sleep. She wouldn’t know you were here tonight anyway. We will take excellent care of her.” He touched my shoulder. “She’s in good hands.”

I started to cry again and ran out of the room, into Kasey’s arms. He promised me that everything would be okay as he stroked my hair, holding me tight. I hoped he was right.

“Ryen,” I heard my father’s voice.

“I don’t want to talk to you right now.”

“Ryen, I have to leave in the morning for business. I’ll be gone four days. I think you should stay with Nico while I’m away.”

I released Kasey and looked blurry eyed at my father. “Have you completely lost it?” I asked firmly, unwavering in my contempt for him.

“I don’t want you to be alone,” he said.

I pointed at Nico. “You knocking her up almost killed my mother! And you want me to stay with her; I’d rather sleep in the street.”

“Ryen!
That’s enough. We are not to blame for what your mother did to herself.”

“You’re wrong. You haven’t seen her lately. She’s not even remotely close to the person she used to be—before you and Ms. Teenage Dream ruined everything. Don’t worry about me; I’ve got a place to stay. Enjoy your trip.”

Kasey, Hazel, Chase, and I began to walk away as Tosh, Luke and Frederick came skidding around the corner. Tosh fired off questions like a cannon, which Hazel and Chase fielded as we walked to the parking lot.

My dad came outside after me. “Ryen, I think we should talk. I should know where you plan to be while I’m gone.”

“When was the last time you gave a shit about where I was, or what I was doing, daddy? You haven’t asked me one question since you left. You haven’t had any idea what I’ve been doing, or where I’ve been staying, or how I’ve been adjusting to the new life that was forced upon me because of your choices.”

“You don’t understand adult problems, Ryen.”

“I am an adult which means that I don’t have to tell you anything. I’ll be staying with my friends until my mother gets out of the hospital, and that’s the last thing I’m going to say to you tonight.” He tried to argue with me, but Nico told him to leave it alone, that I would be fine with my friends.

I glared at them as I got in Kasey’s car, thinking those words were probably the smartest Nico had uttered in her life. 

“What do you need? What can I do for you?” Kasey asked as we drove away.

“Get me drunk.” I didn’t want to spend the rest of the night thinking about anything.

We went to a pub downtown that was bursting at the seams. The doors and windows were open and there was no place to sit at
all. But that was easily remedied. A table large enough for all of us came open with a little creative negotiating on Kasey’s part.

After a couple beers, I felt better, less stressed.

“I’m sorry,” I leaned in and whispered to Kasey. He shifted to look at me. “You’re sorry—for what?”

“For putting you in the middle of this mess, like this. You shouldn’t have to—you don’t have to...” I stared at him, my eyes letting him know that he had an out and now was his chance to take it.

“Are you dumping me?” he asked, playfully, which made me smile even though he was sort of making fun of me.

“No, not dumping you, just offering you an out,” I said, hoping he wouldn’t take it.

“I’m not going anywhere. I want you, Ryen Wiley,” he breathed, “and all of your fucked up family problems,” he smiled, and then kissed me in a way that I normally wouldn’t have kissed someone in public. While doing so, I successfully ignored every joke and cheer our friends and the stranger’s surrounding us made. Except for one.

“Kasey!” a girl shouted with full on disgust in her tone, followed by the clumsy thump of a glass mug hitting hard against our table. It was a good thing that glass was so
thick, otherwise, it would have shattered under the force.

“Look at you—moving on. Kissing another girl with such moxie,” she stated, disapprovingly, and a little slurred. What the hell did she mean by
another girl
?

“You’re drunk,” Kasey observed. “You should go home.” 

“Is Phillip with you?” Tosh asked the girl.

“No, he’s not! Unlike you, I can go out without my boyfriend.” Tosh ignored her and offered to have Frederick drive her home. The girl shot her a bird. “I don’t want anything from you,” she spewed and looked back at Kasey. “Do you even know what today is?” she snarled at him.

“You know I do.” The fierceness in his tone made me shudder. I glanced around the rest of the table and everyone appeared to be frozen with fear. I’d never seen any of them appear afraid of anything before, but whatever this day represented scared them.

The girl looked at me. “Do you know what today is?” I barely knew it was Sunday, but felt certain that wasn’t the answer she was looking for.

“Leave it alone, Bethany,” Hazel threatened.

“Fuck you,” she snapped. “She was my best friend!” she cried, clutching her shirt in the center of her chest, her knuckles instantly whitened her grip was so tight. I watched as sadness distorted her face. Her bottom lip quivered and a swell of tears formed in her eyes, spilling over, trickling down her flushed cheeks.

“You didn’t even tell her about Chloe, did you?” she snarled at Kasey.

“It’s not the time or place for what you’re doing,” he said, glaring hard at her.

“I didn’t realize that there was a proper time or place to discuss your—” “Her mother’s in the hospital,” Kasey interrupted.

“Oh, I’m so sorry for you,” Bethany garbled, and then looked at Kasey. “At least she knows where her mother is—if she’d dead or alive.”

“Okay, that’s enough,” Chase said, and waved over a policeman who was standing guard at the back exit. 

“Ask your precious boyfriend who Chloe Caldwell is,” Bethany shouted at me as she tried to worm away from the officer holding her arms, pulling her away from us.