There, between Jake and Hailey, was my dad. Judging by the apology, I’m guessing Cassie had contacted him. Why the hell she decided to do that, I didn’t know. I searched for what to say, wondering if he was just biding his time before he told me I owed him money.
He looked thinner, paler, than the last time I’d seen him. He was chewing sunflower seeds, spitting the shells into a paper cup. I was already starting to feel inadequate and stupid all over again, frail and dumb in my thin white robe and gimp leg.
“Hey, Dad,” I said, the words like goo in my mouth.
“Luke,” he said, glancing at me for a total of about a half millisecond before his eyes went back to the TV above my bed.
“So we met your—” Hailey took her hand off JJ’s head to gesture at Cassie. “Your wife.”
“Yep,” Cassie said in her fake upbeat voice, nodding from the wall. “Great to finally meet y’all. Luke’s told me so much about you.”
“We don’t know jack shit about you,” Jake said with a half-smile.
“Babe!” Hailey scolded.
“What?” Jake shrugged, glancing at me with a what the fuck? face. “Guess out of everyone I know, it makes the most sense Luke would have a shotgun wedding. He’s always been so fucking impulsive.”
Cassie and I caught each other’s gaze.
“When you know, you know.” Cassie looked at Hailey, her head tilted as if she were overcome with adoration. “Right?”
Cassie then turned her gaze at me, urging me with a look only I could see. Romantic phrases, romantic phrases, romantic phrases. I couldn’t think of a single one. I mean, Jesus, I’d been through a lot in the last forty-eight hours. Sue me if I wasn’t feeling like fucking Fabio. My hands started to feel clammy.
I took the Dr Pepper from where I’d set it on the side table, and turned to her with the sweetest look I could muster. “Wanna sip, honey?”
“Thank you, darlin’，” she said, and I could almost hear her teeth clench.
Yeah, sorry, I tried to tell her with my eyes. Not my best.
She took the tiniest drop, almost none at all. Then I remembered. Diabetes, you idiot.
“Well, I’m still pretty exhausted,” I said. As much I wanted to talk to Jake, I was too tired to fake it with Cassie right now. She looked like she was on her last bit of fuel, too.
“We’ll leave you to it,” Hailey said, and she and Jake turned toward the door.
Dad spit another shell and stepped out of the room without a nod. But he had come. That said a lot.
“Are y’all—” I called, and Jake paused. “Are y’all gonna come back?”
Hailey looked at Jake.
“I’d love to have you back,” I added, and tried not to sound desperate.
“Yeah, I mean, but we’re not all roses,” Jake said, his eyebrows knit together, glancing at Cassie. “I’m not gonna, like, change your bedpan.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to,” I said.
“But, yeah, we’ll come back,” he said. Hailey nodded. “The fact that you got close to being taken.” He paused, swallowing. “That puts a lot of things in perspective, doesn’t it?”
At the doorway, Hailey whispered something in JJ’s ear.
“Tank you for the LEGOs!” he called.
My heartbeat was still fast as they left, but I felt energized, hopeful.
Cassie was still against the wall, slumped, but her lips were turned up, watching them go. She pulled a chair next to my bed. “Any news of Frankie?” she asked.
The smiles left both our faces in turn.
Cassie
I’d gotten back from San Antonio a few days ago, after spending as little time as possible with Luke’s family. It wasn’t too hard. I still didn’t know the whole deal with all of them, but no one seemed to want to really talk, anyway.
Frankie was dead. That was all I could think about. Just when I’d forget, something would remind me again. Right now it was the smell of potato chips. This kept happening. One moment I was fine, happy even, and the next I would burst into tears. Frankie had always smelled like potato chips because his mom put them in his lunch every day, and instead of eating them all at once, he had liked to carry them around with him in a Ziploc baggie. He’d do that thing where he’d position them in his mouth to make it look like he had a duck beak. Cassie, look, he’d say, and I’d look up from whatever sand structure I was building. Ha ha, I’d say, and roll my eyes, because he did that every day.