My heart is racing, and I can hear the blood flowing through my body. I run around the corner and type her name into the computer to look up any information. “Here. Here it is.” I print the patient demographics. I yank them from the printer, snag my purse and keys. “Go get everything you need.” I flip the sign over to closed. “On our way, call her family. I’ll drive.”
“I’ll drive. You call. We aren’t taking that car. It’s a death trap.”
“Well, if I got paid more…” I mumble under my breath but add a smile to try to lighten the mood.
“After what happens today, both of us might be out of a job if the adjustment I did caused her stroke.”
“What are the chances of that? Didn’t she sign something that says anything that happens you aren’t responsible for?” He clicks the button on the fob and his Tesla roars to life.
We hurry into the car and the tires burn against the pavement as he reverses. “Sure, yes, she signed that. She is aware of the risks when it comes to an adjustment. I mean, the percentage of anything happening is less than two percent. If I’m the reason for this, I’ll never forgive myself,” he admits. “What will I do, Alicia? I don’t know what I’ll do.”
I pause searching the document to place my hand on his while Glenn switches gears. “Don’t borrow worry just yet. Not until we talk to the doctor.” I grab my phone out of my purse and type in her grandson’s number since he is listed as the emergency contact. “I know that’s really hard to do right now, but I think it will work out better in the end if you do.”
“Yeah, I know. You’re right. You’re right.” He blows out a breath and switches gears with a hard jerk, then presses the hazard lights so he can go faster.
“Hi, this is Jared. Sorry, I couldn’t come to the phone, but please leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks!”
The phone beeps and I begin to speak, trying to remain as calm as possible, “Hi, Frankie. My name is Alicia Price, I work at Lancer Chiropractic. Your grandmother came in today and she appears to have had a stroke. She’s in the ambulance now on the way to the hospital. Please get there as soon as possible.” I don’t know what else to say, so I hang up, leaving the message on an awkward note.
It’s not like I can say ‘have a great day’ or ‘see you there’.
I debate on telling Quin what’s happened and where I’m going, but what’s the point? I think it’s time to face the fact that while I love him, sometimes love isn’t enough. Love is more than accepting the surface of someone. It’s about accepting all of them. It’s about facing the core of their soul they don’t allow anyone else but you to see.
That’s love.
And if it’s not love, then I have no idea what Quin and I have.
If it lives on the surface, then it’s close to burying itself to my core. If that happens, I’m doomed.
Who am I kidding?
I’m already doomed.
“O’Crowely has no idea who this guy is, which says a lot considering he knows everyone,” Boomer states, opening a bottle of beer as we hang out on the beach.
“Maybe he doesn’t belong with anyone,” I offer, watching Kimmy as she builds a sandcastle. “Maybe he is acting alone.”
“Eventually, he is going to find what he is looking for,” Boomer says in a tone laced with warning. “We need to make sure she doesn’t go back to her apartment, One-Eye. I don’t know when he will find out, but one day he will, and when he does, he is not going to be happy. He will come after her and he will come after Kimmy.”
“I will not allow that to happen,” I growl, never taking my eye off of Kimmy. I’m watching her every move. I’m hyper-aware of what is at stake. I’ve saved her life once and I’ll do it again every goddamn day if I have to. I won’t let anyone take my little girl away from me. We’ve come too far. “I’ll kill him myself.”
“Or you’ll get yourself killed. And where does that leave Kimmy? Fatherless. She never really had one before you. You have to be smart.”
“I’m protecting my family. What would you do if you were in my shoes?”
Boomer drops his chin to his chest and sets the beer bottle in the sand. He doesn’t say anything for a minute, but he creates small circles, little indentations in the sand from the bottle. “You know, I’d do anything for Scarlett. Anything. I’d give her a bigger house, a bigger bank account, more clothes, a car, anything she wants, I’d give it to her. She needs life? I’ll give her mine. I’ll give her my own heart right out of my body while it still beats. If she needed lungs, I’d give her mine because she deserves every fucking breath for the next hundred years. I’d kill for her, I have killed for her, and I always will. I’d protect her with my life, but I wouldn’t know what it’s like to have that overwhelming feeling to protect a child. I’m sure it’s similar, but different. I hear loving a kid is a whole other level of protection that I can’t even comprehend.”
“Yeah,” I nod, smiling as Kimmy’s giggles echo back to us. She’s playing in the sand, running away from Violet and her sisters chasing her. “I know Kimmy isn’t really mine, but in my heart, she is. She’s mine and protecting her… is different. Like if it was me and Alicia on that Ferris wheel, I would have done everything in my power to save her, but I can guarantee, she would have let go. Not because she would have wanted to, but because she thought she would have been saving me. It’s a different kind of love. The kind that accepts while Kimmy’s love is different, it’s one where acceptance and defeat don’t even exist. As a parent, I have to exhaust all possibilities if it means protecting her.”
“That sounds nice,” Boomer says sadly, staring out onto the horizon. He chuckles when Kimmy slaps her hand down in the water and splashes Scarlett. Scarlett screams, then begins to chase Kimmy with a huge smile on her face.
“She’d be a good mom.” I watch Boomer’s expression, waiting for it to change, but I can’t read him.
“Yeah, yeah, she would. She’d be fucking amazing. You know, out of all the things I can give her, that I want to give her, I can’t give her the one thing she wants most.”
“Prez, what are you talking about? You’ve only been trying for a few months. It’ll happen.” I slap him on the shoulder, and I swear, his eyes become glassy as he looks back and forth to make sure no one is listening. No one is around. It’s just us and Wolf, who is usually in his room these days, but he managed to actually sit on the deck. He isn’t around us, but he is outside.
Progress.
“No, no it won’t, One-Eye.” He guzzles the rest of the beer down and digs the beer bottle back in the sand. It creates a soft little scratching sound. “This stays between me and you, okay?”
“I swear, Prez. I won’t say anything.” Hell, it means a lot that he would even trust me with a secret. Like I’d ever fuck that up.
“The chances of Scarlett getting pregnant, even with IVF, are slim to none.”
I process this information for a second, still not connecting the dots as he vents to me. “Prez, how do you know that? Really, it’s only been a few months. It’s actually difficult to get someone pregnant. Fucking moons and eggs and witches and shit need to be lined up.”