Parting Chances (Fighting Chance #1) (17 page)

I had to blink a few times to make sure what I was seeing was true. After a moment, I finally caught the person whose voice had told me to come in. Sitting in a chair near the window was a young woman in purple scrubs. She gave me a warm smile and walked over to me.

“You must be Haley. Your parents have told me so much about you.” She extended her hand, and I shook it limply.

What was happening?

“Well, that makes one of us.” It came out a lot harsher than I meant it too, but I honestly couldn’t help it. I had talked to Mom the other day and reaffirmed my plans with Dad just last night.
Why the hell didn’t they tell me?

The woman stared at me as she registered that I had no idea what was going on. “Oh. They didn’t tell you.” It wasn’t a question. I could only nod and shift my eyes to my mom. She looked so little and so much worse than before.

“Well, your dad is in the basement if you want to talk to him. I’m Meg, by the way.” I nodded at her words, and I managed out a soft “hi” before my feet took me back down the hallway and to the basement. My dad sat flipping through a photo album with tear stains streaking his face. He startled when I sat down next to him.

“Haley!” He clutched his heart. “I… I didn’t hear you come in.” He glanced around like he was trying to find some escape. Like he didn’t want to tell me what the hell was going on.

“I got here about ten minutes ago.” My voice was just above a whisper.

“Ten minutes? What were you doing for all that time?” He kind of seemed in a daze. It seemed like an odd question to ask. What did he think I was doing? Sitting in my car, twiddling my thumbs?

“I met Meg.”

He sighed and placed his head in his hands. “I hate that you found out that way.”

“Found out
what
? What is going on, Dad?” We sat in silence for a few moments. My mind whirling, trying to take in everything I had seen in the first fifteen minutes I was there. Dad took his time answering me. I even nudged him slightly to break him out of whatever trance he was in.

“Your mom had a checkup last week. It wasn’t good. The doctor…he…the doctor said…” Dad was choking on the words. I could feel the pin-pricks of tears forming in my eyes. Dad took a deep shaky breath and released it slowly. “The doctor said she probably only had five to seven weeks.” He let out a sob and covered his mouth with a palm.

All I could hear was the dull thud of my heart in my ears. He said what? Five to seven weeks? “What?”

“She’s getting so weak. She can barely get out of bed anymore. She has no appetite. The pain is damn near constant.” He started shaking his head like he was so helpless, grasping for a way to keep her longer but finding none. “I’ve been doing my best, but she requires round the clock care now. And I can’t be away from work that long. She didn’t want to be put in a hospice center, so we decided to bring it to her.”

“
What
?” I cried. Dad wrapped his arm around me and pulled me to his chest.

“She made it clear she didn’t want to die in a hospital. Meg is here to make her comfortable.” His chest rose with shaky breaths. My own breaths were coming out short, and I couldn’t get control of them.

“I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.” I repeated in my dad’s shirt. He rubbed my back and told me to take deep, slow breaths. I forced my eyes shut and breathed in deep. My nose filled with my dad’s Old Spice cologne, and that almost instantly soothed me. I continued to take deep breaths as he rubbed my back and quietly cried with me. I’m not sure how long we stayed there like that. But eventually, the tears stopped, and I could breathe again. Dad stood, pulling me with him, and we made our way up the stairs into the dark kitchen. We hugged and parted ways, each going to our bedrooms. I lay in bed that night just staring at the ceiling. My mom was dying. They had her pumped full of pain medicine at this point, just to keep her comfortable. My stomach squeezed, knowing that our time together was going to end soon.

And there was nothing I could do about it.

***

The next day, the day before Thanksgiving, Dad informed me we wouldn’t have our typical holiday.

“Mom gets sick all the time. Most smells upset her. I couldn’t imagine what a complete Thanksgiving meal would do.”

“What are we doing then?” I know it was a stupid thing to be upset about considering what was going on with my mom, but it was the one holiday I looked forward to every year and this very well may be the last holiday with Mom alive.

“I thought we’d go out. Head to the bar down the street and watch the game there. They have the best food in the area.” My dad seemed excited about this, and I wondered how much time he spent there. It’s not like Mom would notice. Since I’ve been home, I haven’t seen her awake.

“A bar? We’re going to a bar on Thanksgiving?” This was stupid and ridiculous and ugh! Why was this happening to my family? Not that I would wish this on anyone, but it just seemed so unfair at the moment.

“I know it’s not ideal, but it’ll be fun, promise.” Dad gave me a small smile, and I could see how much he was hurting so I gave in.

“Will we still decorate?” The house looked so depressing right now with no fall decorations up, but I assumed Dad didn’t know where they were packed away at and probably didn’t care that the house wasn’t festive.

“Oh, I figured we just wouldn’t do that this year.”

“Mom would want us to. Please?” And when Dad shook his head, I stood and marched my way to the basement where the Christmas decorations were packed away. One by one, I carried boxes up the stairs and into the living room. Dad must have seen that I was not to be messed with, because he started unpacking the boxes and assembling the artificial Christmas tree. We had gotten it years ago when Mom was first ill, and she couldn’t deal with the smell of pine. I figured that was probably the case now, so though I adore real trees, the fake one would do. Maybe I could get Kyler to get a real one with me. Or Eli…

No. No, Haley. We are not going to think about Eli right now.

Dad and I worked for the next few hours transforming our house into a winter wonderland. Well, minus the snow of course. It was beautiful and just like it always was, which made me a little happier with the holiday.

“Mom would love this,” I whispered to the empty room.

***

Around nine o’clock, Dad headed into his office to get some work done. I wasn’t sure if Mom was on a schedule or if she ever woke up anymore, but I wasn’t going to leave this house until I talked to her. I peeked around the door and saw Meg sitting in the chair by the window. She smiled when she saw me.

