“But he’s not allowed visitors.” I hold my clothes to my chest and head for the bathroom to change.
“Yeah, he is.” Seth sets his phone down on his knee and takes a deep breath. “I just got a text from Luke saying that not only is Kayden allowed to have visitors but he’s leaving the facility today.”
I stop in the middle of the room as reality finally catches up with me. Although I’d never admitted it aloud, I’d wondered if I’d ever see Kayden again. That maybe he didn’t even exist and that everything that had happened between us was just my imagination attempting to force my mind to thrive again. “Should we wait for him to get out and then go see him?” I stare at the open bathroom door.
The mattress squeaks as Seth gets up from the bed and steps into my line of vision. “I think we should go pick him up.
Luke said that his mother’s supposed to and then she’s going to take him home, but he thinks we should go pick him up and take him somewhere.”
I raise my chin up and meet his eyes. “Like kidnap him?”
Seth laughs at me and his face turns red and his eyes water over. “He’s nineteen years old, Callie. We can’t kidnap him if he wants to go.”
“But isn’t he supposed to be being watched?”
“What? At his parents’ house? With his dad?”
I free an unsteady breath from my lungs. “But I worry that we might be doing more harm than good… running away.”
Seth steps closer to me, places his hands on my shoulders, and fixes his eyes on me. “You want to know what I think? I think that you’re afraid.”
I hug my clothes tighter against my chest because I need to hold onto something. “Of what?”
“About hearing the whole story about that night. I think you’re afraid of the truth.”
“But what is the truth exactly?” I ask.
Seth gives a lopsided smile and gently shakes my shoulders.
“That’s for you to find out because he needs you.”
He’s right. I’m afraid of everything that night holds and that I’ll have to admit that it’s my fault. I’m afraid I’ll learn that Kayden was really trying to kill himself, trying to leave me alone in the world. That he’ll leave me again, and I need him like I need air.
“Where will we take him, though?” I wonder. “My mom’s made it really clear that she doesn’t want him here.”
A devilish grin spreads across his face. “You leave that to me.
All you need to do is bring your bag and tell your mom you’re going to be gone for a couple of days.”
My eyebrows dip together. “You’re not going to tell me where we’re going?”
His grin widens and his hands leave my shoulders and reunite with his sides. “It’s called a surprise road trip, Callie.”
I drag my hand across my face. “You think that’s a wise idea, considering everything?”
“No, but I’ve never been one for wise ideas,” he says. “I believe in irrational, fleeting decisions that keep life interesting.
And life needs to be interesting because we’ve got only one of them to live”
I smile and it almost feels real. “You are the most wise… I mean, irrational, fleeting person I’ve ever met.”
He wraps his arms around me and embraces me in a tight hug. I drop my clothes to the floor and hug him back. I don’t cringe. I don’t panic. I just enjoy it. Because Seth is home. And I hope one day Kayden will be too.
We hug for a while and then let each other go. I gather up my clothes and head to the bathroom. “All right, let’s go get him,” I say, knowing it’s not going to be that easy.
Because reuniting with something you’ve lost rarely is, especially when you’re not sure who exactly you’re reuniting with.
Chapter 5
#41 Eat a lot of pancakes
Kayden
My mom came to pick me up the next morning, just like she promised. They stopped giving me my meds so I feel drained and piercing on the inside, like shards of glass are roaming through my bloodstream.
“Are you ready to go home?” she asks as she enters my room. There’s something in her tone I don’t like, a warning maybe of what waits for me at home.
There’s an instant where I think about telling Doug what really happened. At least I’d finally be getting it off my chest. But then I think of what that means—of what I’ll have to admit and face. Every punch, every kick, a childhood packed with torturous memories. I’ll have to feel it and I don’t have a knife or razor to turn it off.
“Yeah,” I finally answer as I fold up a pair of jeans and put them in the bag.
She looks relieved and horrified. “Good.”
She spends a few minutes chatting with the doctor near the doorway, collecting the papers they give her with a mildly tolerant look on her face. I gather the last of my stuff from the dresser drawer beside my bed. My stitches are out, but there’s still some pain when I twist my midsection, although the doctors assure me that I’ll make a full recovery eventually and will probably be able to play football again next season.
I can’t even look that far ahead, because I have no idea what lies before me. Felony charges? My dad? College? Callie? Maybe nothing.
I zip my bag up and swing it over my shoulder, deciding not to think about my future for now. All I need to focus on is getting out the door and then my attention can go to making it to the car.
He nods his head at the doorway. “Quit worrying about her and go in.”
I glance at Luke. “Maybe you should you go in first.”
He quickly shakes his head. “I think he’d rather see you first.”
I’m not sure if he’s right, but I decide to go in. I inhale another breath in preparation and then enter the room. I’ve always thought that hospital rooms were the most depressing rooms that existed, but this facility is much worse. The walls are unembellished, the floor is blemished, and the bed is made up neatly for the next patient.
Kayden is standing in the middle of the room with a bag over his shoulder. In my head I’d been picturing that he’d be lying in a bed, looking helpless and scared. He’s taller than I remember and I instantly tip my head up to meet his emerald eyes. His brown hair is a little longer and shaggier, hanging over his ears and in his eyes and he looks like he hasn’t shaved in a while, his face scruffy.