Page 81 of The Road to Home Base
Terry had been punching something into the computer beside me. His head came from behind the monitor. “Romo, we don’t know anything yet. But we will. All right?”
I shook my head. The room swayed. “I really can’t just sit here. Can I at least stand out in the hallway?” I held up my left hand and jiggled the IV line. “Do I still need this plugged in? I’m fine. Really.”
Terry put a hand on his hip that he cocked outward, like striking a pose to intimidate me. “Was he breathing when the ambulance came?”
“Yes.”
“Did you hear or see how his blood pressure was during the ride in?”
I shrugged. “I think they stabilized it?”
“Okay. And his pulse?”
“Elevated, I think. But they didn’t do anything else.”
Terry nodded and returned to his monitor. “Those are the three most important things and if they weren’t off the chart…”
“Weren’t off the chart what?”
A sigh, exasperated with my game of twenty-one questions. Terry said, “I’m not making any promises. That’s not my game.” He reached out and put a hand on my arm. “Just be patient. You’ll see him soon enough.”
I worried at my lower lip for a good ten seconds before speaking again. “What if we go toward that area and flag down anurse to—”
Abruptly, Terry stepped away from the computer and moved toward the exit of the room. “There’s been someone waiting to see you. Your brother-in-law, I think? I’m gonna go get him.”
“Brother-in-law?” I said in confusion, tracing my extended family. Then realized he meant Alex’s brother. I called after Terry as he left, “Alex and I aren’t married.”
He shouted from outside the room. “Well ya should be from the way you talk about him!”
The Moretti clan was already on their way. Joe would beat them all since he was in the immediate area. I already had a text from Hiroshi saying he was there, as well as other teammates. Emma had been in Boston and was fighting traffic to get in. Media channels had already picked up on it and the news was spreading. I pushed that, all of it, out of my mind.
The last I saw of Alex was the paramedics rushing him to a bay in the ER while I was pulled into another. They checked everything Terry had said while I had my face pressed against the glass to try and see over to him. It took three nurses to calm me down enough to sit and let me be examined. The IV needle slipped in easily enough and within moments, the concoction they floated my way allowed the examination to finish.
My heart broke when I saw them wheeling Alex away. Someone told me he was on his way to the ICU.Intensive care. An intensive feeling for an intensive loved one. Was he awake and scared? Did all of this remind him of when he received his cancer treatment all those years ago?
Was he mad at me for not getting there sooner? For not realizing what he was doing and stopping him before he left?
But imagine if youhadn’tchecked the computer…
No. Those thoughts. Those images. They cut through me, into me, burrowing somewhere deep and dark. I would harbor nowhat ifsorcould haves. Everything happenedserendipitously and I had to believe that. Otherwise, the monster of what might have occurred would devour me until all that remained was a tortured soul.
So I exorcised those thoughts like I would any doubt during a game. I thought the bad thought once. The image of being too late. Then flushed it. Gone. No more.
You were there. You saved him.
Thatwas the only thought I needed.
Devin appeared in the room, his brow curled upward in a look he shared with his brother. He crossed the room and we gave each other a quick hug. “What the hell happened? I’ve been pacing the waiting room for almost an hour.”
I gave him the full story. His breath hitched when I described Alex’s state after finding him. His eyes filled with tears as I told him how I grabbed my baseball bat and treated Ricky like a fast ball with loaded bases. He squeezed my knee during that. Lips pressed firmly together. His entire face had gone red and a vein in his neck pulsed.
“No one is telling me how Alex is,” I finished. “Can’t get a word out ofanyone.”
Devin shook his head. “I hate being patient. It is not my strong suit.”
“Maybe you could get more out of them? You’re his family.”
Devin gave me a look I didn’t quite understand until he said, “So are you.”