“Hi,” she said as she set her book down.

“Hi.” I glanced at Mom, who was sleeping. “Does she ever wake up anymore?” I hadn’t wanted to ask Dad that question, because I didn’t know how he would react. And I’ve seen enough of his tears to last a lifetime.

“Oh, she is on a weird schedule. She sleeps a lot during the day but is usually up through the night. It happens with the medicine she’s on.”

Well, that was a relief. She was still somewhat there.

“If you want,” Meg continued, “you can stay with her. I would love to take a shower and get something to eat.”

“Sure. That’s fine.”

She smiled and left the room, closing the door behind her. Dad had told me she was staying here 24/7. She had taken up in the spare room but mostly spent her time on the recliner in my parents’ room, except for when my dad was occupying it. I didn’t even want to think about how much that cost, but if my mom was happy, then it was worth it.

I crawled into my dad’s side of the bed and wrapped an arm lightly around Mom’s waist. She stirred slightly and turned to face me.

“Randy?”

“No, Mom. It’s me.” Her eyes cracked open, and a grin dusted her face.

“Haley, when did you get here?” Her voice was scratchy, so I reached over to the table and grabbed her cup of water, holding it up for her as she took a sip. “Thank you.”

“Um, I got here yesterday afternoon,” I told her as I set the water back down.

“Yesterday? Why didn’t you talk to me then?”

“You were sleeping. I didn’t know your new schedule.” Though, if I had been paying attention the last time I was here, she had said she was staying up throughout the night. But I had thought that was only to binge watch shows.

“Yeah, the medicine.” She waved her hand at one of the many bags hanging above her head.

“I get it. I just wish you would have told me about all of this.”

“Oh, Haley. I didn’t want you to worry. You have so much going on right now.” She smiled softly at me. “Speaking of which, tell me about Eli.”

At the mention of his name, my grin grew so much that my cheeks started to hurt. I curled into my mom’s side and spilled every single detail I could about him and us. Well, if there ever was an us.

***

Dad and I spent Thanksgiving Day at the bar as he said. The owner made a spread of delicious typical Thanksgiving food. I was thankful I didn’t have to eat a burger and fries. There were only a few other people there with us, mostly guys from the community college who had to work and old retired regulars. And though it was definitely not the same as a usual Cavanaugh Thanksgiving, I enjoyed every moment of it. Dad and I still yelled at the TV while watching the games. It took my mind off everything, and I enjoyed the day with my dad…and his new friends. Which again, made me wonder how often he was there. He didn’t drink anything but soda, which was apparently his ‘regular’ as the bartender asked when we first got there. I guess Dad needed to eat, and since Mom was sick all the time, this was the closest place. And he did need friends and a place to be away from the drama that was our lives.

That night, I loaded my bag back in my car. I had said my goodbyes to Mom earlier while she was awake. Dad pulled me into a hug and kissed my forehead.

“Drive safe, kiddo. I love you.”

“Love you too. I’ll let you know when I get home.” I stepped out of the hug and gave a quick wave as I got into the car. Dad waved back and stepped onto the sidewalk as I pulled away from the house.

As I drove home, I could only think of two things. One, I couldn’t wait to see Eli again, which also made me wonder
when
I would see him. And two, I prayed that this wasn’t the last time I saw my mom alive.

Ten.

Ten days. That was the last time I spoke to Eli. My heart was in the pit of my stomach as I entered the student union on the Monday after Thanksgiving. I honestly wasn’t even sure if he would be there. Chemistry wasn’t until the afternoon, but I knew he had a morning class and he usually hung out in the union afterward. We would meet up for lunch and go over whatever Chem notes I had from the previous lesson. Or he would quiz me for the exams. It’s not like he needed to be quizzed. The guy was a genius at that stuff. Why he was even taking basic Chem was beyond me.

Walking through the student union, I scanned the usual locations Eli sat at. He was nowhere to be seen, and my heart dropped. Maybe he
was
avoiding me. I mean, why else wouldn’t he even text me in ten days? That had to be the reason. Damn it, I knew I shouldn’t have let those walls drop.

I sulked into Union Bean and got a spiced chai cider. If anything could lighten my mood even just a little, it was this delicious drink. As I headed back to the main doors, a high-pitched laugh echoed through the building, causing not only me, but
everyone
to turn in that direction. I wish I hadn’t. Eli was sitting in our usual spot by the wall of windows, and with him, was Kathryn. She was laughing at something he had said. To his credit, he had a semi-pained look on his face when everyone twisted their heads to see who that sound came from. My feet refused to move from the spot. My eyes wouldn’t tear themselves away from them. Kathryn was touching every open spot of skin she could find on Eli. I thought I had seen her glance in my direction, but I doubt she saw me with the many people milling about. She leaned in close to Eli’s ear and whispered something that made his neck turn pink. Her hand kept sliding slowly up his thigh, pausing for a moment to grip it tightly in her small, perfectly manicured hand.

Finally my feet started moving toward the door. My heart was left crumbled on the floor and my gaze was still locked on them. Another loud giggle came from Kathryn and Eli’s eyes shot up again to see how many people were staring at them. Even though there were at least fifty people wandering around, his eyes locked on mine. They widened in surprise, either that I was there or that I had seen him with
her
, I wasn’t sure. But I wasn’t going to stick around long enough to hear some pathetic story. I made a beeline towards my car, thankful I had driven that day instead of walking. I thought I heard someone yell, “Hales, wait” as I slid behind the wheel. I kept my gaze locked in front of me as I tore out of the parking lot.