Taylor Hanson
I watched and waited like a faithful dog who didn’t understand that his owner gone forever. Every time the door opened, my head would snap up, no matter what I was doing. But it was usually only a doctor or nurse come to see how I was doing or to give me my “meal.” A lot of times it was a family member. But not the right one.
Seeing Parker after that was hard. I wanted to tell him so badly. Guess what? Our mother is here. She’s in this city...somewhere. She came to see me. I talked to her. She was really nice. You have her laugh. But my father had forbidden it and even though I should’ve trusted Gina’s opinion on that more than his, I had a feeling that they were the same and kept my mouth shut. It was a test of will like none I had ever experienced. It was horrible and I found that I couldn’t look into Parker’s eye. I knew he knew something was wrong. I also knew that he assumed that it had something to do with my discomfort around him while my family was there. He kept his visits short. I was thankful for this even though I knew that he kept them short for the wrong reason.
Two days after the confrontation, a doctor informed me that I was going home the next day. I quietly celebrated on the inside, glad to be rid of this completely too sterile, grim hospital room and out into the open, fresh air. Stretch out my legs. I had tried to walk around the floor once, but decided against doing that again after an elderly lady gave me the most wicked stare of any wicked stares that had ever been directed toward me.
I found that I had become a lot more self-conscious over the last few days, but decided to ignore it. If I didn’t ignore it, it would lead me to thoughts that I didn’t want to think.
Right now all I wanted was my mother.
I sat in silence, staring blandly at the tray of “food” that a nurse had listlessly put before me. Something like mashed potatoes, peas, meatloaf, and two cartons of milk. It looked more like something someone in the recovery room had puked up, but I decided not to voice my opinions. It would be the last meal I would eat at this hospital. Thank the lord.
As I stared at it, my nose scrunched up, different comparisons Zac would probably make about it running through my mind, I became aware of a presence beside me and looked up to see my mother and my father standing there, looking down at me.
There was still some unspoken anger betweeny my father and I, but we had decided to put those aside and act civil toward each other. Right then it only made me mad that he was right. She didn’t come back.
“Hi, sweetie,” my mother started, bending down to kiss me on the forehead. I smiled graciously. “Sorry to interrupt dinner,” she added, gesturing toward the inedible food products mixed around on my tray with a slight twinkle of humor in her eyes.
“Oh, no problem,” I said, pushing it away. “I don’t think I could eat it anyway.”
She nodded. “We assume the doctors told you that you’re going home tomorrow?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
I knew by then that, at least for a little while, “home” was the Lowell’s house. The doctor had said something about waiting to go back to Oklahoma. I wasn’t sure if he was saying that because there was a good medical reason for it or if he was just on my side. It might be nice to have someone on my side.
“Good,” she said. Then, clearing her throat, she went on. “Uh, look, we have something that we want to talk to you about.”
My father didn’t seem too keen on talking about it.
“Oh?” I said.
“Yes. Uh, look, you know how we promised that make-up concert at Darien Lake since you...well, since Parker, uh, passed out on the stage and all that?” she asked.
I thought back for a moment, even though I didn’t really have to.
“Well, we were thinking, and, um, came to the conclusion that...once you’re feeling up to it, this would be the perfect time to do it. You know, since we’re here and all.”
I nodded.
“What do you think?”
“Sure,” I said, shrugging. I looked down at my arm.
“If you don’t think you can do it, we could just, you know, hire someone else to play the keyboards for the night,” she said, gesturing toward my arm.
“No, that’s all right,” I said. “I can do it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “When, though?”
“A few weeks,” she said. “Or whenever you’re up to it.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“And, um, we also made arrangements with Gina and Parker,” she said, a smile small showing on her lips. “And we all decided that, if you’re okay with it, that we’ll have Parker down in Oklahoma for a few weeks this summer.”
“Really?” I said with surprise. I knew that they had mentioned something about that before, but I honestly hadn’t really expected anybody to go through with it. We were bad at stuff like that.
“Sure,” she said, her smile growing wider, glad to be back in my good graces. Not that she had ever really been out of them. I noticed that my father was staying fairly silent throughout all this.
“That’d be cool,” I said.
“Good,” she said back. “So, we’ll see you tomorrow then?”
“Yeah.”
“All right. Good night, sweetie,” she said, kissing me gently on the forehead again.
“Bye, Taylor,” my father mumbled.
“Bye,” I mumbled back.
My mother sighed before leading my father out of the room.
Please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?
Index
Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty-Two