Page 20 of Fight For Us
“Mom,” I interrupted. “I’m at the hospital.”
“What? Are you okay? What happened?” Shit, I didn’t mean to make her frantic.
“I’m fine. I’m with Olivia. Alex got hurt at school and he’s in surgery now.” Faint sounds of her shuffling around in the background quieted.
“Oh, my. Come to think of it, Lilly mentioned Alex getting hurt at school but she didn’t say it was serious. What can I do to help? Should I organize a meal train? Do they need help from the church?”
“No, Mom, they’re fine. As good as can be expected with the situation. It’s his leg, a bad break.”
“Oh.” She paused, and I knew what she was thinking. His leg—I must be losing my shit. But apart from hating the hospital I was surprisingly fine. “How areyoudoing?”
“You know how I feel about hospitals.” I pushed a piece of hair behind my ear. “But I’m fine too. You’re okay putting Lilly to bed? I don’t know how long I’ll be here.”
“Of course. Please let me know how I can help.” I swallowed a lump in my throat. If there was one thing my mother knewwell, it was how to be a caretaker. “Hold on, Lilly wants to talk to you.”
I smiled despite the situation as my mother passed her phone over. “Dad, is Alex okay?”
“Yeah, he’ll be okay, sweet girl. I don’t want you to worry.”
“Okay.” She sounded so young over the phone, her voice so squeaky. “I feel bad.”
“I know. But the doctors are fixing him up and he’ll be good as new soon.” A moment went by while I waited for her to respond. “You there, Lil?”
“Is he going to lose his leg too, like you did?”
Her little voice broke me. I leaned back against the rough exterior wall, my body feeling the stress of the day like a weight. Did I do this to my little girl? Passed along my trauma because I couldn’t suck it up and have a proper conversation about my limb loss with her?
“No, sweetheart. He’ll be in a cast but he won’t lose his leg. When you’re ready, we can sit down and talk about what happened to Daddy and why I had to lose mine, okay?”
I could almost hear her nodding. “Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“Tell Alex thank you for me.”
“Okay,” I said, confused. “Thank you for what?”
The line went quiet and just when I thought she’d hung up she said, “I can’t say. But he’ll know.”
Once Alex was out of recovery and moved into a room, I said my goodbyes, giving the groggy kiddo a pat on the head. Mia was grabbing some dinner for them, then staying until visitors had to leave, so at least they wouldn’t be alone. I knew too well what it felt like to be alone in a hospital and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
“Thank you for today.” Olivia’s tired eyes met mine and she offered a weak smile. “I appreciate you staying to make sure Alex was okay.”
I stayed for you just as much as for him, was what I wanted to say, but I held back.
“Of course. I’ll call you in the morning. Try and get some rest.”
“Shoot, my shift for tomorrow. I can call Kelly, see if she’ll cover.” She started to pull her phone out of her purse.
“Tiger, don’t worry about it. You’re needed here. I think we can manage without you for as long as you need.”
“If you’re sure?”
“Damn right I’m sure. Matter of fact if you try to come in I’ll march you back home.”
“Try not to burn the place down without me.” She cracked a small grin that I felt deep in my chest.
“Had to call the fire department twice last year and the place still stands.”
