Play Nice (Make the Play Book 3) (8 page)

I round a corner, and my breath hitches in my throat. Pulse quickening, I duck back into the hallway I came out of. Pressing my back against the wall, I breathe deeply. Out of the corner of my eye, Hayes and his mom round the corner, deep in conversation. I can’t make out what they’re saying since it’s so noisy in here, but their lips move in rapid succession as they hurry down the hallway. A part of me wants to step forward, tap one of them on the shoulder and ask what’s going on. I honestly don’t know why I hid. It was a knee-jerk reaction.

But as they continue away from me, I stay still. My conversation with Talia flies through my mind. I’d endured enough accusations for one day. If Hayes sees me here he might question my motives as well, and I don’t want to deal with that. I came to see if Henry is okay, and that’s what I’m going to do.

Turning the corner, I walk in the direction that Hayes and his mom came from. A few doors down I finally see him. He’s lying in a bed, looking frail and lost. My heart pinches, and I imagine my own grandpa in one of these beds. Guilt chokes me, and I can’t breathe. Closing my eyes, I will away the thoughts, the memories, the shame. Once it subsides, I open my eyes and inhale deeply. Then I step into the room.

At the sound of my heels on the linoleum, Henry slowly lifts his head. A weary smile stretches across his face. “Ashley? Is that you?”

“Yes.” I move further into the room, pleased that he remembered me.

“This is a pleasant surprise. What are you doing here?”

“I ran into Hayes today when he was on his way to the hospital, so I thought I’d stop by and see how you were.”

“You came all the way here just to see this old man?”

I giggle. “Yep. I guess I did.”

“I wish I could make your visit more exciting then, but I’m afraid I’m a mess.”

Making my way over to his bed, I ask, “What happened?”

“I fell. Broke my hip.”

I cringe. “My grandma did that once. Are you in pain?”

He nods. “But they’ve given me medicine. I’m scheduled for surgery in the morning.”

“I’m sorry.” It seems inadequate, but I can’t think of anything else to say.

“It’s not your fault.” He looks at me. “In fact, if you hadn’t caught me the other day, this might have happened sooner.”

My lips twitch at the corners. “Well, I wish I had been there today then.”

He pauses, studying my face. “It’s okay. You’re here now.”

His words are like a knife in my stomach. Doubling over, I feel ill. I was stupid for coming here. For thinking this would change anything. There’s no way I can erase a mistake I’d made years ago. Talia was right. My motives aren’t pure. Sure, I like Henry, but he’s not the only reason I’m here.

I’ve spent the last few years trying to make up for what I’d done, and deep down I had mistakenly thought Henry was the way I was finally going to do that. As if he’d been handed to me on a silver platter. But I should’ve known better.

After talking with the doctor, I head back to Grandpa’s room. It was hard to leave him even for a few minutes. I still feel guilty for not being home with him when he fell. Images of him lying on the floor in the family room, crying out for help, keep filling my mind. As I near Grandpa’s room, my chest expands a little.

Voices float from inside his room, spilling out into the hallway. A nurse must be checking on him. Not wanting to interrupt, I peek inside. But it’s not a nurse. It’s Ashley.

At the sight of her standing over his bed, I’m stunned. What is she doing here? Shocked, I watch them talk for a minute. I can barely make out their words, but I pick up a slight giggle from her, a chuckle from Grandpa. Her hand falls to the bed, covering his, surprising me further. This is not a side of Ashley I’ve ever seen before.

My phone vibrates from inside my pocket, and I step away from the door. After yanking my cell out, I look at the name on my screen.

“Hey,” I answer in a whisper, not wanting to alert Grandpa and his visitor to my presence.

“Hayes?” My brother shouts into the phone. “Can you hear me?”

I almost laugh out loud. Just because he can’t hear me doesn’t mean I can’t hear him. I race forward, pushing open the door at the end of the hallway. Once I’m outside, I answer, “Yeah. Sorry. I was in the hospital, but now I’m outside.” To my right a group of nurses sit at a round table, talking and eating. I move away from them, resting my back against the side of the building.

