Page 21 of Fight For Us
Alex shifted in bed and Olivia jumped to his side. With a low goodbye I slid out into the hallway, releasing a breath. Exhaustion and another feeling settled into my bones. Something thathad my body physically resist walking away from that room. But I pushed forward, the exhaustion winning. “Alex will be okay,” I repeated for the hundredth time.
Once I folded into the seat of my car I put my head in my hands, counted down from ten, and then made the drive home, thinking of the pain in Olivia’s dark eyes the entire time.
Chapter 9
Olivia
“I need to takethis call. Be right back.” I adjusted Alex’s blanket and stepped into the living area. My phone flashed this local number twice already since I woke up and I didn’t think they’d stop calling anytime soon. I took a breath and answered.
“Is this the parent of Alexander Murphy?”
My mind flashed back to his school calling a few days ago and the panicked haze that followed.
“Yes, this is Olivia Murphy.”
“Ms. Murphy, this is Sharon from billing at Palm Cove Hospital. It seems there was a mistake and your insurance information wasn’t collected for your son’s stay. I can take that information now.”
I knew this was coming but I didn’t think it would be so soon. I paced the length of my couch. “We’re currentlyuninsured. I recently moved and started a new job and the transition has been slow.” I stopped rambling. Fact was Sharon didn’t care about my life. She had a job to do and that job was collecting insurance information.
“I see.” Judgement laced her tone. “I’ll forward you some information for our payment plans. Is the email on file correct?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Fill it out as soon as possible, Ms. Murphy. You’ll be hearing from billing in the upcoming weeks.” Her voice softened as she added, “Best of luck to you.”
I hit end as someone knocked at my door. Since Alex’s surgery, Mia and Kendahl have come by every day with food and toys. It’s only been a few days and my fridge was full. I wasn’t used to this much kindness.
“One second.” I tossed my phone on the couch and padded over, pulling the stiff door frame open to find Kendahl standing on the other side holding a stuffed toy. She walked in and plopped her things on my small round kitchen table.
“You okay?” she asked, appraising me with a keen eye. It was like she and Mia were taking turns being on Olivia watch, just waiting for me to break down. I didn’t blame them. My track record for handling stressful situations wasn’t the best.
“Yeah. I’m fine. Just tired.” The lie slipped through my lips easily. If Kendahl found out I’d likely be in thousands upon thousands of dollars of debt because I was a shit mother who didn’t even think of health insurance for her kid when I stopped leeching off my parents she’d tell Mia. And Mia would tell mymother, who would get on me even more. They were clear when I decided to move that I was on my own, which meant no more financial help. And that wasbeforetheir assets were frozen.
Kendahl pushed her sunglasses onto her head and scrutinized me. “I call bullshit. But I won’t press.”
“What’d you bring?” I changed the subject. She grabbed the stuffed toy from the table and held it in front of her. It looked familiar.
“It’s someMinecraftthing. I don’t know, I found it in the game section of Target and knew I’d heard him mention that game like a hundred times.”
“He’ll love it.” I smiled. “Alex, Auntie Kendahl is here.” I raised my voice a bit over the sound of his YouTube video.
“I’ll go say hi,” she said. “Oh, and Mi is coming by in a bit. She was grabbing us lunch.” I thought about the trays of food sitting in my fridge and sighed. It made me uncomfortable that everyone was doting on us this way. I knew it was how they showed their love, but it felt more like them not trusting that I could handle things.
“I have to fill out some paperwork and make some calls real quick. You’ve got him?”
“Of course. Why don’t you go take a walk and get some sun. I know you’ve been cooped up for days, missing Krav among other things. I’ve got the little man, don’t worry.” She patted my shoulder with a sympathetic grin.
“I guess my emails can wait.” Some fresh air and sun did sound good.
Ken carried her present into Alex’s room and I spotted a bag of Skittles tucked under her arm too. I shook my head. He was going to be so spoiled by the time he was back on his feet. Grabbing my flip-flops and throwing my hair into a quick bun, I took another look around the room before saying an internalscrew it. Everything else could wait.
I opened my door and came face to face with a startled Wes. A curse slipped out of his mouth and I jumped back a step.
“Damn, you scared me, Tiger.” His chest heaved while Lilly barked a laugh beside him.
“Wes, what are you doing here? Hey, Lilly.”
“Hi. Can I go see Alex?” she asked tentatively.
