Page 61 of The Friend Scheme
“What’s happening?’ asks Luke. “Is he okay?”
“He’s fine,” she says as she writes something on her clipboard. “He’ll drift in and out for the next few days. It might be best for you all to give him some privacy; he will need to rest for the next few hours.”
I glance at Luke. He’s calling the shots on this.
“Okay, you heard her,” he says. “Clear out.”
I turn and go to leave.
“Not you, Matt,” he says.
“Oh, right.”
To my surprise, my family complies. As a group, they all file out of the room, I’m guessing to head to the waiting room. The nurse follows them out. She closes the door behind her, so it’s just the three of us.
“One of us should stay,” he says. “You want to take first watch?”
“Sure.”
“Cool. We’ll swap in five hours, that sound good to you?”
“Yep.”
Luke starts packing up his backpack. “Are you sure you have everything you need for the ball?”
To be honest, I’m surprised it’s going ahead, given Dad’s current situation. But it is.
“Yeah, my suit came the other day. Dad already got me everything I need.”
My heart aches.
“Have you tried it on?” asks Luke.
“A bunch.”
“And?”
I smile. “You might not be the only good-looking one.”
“Bring it, little brother.”
“Oh, I will.”
He smiles, but then his attention falls to Dad, and his face drops. “We got really lucky, you know that, right?”
“What do you mean?”
He rests his hands on the metal end of the bed. “If they got their way, he’d be dead.”
Technically that’s true. Still, Dad isn’t totally innocent. The Donovans may have started this, but he’s the one who decided to turn it into an all-out war. I can’t believe I’m thinking this, but I do think it’s partially Dad’s fault that he got shot. If he’d tried to figure out some sort of peace with them, then we wouldn’t be here.
I guess I’m still hoping this is the wake-up call I’ve wanted him to have for ages.
“I want to kill them,” says Luke. “Every single one.”
“I know.”
“I haven’t told you, but I have all my leads tracking down the shooter.”