“Is Mom with Gramps?” Jameson is the first one who started using the word “Gramps” and it stuck.

I scratch the back of my neck, my fingers catching on the bottom of my baseball cap. “No.”

“Oh, do you need to get back to him?”

“He actually has a visitor right now, so I can talk.”

A pause. I can hear Jameson breathing through the line. “A visitor? Like a female?”

“Yeah.”

“No way. Does Gramps have a girlfriend?”

“Not exactly.” I think about the rumors at school and how absurd they are. It seems unfathomable that Ashley would show up here after what everyone’s been saying about her. She’s not one to throw caution to the wind. Her reputation is the most important thing to her. This new Ashley is baffling to me.

“You’re being really quiet. What’s going on, little brother?” There is wariness in Jameson’s tone, and I know he’s worried about Grandpa. It’s not like our dad was nonexistent growing up. He still lives in Prairie Creek, and we spent at least one weekend a month with him, sometimes more. Even so, Grandpa was more of a father figure to us than our dad ever was. He’s always been our constant, the man we run to when we need help…or anything for that matter.

“Nothing. I mean, you talked to Mom so you know about Grandpa’s hip and his surgery tomorrow.”

“Yeah. Man, that’s rough,” he says, and I pray that I don’t have to tell him about Ashley. “But that still doesn’t explain what a woman is doing in his room.”

“She’s not really a woman. More like a teenage girl.”

“What? Please don’t tell me Gramps is robbing the cradle. That’s not why he fell, is it? Was he…?”

“Eww. No,” I interrupt, fighting the urge to cover my ears with my palms. Not that it would matter. The thought has already taken root in my mind.

Jameson blows out a breath. “Thank god.”

“You didn’t really think he was fooling around with an underage girl, did you?” I’m incredulous. A couple of the nurses glance over, and my face flames. I turn away from them, cupping my hand over the phone.

“Well, no, I didn’t think so, but you’re acting strange,” he explains.

“It’s Ashley McIntosh.”

“What? Who?”

“The girl that’s visiting with Gramps.”

“No shit.” Jameson whistles. “How did that happen?” I open my mouth to explain when Jameson speaks again. “Are you and Ashley together?”

“Hell no,” I answer forcefully.

“Whoa. Someone’s defensive.”

I bristle. “It’s just that you know Ashley. There’s no way I’d be interested in someone like that.”

“Sounds like you’re trying to do more than just convince me.”

I hate how Jameson can see right through me. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Ashley’s not interested in me. She never has been.”

“No. She’s only interested in our grandpa,” he jokes.

“Yeah. Exactly.”

“You don’t find that odd?” Jameson’s voice softens a little. “I mean, Ashley isn’t exactly the kind of girl who visits sick guys in the hospital.”

“She’s...changed.”

“Clearly.”

***

After hanging up with Jameson, I head back to Grandpa’s room. I’m grateful to find that Ashley’s already left. A nurse is checking Grandpa’s vitals when I step inside. She greets me, finishes up with Grandpa, and then glides out into the hall. I step forward, sitting in a chair near the bed.

“I just got off the phone with Jameson,” I tell him, and his face lights up. “He says to break a leg tomorrow, but I don’t think that’s probably a good idea.”

Grandpa chuckles, then stops and winces. I hate seeing him in pain.

“Um…I came here earlier and saw that you had a visitor,” I hedge.

“Yeah. That sweet girl from your school.”

There he goes throwing around the word “sweet” in regards to Ashley. No matter how many times he says it, I’ll never think it fits. “Ashley,” I clarify. “What was she doing here?”

“You know what she was doing here. She said that you’re the one who told her I was in the hospital.”

“Not on purpose,” I mumble. “I just happened to run into her when I was leaving for the hospital. She saw me because she was eating in her car again.”

Grandpa hoists himself up a little bit, adjusting the pillow behind his back. I leap up to help him, but he swats my hand away. “I got it. I’m not an invalid yet.” A pensive look crosses his face. “She eats alone in her car? That’s sad.”

I snort. “What goes around comes around, right?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Gramps, I know you think Ashley’s this really sweet, innocent girl, but she’s not. You know how many girls have had to hide in their cars to eat because of how badly she bullied them? She’s seriously the meanest girl at our school. The way I see it, she’s finally getting a taste of her own medicine.”

