Page 102 of Spencer and the Younger Girl
Hadley
There’s a cliché phrase “serious as a heart attack.” Hadley couldn’t imagine anything else being as serious.
The moment she saw her grandpa lying in a hospital bed at Gulf City med, she wanted to stay by his side, never leaving it.
They did an emergency procedure soon after she arrived, but she’d barely understood what any of the doctors told her. He had a blockage and now he didn’t. That was all that mattered.
She curled her legs under her as she sat in the beige armchair beside the bed, waiting for him to wake. Across the room, Roman lounged on a matching couch, not wanting her to be alone.
Even Jesse and Charlotte had been there, but they left when visiting hours ended. Cassie tried, and that meant a lot to Hadley. She’d even ridden in the car to the hospital, but her anxiety prevented her from getting out.
Watching Roman calm her and help her reminded Hadley of what she never had. Her friend loved his girlfriend with every part of him. It was so evident.
She’d never gotten to that point with Spencer. Her feelings confused her more than anything else. They were never meant to last, but she still wished for it, for things to be different.
None of that mattered now. Not with the one person who’d always been there in trouble. Roman’s snoring filled the room, and Hadley shook her head, a smile coming to her lips.
It fell just as quickly. Now wasn’t a time for smiling.
The people who weren’t in that room were just as important as the ones who were. She’d been relieved not to see Spencer come through the door in the last day. There was no energy left to deal with him or how they’d left things. Roman called Mrs. Lee to tell her why she’d left and wouldn’t be returning. He’d even picked up her car.
There were only a few days left of spring break, and they’d be spent looking after her person.
Hadley’s phone buzzed, and she sighed when she looked down at the screen and saw her mom’s name.
With a glance at her sleeping grandpa, she got up and walked into the hall as she brought the phone to her ear. “I’ve been trying to call you all day.”
“That’s no way to greet your mother.” She sounded slightly drunk.
“Mom, it’s Papa. He…” She sucked in a breath, trying to say the words. “He had a heart attack. I’m at the hospital with him now.”
“Is he alive?”
“What? Yes. I just said I’m with him. You need to come home.”
Silence.
“Mom?”
“I heard you, Hadley. But my plane ticket isn’t for another week.”
“Then buy another one. It’s not like you can’t afford it.”
“Hadley, I am glad my father is okay. But he has you there. I don’t see a reason I need to cut my trip short.”
“He needs us both.”
Her mom ignored that. “Honey, you have to come to Paris someday. It’s simply beautiful.”
Yeah, she was supposed to be there now. But Hadley no longer regretted that she’d been kicked off the school trip.
A rustling sounded from inside the room, and Hadley peered in to see her grandpa shifting as his eyes fluttered open.
That man, she realized, was her parent, the person she could rely on, not the woman on the phone, the one she barely recognized anymore.
“I have to go, Mom.”
“See you when I get home, sweetie.”
