Even though I hadn’t seen my parents yet, they had arrived and taken Izzy back to a hotel room so that she could sleep. The poor child must have been so confused.
Van rolled her eyes and pulled out the car keys. “Let’s get you out of here for a while.”
I didn’t want to go, but my lack of sleep was making me dizzy, not to mention that I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten. Van stopped at a fast food drive thru and I think I was finished my meal before we pulled out of the parking lot. We didn’t say much on the short ride to the hotel. I looked down at my dingy clothes and felt filthy. I hadn’t even thought about how awful I must smell.
Colt was snoring away when we walked into the hotel room. He woke right up when Van threw her keys on the dresser. She sat on the edge of the bed and kissed him right away. “She woke up.”
He wiped his eyes and looked toward me. “Hey Bro, congrats. I know you needed to hear that news.”
“Yeah, I still don’t want to be gone too long. You mind if I grab a shower?”
Van got up and ran toward the corner of the room. She pulled out a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt and even a pair of boxers. “Here.”
“When did you have time to pack?”
She put her hands on her hips. “Colt and I were planning on going to the cabin. When we got the call, I grabbed our bag that I had packed and brought it with us.”
“Good thing you did. I smell like ass.”
The shower was extra hot and I stood there letting the water fall down over my back. My life was so fucked up. I wished I could just wash away the last few months and start over. That would have been a hell of a lot easier than living through the past few days.
Colt was taller than me, so naturally I had to roll up my pant legs, but everything else fit fine. I started to ask to borrow his razor, but I just lathered up my face and did it without his permission. If he wanted to bitch about it, I’d buy him a new one.
When I came out of the bathroom, Van and Colt were wrapped in each other’s arms sound asleep. I wanted to get to the hospital, but I opted to give them a few minutes to rest. I paced around the room until finally collapsing face first on the bed.
That was the last thing I remembered until I felt a pillow waking me up.
“Ty, wake up.”
I sat up and realized it was dark outside. “Holy shit! What time is it?”
“After seven. Aunt Karen just called and said Miranda is askin’ for you.”
I jumped up and started to put my shoes on. “Did she just call? I didn’t even hear the phone ring. Mine’s dead.”
Van handed me my phone. “I have the same charger so while you slept I charged it for you. I also went out and got you a toothbrush. I know you have an obsession with fresh breath.” She winked at me.
“Shut up and thank you.”
It felt great to brush my teeth, but I wanted to hurry. Miranda was asking for me to come back. If she said jump, I needed to do it.
I rushed back into the wing where Miranda was being taken care of. Her mother was standing there waiting to switch places with me. I walked up to give her a hug and she slapped me in the face. The blow was so unexpected that it jerked me back against Van.
“What the Hell?”
“I don’t know what you did to my daughter, but she should have never been driving all that way alone. She refuses to tell me the truth.”
“They had a fight, that’s it. Ty would never do anything to hurt her.” I was amazed that Van had taken up for me like that and so was my mother in law.
“You only know what he’s told you. Tyler Mitchell, you better not be keeping something from me.”
Van pulled me away from Miranda’s mother. “She’s just overwhelmed Ty. She went in there and saw Miranda and probably lost it. She’ll apologize later. Go in there and be with your wife. If you need anything just text me or Colt. Tell her we love her.”
She kissed me on the cheek before walking toward a very mad Karen Healy.
I shook my head but continued walking toward Miranda’s bed. She smiled when she saw me and I lit up too. “Hey, Baby.” I hesitated before reaching down to kiss her. At this point, I didn’t even know whether she wanted me to.
“You smell good.”
“Rumor has it I stunk earlier. Van took me back to the hotel and forced me to shower with her.” Miranda cocked her eyebrow. “Colt was there too.”
Maybe it was a shitty joke, but I felt so uncomfortable being around her that joking was the only way for me to cope.
“Probably should stick to jokes that have nothin’ to do with bein’ naked, at least for the time bein’.”
I put my hands in the pockets of my jeans. “So, how was your visit with your mother?”