It’s silent for a moment. The clock on the wall ticks. In the hallway people chat, a cart with a squeaky wheel rolls past.

“Do you remember how much you disliked Christian when you first met him?” Grandpa asks, brows raised.

I nod. When Christian Alcott first moved to town he was the biggest bully. Eventually, he and Cal became friends, and he softened a little. Still, he wasn’t someone you wanted on your bad side. Ask Josh. “But that was different,” I explain. “He’d moved to a new place, and everyone in town was horrible to his mom. He was just acting out. It was his way of coping.”

Grandpa gives me a death stare, and I swallow hard. Before I can say anything else, footsteps sound behind me. When I crane my neck, a doctor walks in, white coat on, clipboard in hand. He glances at me briefly and then walks up to Grandpa’s bed.

“Hi. I’m Dr. McIntosh. Dr. Jones went home for the day and has asked me to check on you.”

My breath catches in my throat. So this is Ashley’s dad. It’s funny that I’ve known Ashley for years and I’ve never met her dad. Although I can definitely see the resemblance.

“McIntosh, huh?” Grandpa says as if putting the pieces together. “Are you Ashley’s dad?”

Dr. McIntosh nods. “You know Ashley?”

Grandpa points to where I sit in the chair. “My grandson, Hayes, goes to school with her.”

Dr. McIntosh peers over at me looking less than enthusiastic. “Nice to meet you,” he mutters. “Are you and Ashley friends?”

I don’t want to say no, so I simply nod.

“I don’t really know any of Ashley’s friends,” he explains. “She kind of does her own thing.” He lets out a little chuckle, but I can tell the conversation is making him uncomfortable.

My mom has always known all of my friends. Then again, my dad doesn’t know much about my life. Mostly because he’s not interested in it. Staring up at Dr. McIntosh, I realize that Ashley and I are more alike than I originally thought. 

When I was ten I had my tonsils removed. It’s the only surgery I’ve had, and it was terrible. I hated being stuck in bed. I hated being in pain. But the worst was the night I spent in the hospital. It was lonely and loud all at the same time. The only good thing about the entire experience was that I got to eat all the ice cream I wanted when I got home. Sweets aren’t something Mom buys often, because she’s always on a diet and prefers getting her calories through wine.

A couple of days after visiting Henry, I overhear Hayes tell one of his friends that his grandpa is still in the hospital recovering. And all I can think about is the night I spent in the hospital. I had wrongfully assumed that since my dad was a doctor that I wouldn’t be alone. But Dad had to attend to other patients, and he only came to my room a few times. I begged Mom to stay, but she said that she couldn’t get her beauty rest sleeping on a cot in a hospital room.

It’s that memory that compels me to head to the hospital after school. I had left so abruptly the last time that I’m sure Henry isn’t expecting me again. I’m a little surprised myself when I make my way inside the hospital. He’s not in the same room, and it takes me awhile to find him.

When I do, he’s asleep. His face is upturned, a steady stream of air pushing through his lips. His chest rises and falls deeply with each breath. As I stand over him, I imagine that he’s my grandpa. I think of all the things I would say if I had another chance. If I could rewind time and do things differently. At the mere thought, tears well in my eyes and slip down my cheeks. I swiftly reach up and wipe them away. But it’s no use. They’re flowing freely now. The minute I wipe one away, another one comes. Pretty soon it’s like my eyes have turned into faucets.

I’m not a crier. Especially not in public. I’m a private person. Good at holding things in. But lately it’s like I’ve lost all self-control. My emotions are right at the surface, and they keep spilling out all the time before I can rein them in.

“Ashley?” A voice to my right startles me.

Sniffing, I wipe at my face.

“Are you okay?”

When I turn, Hayes is staring at me wide-eyed.
Great.
He’s going to think I’m insane. “I’m fine.” I lift my head, forcing a smile I don’t feel.

But Hayes doesn’t look convinced. His gaze flickers down to his grandpa. “He’s going to be all right. The surgery went well.”

