He headed out of the room, talking over his shoulder, yet I struggled to follow and pay attention to what he said. “It was only the battery, so I called a mechanic, and the guy brought a new one out.”
I stopped next to the kitchen table where he grabbed a bag from the floor and set it in one of the chairs. From inside, he pulled out two white boxes, one much longer than the other. “Hear me out first.” Which meant there was a good chance I would argue with him about his purchase.
Before agreeing to anything, I took a closer look at the boxes on the table and noticed the apple on both. “No, Cash. Whatever those are, I don’t want them. You’re delusional if you think I’m going to accept anything with that logo on the box from you.”
“You haven’t even heard me out yet.” Covering the packages with his hands, he continued, obviously refusing my objection. “You need a phone in case of emergencies.” He slid the smaller box toward me.
“First of all, an iPhone isn’t an in-case-of-emergency device. That’s what cheap flip phones are for…you know, the ones you get with prepaid minutes. I’m well aware of what it costs for a data package every month. It’s out of my budget—like way out. Secondly, did you not hear me last night when I explained I suck in traumatic situations? This fancy piece of technology won’t do crap if I can’t find it—or worse, can’t figure out how to use it.”
“And that’s what this is for.” He slid the longer box toward me. When I expressed my confusion with narrowed eyes, he began to explain. “It’s a watch that pairs to your phone, and it has this neat function on it that allows you to make an emergency call.”
Well, I didn’t really have much of an argument about that, other than…
“Are you out of your mind?”
“No…actually, I’m not. It’s a completely rational purchase and answers all your concerns.”
“Except the financial part.”
He held up a hand and smirked with his head cocked to the side. “I added a line to my account. I had to get you a new number, though. I couldn’t transfer yours over, but it’s only ten dollars a month extra.”
“I highly doubt that. The data alone is more than that.”
“I switched to a family plan so now we share a data and text package. I figured since you’re home most of the time, you’ll be connected to the internet, so you won’t use much.” He continued to explain how many gigabytes we had to share each month, but my brain had heard “family” and stopped processing anything else.
It shouldn’t have affected me the way it did. It was a stupid mobile account. You could share one with anybody, and it wouldn’t mean anything. But for some reason, my head told me something else.
“Why did you add me to your plan?” My question barely came out, stopping him in the middle of whatever he was saying. “That seems so permanent.”
Apparently, he found humor in my concerns. “Jade…it saves you money, and it makes me feel better when you’re here alone. I don’t like the idea of not being able to reach you, or you not having a way to call for help if you need it. And it was a one-year contract, which is not even close to being permanent. If you aren’t comfortable with this, I can cancel it and return everything. But I’ll still need you to get a phone.”
“I can give in about the bill and even being on your account…but how am I supposed to pay for these?” I held up both boxes, one in each hand. “I’m sure these are well over a thousand dollars. My guess is closer to fifteen hundred.”
“You don’t need to worry about how much they cost or paying me back.” He moved around the table, came to stand in front of me, and settled his hands on my hips while I continued to hold out the boxes in my hands. “I kinda earned the right to get them for you.”
“Excuse me? Earned the right? How?”
“I won the bet.”
Batting my eyes, fully confused, I asked, “What bet?”
“You said I wouldn’t be able to make you come. And I did.”
Instinctively, I glanced around, searching for Aria to make sure she didn’t hear him, as if she’d understand what he meant. “That wasn’t a bet.”
“Fine…then call this my reward for doing the impossible.”
“I’m the one getting expensive gifts—plus the other thing. How is that your reward?”
“If it means I get to speak to you while I’m gone, then I don’t care what you call it. And better yet…now we can FaceTime each other, so I can see you when we talk. Damn, the perks just keep piling up.”
I huffed in resignation and dropped my forehead to his chest. His laughter rumbled through him and filled my entire body with the vibrations. I didn’t want to concede, but I had a feeling he would continue to argue with me no matter what I said, so I gave in and accepted the fancy devices he was so excited to give me.
Cash set up the new phone and watch while I prepared the table for dinner and quizzed him about how Aria did today. Other than having me use my fingerprints on the device’s home key, I didn’t have to do anything. But right as I was about to tell him to put it away, the alerts started going off.
“What’d you do? Break it already?” I teased, but my smile vanished at the sight of the concern embedded in his brow. “Cash? What is it?”
“You got a few messages.”
“From who? I thought you said I have a new number.”
“You do, but I signed on with your Apple ID, so any messages you haven’t read yet just came through.” His penetrating gaze captured mine and held me prisoner. “You need to call Stevie.”
I didn’t like his deep and haunting tone, but I refused to believe it held any merit. “I will after supper. The oven is going to beep in…” I glanced behind me, needing the reprieve more for myself than to verify the time. “Fifty seconds. So put it away and we’ll pick it back up later.”
“Your mom’s in the hospital.” He’d blurted it out like it was some random fact. The weather forecast shows rain tomorrow. And even though it was so cut and dry, I was able to pick up on the warning. The hint of alarm that took it from informing me of late afternoon showers to telling me about a brewing storm off the coast that could wipe everything away.
“W-what’d she say?”
He held out the phone, but I couldn’t do anything other than stare at it like it was infected with some flesh-eating disease. “She said you need to call her. Go…take the phone back to the room. I’ll get Aria fed. Don’t worry about this—I’ve got it handled.”
Finally, I took the cell from his hand and headed back to my room, my heart lodged in my throat. But before I called, I needed to read her messages so I could attempt to prepare myself. No, my mother and I hadn’t gotten along for years. She’d pushed me away instead of pulling me closer. She’d cut me off when I needed her the most. But that didn’t mean a sob wasn’t ripped from my chest when I read Stevie’s text about my mom being hurt.
I barely let her answer the phone before I asked, “What’s going on?”
“I don’t have much information—the hospital won’t tell me anything.”