Page 52 of Chasing Storm
“The hospital. He’s had a heart attack.”
“Fuck,” Josh says, grabbing my arm, “Come on.” He shouts for a taxi, and they bundle me inside, but I can’t respond to their queries.
“Which one, Thatch?” JP asks, squeezing my arm.
“Hmm?” I look up at him.
“Which hospital?”
“The private one near the park.”
“Go,” Josh says to the driver.
I’m numb.
I’m not sure what to expect when I get there.
I don’t even really know what this means.
At some point, JP and Josh have helped me out of the taxi and up to the level where my mum is waiting. As soon as I see her, drawn and pale, I snap to a little bit.
“Mum,” I murmur when I hug her. “How is he?”
“He has to go for a triple bypass. Whatever that is.”
“They didn’t tell you?”
“He explained,” she sighs. “I-I didn’t understand.”
I nod. “Okay, well, let’s find out. Who is his doctor?”
“Stanley Rivers,” she murmurs and goes to sit down.
She is in shock, barely aware of anything that’s going on.
“Sit,” JP says. “We’ll find out what’s going on.”
I nod, torn between helping my mum and taking responsibility for this situation. But I need a minute. My dad and I, while not super close like Josh and his dad, we aren’t cold like JP and his. It’s a middle ground. Normal parent, youngest son relationship. He worked all hours, and still does, to provide for his family, but he was always there when it counted. Birthdays, school plays, under 12’s football. I stopped playing after that. I thought I was too cool, but that meant that I didn’t see Dad. It’s my fault for not making sure I spent more time with him.
Tears prick my eyes, but I sit beside Mum and take her hand. “JP and Josh are going to find out.”
She nods.
“Did you ring Boden?”
She nods. “He is on holiday. He’s on his way back whenever he can get a flight. There’s bad weather…”
I grimace. It doesn’t surprise me that Boden is away again. My older brother and his tribe love their holidays abroad to every party island they can find.
It’s only as I sit there processing that I register what she said. “Stanley Rivers?” I murmur. Storm’s dad. I know this because of the research we’ve done on her.
She nods. “Yes, your dad has been seeing him for a while with angina, but we didn’t expect this.”
“He is the best in the city,” I assure her.
She gives me a weak smile. “I know.”
I return it, and we sit in silence again.
