Page 76 of Best Laid Plans

“Alden. Listen to me. You’re a good man—a good dad. You didn’t hurt Tatum. It was an accident and could have happened to anyone.”

My shoulders slump. “But it didn’t. It happened to me.”

“Did Natalie ever tell you about the time Tatum fell in the bathtub?”

I shake my head, wondering where he’s going with this.

“Tatum wanted out, and apparently Natalie wasn’t moving fast enough, so she tried climbing out on her own. Nat only turned around to grab the towel from the sink, but in that blink of an eye, Tatum slipped, fell, hit her head on the faucet and went completely under the water. Natalie called us, crying her eyes out, saying she was an unfit mother, which we both know is untrue. My point is, accidents happen. It sucks, but that’s life. At the end of the day, Tatum’s okay. She’s happy, healthy, and loved. Cut yourself some slack, son.”

His words make me feel marginally better. “That may be true. But that doesn’t change the fact that I can’t even fully fill out these forms—there’s still so much I don’t know.”

Luke chuckles. “Son, I’m gonna let you in on a little secret. I couldn’t fill them out either—to this day, Melanie even fills out mine. Quit worrying.”

Easier said than done.

“Did you get ahold of Natalie?”

“She didn’t pick up for me. Mel didn’t answer either, but I called the church and got ahold of her that way. She’s on her way to Natalie’s place. They’ll be here soon, I reckon.”

We slip into a comfortable silence. It’s strange how just his mere presence is comforting to me. After what feels like another eternity, Tatum’s name is called. Luke and I both stand and walk to the desk. The nurse motions for us to step behind it into this little triage area.

“All right, we’re gonna get a few vitals really quick.”

“And then we’ll see the doctor?” I ask.

“And then you’ll head back to the waiting room.”

I inhale deeply, trying to remain calm—mostly because I don’t want to scare Tatum. The nurse verifies our identities and slaps matching bracelets onto Tatum and me before checking her temperature. She attempts to clip some little device to the index finger of Tatum’s uninjured hand, but my girl’s not having it. She thrashes and screams so hard it takes both Luke and me to calm her down.

The nurse moves to try again, but I’m pretty sure my snarl stops her in her tracks. “Let’s…let’s try her big toe.”

I remove one of Tatum’s shoes, and the nurse is able to successfully get the readings she needs.

Once she logs all of Tatum’s stats, she turns to us and asks what happened.

“We were at the park, and she was going to slide but tripped and fell from the top.”

The nurse looks from me to Tatum and then asks her, “Is that what happened?” I’m sure it’s something she has to ask, but it pisses me right off—as if she doesn’t believe me.

Tatum sniffles and mumbles, “Yes.”

The nurse hesitates briefly and then enters the information into her computer. “Okay. Y’all can go have a seat.”

I want to rant and rave and riot and demand for someone to see her immediately, but I know it won’t help. In truth, the only thing it will accomplish is the nurse calling hospital security on me—and then Nat wouldreallykill me. As is, regardless of Luke’s reassurances, I’m fairly certain she’s going to have my balls.

42

Natalie

I have my headphones in,and I’m deep into our study session when I hear a loud banging on my front door. I slide my headphones off just in time to hear the lock turning and the door opening. “What the…” I push back from my desk and slowly venture out into the hallway.

“Natalie!” Mom yells. “Natalie!”

I meet her at the end of the hall. “Jesus, what?”

“Why haven’t you been answering your phone?”

The fine hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. “It’s on silent. Why?”

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