Page 71 of Love me, Maddie Mendoza

If her mother still there? But the doctor seemed to understand more than me. She nodded gravely, turning on her heel. André and Maddie followed.

I sat back in the chair. Shooting mom and dad a text. I drew a breath and let the oxygen do its work to calm my heart. It was fine; it was fine.

Dad came over before anyone else. Maybe mom wasn’t checking her messages in the chapel. He found me alone and rested on the chair beside mine.

“Is she ok?”

I dipped my chin. “They hoped to have removed it all.”

“Good,” Dad said, and then again. “Good.”

“It’s nothing definitive. We’re going to need to wait and see.”

“But they said it went well?”

I dipped my chin in a jerky move, tearing my gaze from dad. We said little for a minute until he broke the silence. “Maddie is lucky to have you.”

I scoffed and straightened my back up, looking at him like he was crazy.

“I’m not joking, son.” Dad tried again. “You hold that girl together.”

“She holds me together.” I fired back.

That brought a little curve to the corner of dad’s mouth. Shaking his head, he surprised the hell out of me, saying, “Promise me you’re going to marry her.”

My eyebrows shot up. Dad never asked me if Maddie and I were more than friends. Dad was always the first one to defend our friendship. My dumbfounded expression made him chuckle and lift a shoulder. “It’s just a wish.”

“A wish?”

“You’re my son. And there’s no one in the world who loves you more than Maddie does. Of course I wish for you to like her the same way.”

“Maddie loves me, sure. The same way I love her. We’re friends.” Why was I explaining this to him? He saw us grow up, for god’s sake!

“What’s the problem with loving her in another way?” Dad grumbled, confused.

“It…It’s not a problem, no.” It wasn’t. Loving Maddie in all ways sounded like the most logical thing in the world.

“So there you go. You have this gorgeous girl who loves you more than words, who knows you inside out. So what do you do?”

I blinked at him. What do I do? What I’ve been doing for the last sixteen years. I protected, and I cared for her. I offered my friendship and held her hand during all times. I was her constant.

That wasn’t the reply dad was looking for.

He tsked. “You marry her, Zeek. You marry her.”

Xiomara was in the hospital for four days. The good news was that she had plenty to complain about. The food was bland, the TV channels were bad, and even when we came around to play bridge, she had something to complain about the playing cards.

We were thrilled she was getting stronger. Maddie was certain her mother needed bitterness to keep her going, and with everyone fanning over her, she got to go the extra mile.

We still had to wait for the test results, in a way, very little changed since we returned. I could almost taste Maddie’s fear at times. But then Xiomara would roll her eyes and tell everyone off. “And if it’s nothing, huh? How embarrassed are you all going to be for making such a big deal over nothing?”

Eventually, the week was up, and I had to be back in Statham.

“You sure you have to go?” Maddie looked at my bag on the corner of my room like it offended her.

Today again she hopped over before I had the chance to go to her. Freshly showered and ready to go to sleep, her mood plummeted when she realized I was packing.

“They gave us just a week, Mads,” I said again, taking my shirt off. “Time’s up now.”

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