Swallowing hard, I nod.

“I didn’t realize you were…” his words trail off as if he’s unsure of what to say. “I mean, you only met a couple of times…”

His confusion is understandable. He walked in on me crying over a man I hardly know. But I have no idea how to explain what’s really going on. So instead, I back away from the bed. “Can you just tell him I came by when he wakes up?” I hurry to the door. Once I’m out in the hallway, I blow out a breath.

“Ashley, wait,” Hayes follows me.

I freeze.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” His eyes search mine.

“Yeah,” I lie.

He continues studying my face, and it makes me uncomfortable. “I met your dad last night. He was filling in for Dr. Jones.”

“Yeah. My dad’s always picking up extra shifts,” I say bitterly. When I catch the look of pity that splashes across Hayes’ face, I wish I hadn’t said anything.

“Grandpa told your dad that we went to school together, but he’d never heard about me.”

“Don’t take it personally. He wouldn’t know Talia either. Or Emmy or anyone that I’ve been friends with.” The statement drives home how sad my life is currently. My dad has never known any of my friends, but right now it doesn’t even matter, because I literally have no friends.
How lame is that?

Hayes glances back at his grandpa’s room. “I’m sure my grandpa would love to see you if you want to wait for him to wake up.”

I hesitate, but then picture my quiet, cold house. “You wouldn’t mind?”

“Not at all.”

I should be surprised by Hayes’ generosity considering how I’ve treated him, but I’m not. It’s the main reason I’ve steered clear of him. He’s one of the nice guys. I’ve known that from day one. Even in elementary school he used to stick up for the kids that were bullied. There was this one kid, Mark, who wore hearing aids and talked funny. All the kids picked on him. One day this older kid stole one of his hearing aids and hid it in the playground. Hayes spent our entire lunch recess searching for Mark’s hearing aid, and eventually he found it. When he did, he threatened to beat up the older kid if he ever came near Mark again.

And that’s only one of many stories I have tucked away in my memory bank of Hayes. We may have never been friends, but I’ve always been aware of him.

When we go back into the hospital room, Hayes grabs a chair from the corner and drags it near his grandpa’s bed. The legs scrape on the ground, and I’m stunned it doesn’t wake Henry up. As if reading my thoughts, Hayes says, “They gave him something to help him sleep.”

I nod in understanding.

“Here you go.” Hayes motions to the chair.

“Isn’t that for you?” I’m dumbfounded by the gesture.

“Nope.”

It’s not a big deal. So he got me a chair? I’m sure guys do this for girls every day. But to me it’s huge, because a guy has never done it for me.

“Oh.” I bite my lip, stepping forward. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Winking, he goes in search of another chair. The room is dimly lit, the curtains over the small window drawn closed. That awful sterile smell I hate lingers in the air. Yet there’s no place I’d rather be. It’s so odd. I didn’t even know Henry two weeks ago, and now he’s one of the few people I feel comfortable around. As Hayes sets a chair next to mine and plops into it, I realize that I feel the same way about Hayes. It both excites me and terrifies me at the same time.

“So do you visit your dad here very often?” Hayes asked, fidgeting with his hands in his lap.

“No. I used to when I was younger.” Sensing that he might ask more questions about my dad, I steer the conversation in a new direction. “Henry’s surgery went well?”

“Yeah.” Hayes nods, his gaze traveling to where his grandpa lies. “No complications. He obviously has a long road of recovery, but he should be fine. Not that I ever had a doubt. He’s a fighter.”

The way he smiles when he talks about his grandpa warms me from the inside out. “You two are really close, huh?”

He nods.

“That’s how I was with my grandpa.” When the words are out, I wonder what it is about this family that makes me run my mouth. When I catch the sympathy welling in Hayes’ eyes, I regret the slip up. “So, fall ball practices start soon,” I say.

“Next week,” Hayes says.

“Are you excited?”

“Yeah. And a little worried. I mean, without Chris and Cal it will definitely be different.”

“Ah, I’m sure you guys will be fine.” I smile, grateful to be talking about baseball. Something safe. Something that has absolutely nothing to do with me or my past.