Page 44 of Wish You Once More
Melinda pulled back, brows furrowed. “I think you need to talk to Jonny.”
“Is he inside?”
She nodded and gestured with her chin. “He’s in the relatives’ room.”
Shit. It had to be serious if he was alone. I’d seen enough episodes of hospital dramas to know that was the place where bad news got delivered to families.
“Where’s Henry?”
“My friend Chrissy is looking after him. She usually babysits him, although I don’t think she was too keen being woken up at two in the morning.” Melinda gave a weak smile.
Guilt pricked my conscience. They’d been dealing with this for hours while I was… I pushed Bree out of my thoughts. It was too much to deal with now. We trudged inside and I followed Melinda to where Jonny was.
When I opened the door of the relatives’ room, he jumped up from his seat and shoved me in the chest.
“Where the fuck have you been? I called and called.”
I held my hands up. “Hey, take it easy.”
“Take is easy?” he spat. “It’s always so fucking easy for you, isn’t it, Mat? You swan in whenever you want, strut around like some kind of fucking peacock, to then disappear before you have to actually do anything constructive.” He punctuated each sentence with another shove against my chest. My back met the wall and he got right up in my face. “Well?”
I sucked in my lips. I wanted to tell him about Bree, but now wasn’t the right time. I’d tell him later, when we knew more about how dad was. Instead, I made myself look like a complete prick.. “Met up with some old friends and went back to one of their houses. We sat around drinking and smoking until I fell asleep.”
“Who? Who was more important to you than coming home to our Dad?”
“He went home way before that. When did he come back to yours?” I dragged a hand through my hair, a niggling headache beginning to form at my temples. “It’s not important who I was with.”
“He didn’t, but if you’d been there, he would have.” Jonny turned his back on me and paced around the small room. “Then I wouldn’t have got the call from the paramedics.”
“How long have you been here?” Trying to get the conversation back to more factual matters, I hoped would calm my brother down.
Jonny glanced at the clock on the wall. “Fuck knows. Two, three hours?”
“Almost three, Jonny,” chipped in Melinda, her tone low and calming. “Shall I go and get some more coffees?”
He stopped in his tracks and glared at her. “What good is that going to do?”
Momentarily, I was grateful his anger was directed at someone other than me. But before Melinda could answer him, a doctor knocked gently on the door and opened it.
“You’re Oliver Redmond’s family, yes?”
We nodded and I licked my lips, suddenly finding them dry.
“I’m Doctor Turner,” she continued. “I’m pleased to tell you that your father’s going to be absolutely fine. We’ve run all the tests, just like we did before, and everything is showing up as normal.”
Jonny sagged into Melinda’s arms. I went to embrace the pair, but my brother held me at arms’ length. I stood awkwardly, not knowing what to do.
“Thank you, doctor, that’s great news.” Melinda took the lead and I realised Jonny was sobbing quietly into her shoulder. “Can we see him?”
“Of course.” The doctor nodded. “I’ll get a nurse to come and find you when he’s ready for visitors.” She gave a professional smile and left the room.
“You okay, bro?” I asked Jonny.
He lifted his tear-stained face from his girlfriend’s shoulder, eyes like flints. “When you came to help me because Brad left, I was grateful. Pathetically so.” His upper lip curled into a sneer. “I thought you’d stay around for a bit because you could see how ill Dad was getting, how much stress he was under. But no. Hanging out with your so-called mates, getting drunk and stoned was much, much more important to you thanfamily.” He forced the last word out, his voice dangerously low.
“Jonny, you never told me any of this. You didn’t at any point say how worried you were about Dad.” I had to defend myself against Jonny’s accusations. He was wrong. I hadn’t let them down. I’d done what I thought he wanted me to do.
“I shouldn’t have to! It should be obvious. You see him way less than I do. You should be able to see how much he’s changed since the last time you saw him.” He stepped towards me and dug a finger into my chest to emphasise his point.
