Their dad had tried to get a flight out of Tulsa the night before, but there weren’t any until this afternoon, so he’d ended up renting a car—“Kelly gave me the agency Visa”—and driving for seven hours.
The nurse came back with discharge papers and told Wren that she’d have to leave the hospital in a wheelchair. “It’s policy.”
Wren complained, but their dad just stood behind the wheelchair and said, “Do you want to argue or do you want to go home?”
When the nurse buzzed them out into the waiting room, Cath felt her stomach jump and realized that she was half-expecting to see Laura still sitting out there. Fat chance, Cath thought.
The doors opened, and Wren made a sobby little gasping noise. For a second Cath thought maybe Laura was still there. Or maybe Wren was trying to throw up again.
There was a guy sitting in the waiting room with his head in his hands. He heard Wren’s gasp and looked up, then stood up, and Wren was out of the wheelchair, shuffling toward him. He took her in his arms and pushed his face down into her pukey hair.
It was the big guy from Muggsy’s. The guy who threw punches. Cath couldn’t remember his name. Javier. Julio …
“Who’s that?” her dad asked.
“Jandro,” Cath said.
“Ah,” he said, watching them hug. “Jandro.”
“Yeah…” Cath hoped that it wasn’t Jandro who dropped Wren off at the emergency room, then left her alone. She hoped that he didn’t know anything about that bruise on her cheek.
“Hey,” someone said, and Cath stepped aside, realizing she was standing in the middle of the hallway. “Hey,” he said again.
She looked up—and into Levi’s smiling face.
“Hey,” she said, and it almost came out with an exclamation point. “What are you doing here?”
“I got your text—I texted you back.”
“My phone’s dead.” Cath looked up at Levi’s crinkle-cut eyes and relieved smile, trying to take him all in.
He was holding two cups of coffee and had a banana shoved into the pocket of his flannel shirt. “Mr. Avery?” he said, holding out a cup of coffee. “This was for Jandro, but it looks like he’s covered.”
Her dad took the coffee. “Thanks. Levi.”
“Levi,” Cath repeated, and she knew she was close to crying. “You didn’t have to come.”
He made a loose fist and chucked her gently on the bottom of her chin, taking a half step toward her. “Yeah, I did.”
Cath tried not to smile—but ended up smiling so wide, her ears almost popped.
“They wouldn’t let me back,” he said. “Or Jandro. Only immediate family.”
Cath nodded.
“Is your sister okay?”
“Yeah. Hungover. Embarrassed … We’re going back to Omaha now, all three of us.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah.” She reached for his hand and squeezed it. “Thank you,” she said.
“You didn’t even know I was here.”
“I know now, and I’ll apply these feelings backwards. Thank you.… Did you miss your sister’s birthday party?”
“No, it’s tomorrow after church. I’ll take a nap and head back that way—unless you need anything.”
“Nope.”
“Are you hungry?”
Cath laughed. “Are you about to offer me a banana?”
“I’m about to offer you half a banana,” Levi said, letting go of her hand. He gave her the coffee and took the banana out of his pocket, peeling it. Cath glanced over at Wren. She was introducing their dad to Jandro. Wren looked like hell, but Jandro was looking at her like she was the Lady of the Lake. Levi handed Cath half a banana, and she took it. “Cheers,” he said, tapping his hand against hers.
Cath ate the banana and held on to his gaze. “I’d give you the moon right now,” she said.
Levi’s eyes flashed happily, and he hitched up an eyebrow. “Yeah, but would you slay it for me?”
*
Cath drove home. They drove through McDonald’s first, and her dad ordered two Filet-O-Fish sandwiches and said that neither of them could nag him about it.
Wren grimaced. “I don’t even care if it’s bad for your cholesterol. It’s the smell that’s making me sick.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have drunk yourself into a bilious stupor,” their dad said. And that’s when Cath realized that he wasn’t going to pretend that nothing was wrong. That he wasn’t just going to let Wren go about her business.
Cath smashed her cheeseburger against the steering wheel and was the only person on the interstate observing the speed limit.
When they got home, Wren went straight in to take a shower.
Her dad stood in the living room, looking lost. “You go next,” Cath told him. “I’m not that gross.”
“We have to talk about all this,” he said. “Tonight. I mean, not you. You don’t. Wren and I have to talk. I should have talked to her at Christmas, but there was so much else going on—”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t, Cath.”
“It’s my fault, too. I hid it from you.”