Page 16 of Revived

“You’re a miserable cunt of a man,” Melanie told him. The two security men didn’t bother containing their surprised laughter, and neither did I.

“Mel will be leaving on the medical transport that is coming for my son. She will be given the full pay we offered for her services, and as she is here at mine and my son’s will, she will not, under any circumstances, be escorted from the premises.” It was more than a demand. I was giving the asshole an order and the red-faced bastard knew it.

“I was not aware that a medical transport was incoming or that your son was given clearance for discharge or transport to another facility.”

“Your hospital’s communication issues are not my problem any longer, but they are the reason my son is being moved to another facility.”

“Contracts were signed,” the man blustered.

“Contracts the hospital violated when they decided to attempt to hide the fact that payments were not being directed to the intended recipients, but we’ll discuss that further in court.”

“Come on,” I told Mel as I took a gentle hold on her arm and guided her away from the unfolding drama and toward my son’s room. “We need to get Chevy ready to fly.”

“Honestly, my head is spinning right now,” Mel mumbled. “Did I just lose my job?”

“No need to worry. You gained a far better one.”

“A temporary one,” she sputtered.

“We’ll see about that,” I assured her. There was no way I’d let her go without, when she’d fought for my son’s best interest every step of the way. “About that travel,” I began. “How does John’s Creek, Georgia sound to you? It’s near Atlanta, close to the mountains, and not too far from the ocean either. There’s plenty of medical jobs and best of all, it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than trying to live in New York.”

“Are you still trying to sell me on going? I have nothing else holding me here except a best friend who works opposite shifts from me, so we never see one another.”

“Maybe she’ll follow you south.”

“Doubtful. She’s a New York girl, born and bred.”

“What about you? Are you also a New York native?”

“No. I was born and raised in West Virginia.”

“What brought you to New York?”

“I followed a boy here and it didn’t work out,” she said without going into any further details. “Hey Chevy, you ready to catch a different kind of flight?”

“You know I am. My family will be closer, and I’ll be able to see Opal as soon as I’m mobile.” My kid had it bad for his girl. Unfortunately, he wasn’t aware that her family probably wouldn’t allow him to see her, even when they both got better. I knew Opal’s mom was grateful to my son, but her father was livid and didn’t want him near his daughter again. He blamed his daughter’s prognosis on Chevy, rather than the asshole who hit them. I hoped they would change their minds by the time we got back.

~*~

It was strange watching Mel leave with my son, knowing I couldn’t hop on the same flight. We left an hour after they did, since we had to drive to a small, private airfield outside the city. Once we got to Atlanta, we were stuck in traffic for a bit, though we were assured that Chevy and Mel landed safely and were tucked away in a private suite at the John’s Creek Health Center.

“Did you get the realtor on the ball about closing on the house I chose?” I asked Ian as he tapped a message out on his phone.

“Should be able to close it all out this week.”

“Good, I need a place for them to come home to once he’s released.”

Ian stopped what he was doing and gave me his full attention then. “What’s going on with that?”

“What do you mean?”

“First, I figured since you were coming back to his hometown that Chevy would go from the hospital to his mom’s house to convalesce. He already has a room there, he’s comfortable, and family is around. I thought that was the logical conclusion. You get along with Kendra, so I figured there wouldn’t be an issue going to visit him there.”

“I don’t know. I thought he might enjoy the quiet of my place.”

“Okay, well whatever he decides is up to him. That brings me to my second concern. You said, ‘they’. Are you planning on bringing someone else home?”

“Yeah,” I explained, though I could not fathom why I’d have to since he set up the new contracts for her. “Mel will be coming too, to help care for Chevy.”

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