Page 130 of Edge of Unbroken

As soon as I got off the phone with her on Sunday, I called my best friend to set things into motion. I had two priorities in that moment. Number one: make sure Cat wasn’t alone. Number two: find a way to get home.

I was on the phone with Shane no more than thirty seconds before I yanked open the door to my bedroom and made my way downstairs to find my grandparents.

I found them in their private quarters comprised of the master bedroom and bath and a small office. My grandfather opened the door for me in the exact moment that my dad answered my call. He had to be the one to bring me home, so of course I dialed his number as soon as I hung up with Shane.

“Dad, it’s me,” I said, pressing the speaker button on the phone. I needed to talk with my dad and my grandparents together.

“What’s going on?” my dad and grandfather asked at the same time, their voices so similar in intonation and octave. My grandmother approached with a concerned expression.

“Dad, I need you to bring me home. Now!”

My grandparents frowned.

“Why? What happened?” my dad asked while my grandparents studied me quietly.

“Cat’s in trouble, Dad.”

I provided him and my grandparents with a brief synopsis of what was going on, divulging only the most important details, always mindful not to disclose things Cat wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing herself. My grandmother gasped a bunch of times while my grandfather’s face darkened with each additional word.

“I need to come home, Dad. Now,” I repeated with a growl, feeling anxious, stuck, fucking trapped.

“Baby boy.” My grandmother started toward me, her hand stretched out to touch my cheek, but I stepped out of her reach. I knew she was trying to provide comfort; she’d probably recognized a long time ago that gentle touch soothes me. But I didn’t have the patience for it.

My dad exhaled deeply. “Ran, I don’t think… I mean, Doctor Seivert hasn’t said you’re ready, and—”

“It doesn’t matter!” My voice was getting louder with each word.

“Absolutely it matters!” he argued back authoritatively, but it didn’t affect me. I was too damn worried about Cat.

“Dad, you have to bring me home eventually for this damn trial anyways. You think two or three weeks is going to make a huge fucking difference? I guarantee you it won’t,” I shouted so loudly, so forcefully, that my grandmother gave a startled jump. I would have felt guilty for scaring her if I hadn’t been so damn worked up.

“Ran, you need to calm down,” my dad said. As if telling someone to just calm down has ever worked.

“Fuck that, Dad!” I paced like a lion roaming its cage. “I’m always calm.Always. Even with everything that’s happened, I never lose my shit, but this is different, Dad. It’s not about me! Cat’s in danger. Dad, don’t tell me you’d be able to stay put if you knew Penny was in trouble. Athair? Would you be able to just sit around knowing Morai needed you? I’m not going to find any rest if I can’t… if I can’t be with her, Dad.”

“God, Ran,” my dad groaned. I imagined him running his hand through his dark hair. He wanted to argue with me, but he couldn’t. I knew he couldn’t; I knew he’d feel exactly the way I did. He’d want to make sure Penny was safe. “Dad, you can either bring me home, or I’m going to find a way to get back to New York myself. I’ll take the damn truck and drive two days straight if I have to. Your call,” I told him matter-of-factly, coming to a dead stop in the middle of my grandparents’ bedroom.

My dad exhaled noisily while I stared at my grandparents, my brow set, jaw tight.

“Fine,” my dad rumbled. “Give me some time to get this figured out.”

And he did get it figured out. Not quite as speedily as I had wanted. He and my grandparents were probably hoping I’d simmer the fuck down, would come to my senses once I realized Cat wasn’t in imminent danger, but my mood didn’t change significantly, even after my therapy session with Doctor Seivert the following Tuesday.

I mostly fluctuated between a state of worry for Cat and searing rage at Adam. It was in the evenings, though, when my body came to rest, that my thoughts drifted to the fact that she sent nude photos of her perfect body to some guy not only during their relationship, but during ours, too. Sure, the rational part of me understands she didn’t do so by choice, but a different part of me can’t help but feel wounded. I found peace only in the knowledge that Cat was safe, at least temporarily. She was in North Carolina with her dad and, hopefully, far from Adam.

My dad called my grandmother Wednesday evening just after dinner. I was about to head to bed when my grandmother called me back down, handing me the phone with an expression of both elation and sadness.

“Is everything alright?” I asked into the phone. I wasn’t expecting to talk to my dad in the middle of the week, and I wondered if I’d ever be able to face unexpected things without immediately going into fight-or-flight mode.

“Yeah,” my dad had chuckled. “Just calling to tell you that I booked your flight. You’re coming home Friday,” he said, leaving me utterly speechless.

“Wait, this Friday?”

“This Friday.”

“The day after tomorrow?” It was just not sinking in that I’d get to go home, that I’d finally see Cat again.

“You’ll be home in roughly forty-eight hours.”

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