Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 89758 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89758 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
“God, I love Henley,” she said before taking a big bite.
“Eat the doughnut. Hell, eat everything in the bag, then go home and rest. You aren’t keeping Pops alive by sitting in the parking lot. You need some sleep,” I told her.
Hazel continued to chew. When she was done, she shifted her gaze from the massive building in front of us to me. “What if I leave and he … and he—” She stopped because I knew she couldn’t say it. I understood that.
“I will be here, and I will come get you. We can’t go inside. We would just be out here, waiting on Gramma to come out. That’s all we can do. I go home not because I don’t love him, but because there might be a time soon when we are needed. And not because of the worst. But when he gets out of there and when he is strong enough to go home, we are going to be needed. So, I get rest. I continue on with my life daily. I go to work, and I make sure things are running smoothly, so I can update Gramma. That’s what we need to be doing.”
A single tear rolled down Hazel’s face. “What if he don’t come home?” she whispered.
I had thought about that more than once since Gramma had called to tell me he had a massive heart attack last week.
“He’s still alive. He’s strong. He will come home. But if he doesn’t, we’ll lean on each other, and we’ll pull through. We’ll be there for Gramma, and we’ll be strong for her. That is what he would expect of us.”
She nodded then, and I hoped to God I was right and his still being alive a week later meant he was going to live. I knew one day, I would have to face life without him, but I wasn’t ready for that yet. Neither was Hazel. We both needed him still.
Hazel finished the doughnut, then turned to look at me. “You’re right. It’s not somethin’ that happens often, but you are right now. Thanks,” she said with a sad smile.
I shrugged. “Everyone is right eventually,” I replied.
She laughed, and I reached into the bag and pulled out a chocolate chip muffin and a slice of lemon cake, then handed her the lemon cake since it was her favorite. She took it, and we ate in silence while we stared at the brick building in front of us. The evening breeze came through the rolled-down windows, and I felt hopeful. That soon we wouldn’t be sitting here, waiting on Gramma to come out and give us an update. Soon, we would all be back at Pops and Gramma’s house, eating her fried chicken and biscuits in the kitchen while listening to Pops talk about how bad hospital food had been.
“I saw Bryn today,” Hazel said, breaking the silence with the one name I hadn’t wanted to hear.
“How?” I asked instead of just ignoring her comment.
“She was walkin’ somewhere. I waved. She waved back. That was it,” Hazel said. Then, she sighed. “Okay, that’s a lie. I waved. She recognized me, realized I was sitting in a hospital parkin’ lot, and came over to see if I was okay. I told her about Daddy. She said how sorry she was.” Hazel stopped, and I waited because I knew she wasn’t through. “Then, she left and came back with a cheeseburger and fries. She also left me her phone number if’n I needed anything and then asked me not to mention it to you, if I didn’t mind. She said you wouldn’t be happy about her being around me.”
Hazel cut her gaze toward me then. “I don’t think she smashed yer Jeep, Rio. She’s good. The kind of good you can’t fake. It’s in her eyes. She paid you back for the Jeep. More’n your deductible was, and Pops had paid that. The way she argued that she owed you more the time I gave her back the last envelope, that was character. That is a good person.”
When was Bryn going to stop coming around my family? Couldn’t she just stay the fuck away, like I’d told her to? Did she have to stalk everyone related to me?
I jerked open the truck door. I loved Hazel, but I wasn’t going to listen to her praise Bryn. I wasn’t in the state of mind for that. She’d paid me back because she’d bashed my damn Jeep. If she hadn’t done it, then why pay me back? I wasn’t going to argue about this with Hazel though.
I closed the truck door, but Hazel wasn’t done talking.
“I love you, but you can be an ass,” she said, and I turned to get into my Jeep without responding to that comment.
When I was safely inside, she stared at me, and I mouthed the words, Go HOME. I’ll stay , because I wasn’t rolling down my window, so she could keep saying shit to me I didn’t want to hear.