Page 102 of Ours
Chapter 16
“I’m just so happy you’re okay!”
“Me too, Mom.”
“You are so lucky they found you out there when they did.” Julia squeezed her son’s hand. “How did you even get lost in the forest!?”
“I don’t know, Mom. I just … got separated from everyone.” Cory sighed. “I’m sorry.”
Julia said nothing but bent over to kiss her son’s forehead again before her attention was pulled to a nurse who had just walked in the room. She quickly stepped over and began to pepper the nurse with questions as they attempted to write something on the room’s whiteboard.
“Believe it or not, she’s actually calmer than she was when I was on the phone with her last night,” Stephanie commented from her side of Cory’s bed. “She was pretty much ready to have the army called in to go look for you.”
“The forest would probably be blanketed with search parties if I hadn’t called her this morning,” Cory noted.
“Yeah.” Stephanie slapped Cory on the arm. “Don’t be such a fucking idiot next time.”
“Oww.” Cory rubbed his arm. “It’s not like I did it on purpose.”
“I know. I’m glad you’re okay.” She squeezed his hand. “So, other than being in the hospital, you look good. Happy, even. Something happen?” Stephanie pointedly looked between Derek and Nic sitting in opposite corners of the far side of the room.
“We talked. Worked through a few things.” Cory smiled as he watched the two boys, each dealing with his own parents, one in person and one on the phone. “But we still have a ways to go before…” Cory trailed off as his mother walked back over to rejoin them, bringing the nurse with her. He gave Stephanie a look—they’d talk later, too.
As Julia oversaw the nurse examining her son, Nic was attempting to do damage control with his own very upset parents. His sisters stood off to the side together, eagerly awaiting the verbal tongue-lashing their elder brother was about to receive.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Raphael interrogated his son.
“Driving during the middle of a stormin the dark?” Luciana added. “¿Eres estúpido?”
“Cory needed help!” Nic defended. “I couldn’t just leave him out there.”
“You could have been killed!” Raphael fought the urge to raise his voice in the hospital room.
“Dad, if you knew one ofyourbest friends was in trouble, would you just sit around doing nothing?” Nic wasn’t going to feel bad about what he did.
“I would… I would…” Raphael sighed. “I’m just glad you’re safe, mijo.”
“Don’t youeverdo something like that again.” Luciana pulled her son in for another hug.
“I won’t, Mom.” Nic smiled and hugged his mom before feeling his father join in from the side. “I promise.”
“What!?” Daniela squawked, incredulous at the group hug taking place before her. “That’sit? He’s not even going to get yelled or anything!?”
“Daniela, can’t you just be happy that your brother is okay?” Raphael sighed as he turned to his eldest daughter.
“We would have been grounded for a month if we did something like this!” Gabriella joined her sister in voicing her feelings about her brother getting away with what seemed like murder.
“Then I guess you better never do something like this, eh, chica?” Luciana joined her husband as the Herrera family began to argue in their corner of the room.
Nic sighed. He loved his family. Right? He looked over to see Cory’s mom fussing over him and then turned to see what Derek was doing without his own parents in the room to suffocate him.
Derek wished he could say he was that lucky, but no, he wasalsodealing with his parents—just via phone call.
“How did you get lost in the woods?” Derek’s mother’s voice came across the line. Linda sounded far from pleased.
“No, Mom, I wasn’t lost. Cory was,” Derek tried explaining. “I went out to find him.”
“Well, how did Cory end up lost in the woods?” Robert, Derek’s father, had questions of his own. “How’d you get separated?”
