When I heard their car pull in, I opened the front door. I felt like I could collapse at any moment, and I didn’t know why I waited so long to ask them for help. My mom walked up to the front porch first and stopped when she had a chance to inspect me.
“April.” She wrapped her arms around me. “Honey, what is the matter?” I broke down, sobbing on her shoulder as the weight of the past week fell around me. There was something about being in your mom’s arms that made everything better, even if it wasn’t. But then I realized that wasn’t true with Beau and his mother, and it made me sob harder.
My parents guided me into the house and sat on either side of me on the couch, both of them waiting patiently as I gathered myself. My dad held one of my hands while my mom caressed my back. I could see them looking at each other over my head, and I knew I was scaring them.
“You said this was about Beau,” my dad said after a few minutes.
I sniffled. “Yes. Dad, I’m sorry. I should’ve asked for your help a long time ago.”
“Sweetie, we’re here now. What happened, and what can we do to make it better?”
I took a deep breath and started with us deciding to try a relationship, Beau coming to Orlando and us seeing Robbie. They nodded their heads and listened intently. My voice broke as I got to Robbie talking to Beau in his room that day. I fought through it, needing to get it out. When I explained what had happened after Beau ran out of the house, my mom gasped, and my dad’s hand tightened in mine.
“He’s in the hospital.”
My dad nodded. “Who are his doctors?”
“Dr. Viola and Dr. Grant.”
“Great doctors. He’s in the best hands. Oh, sweetie, I’m so sorry you had to witness that. You’ve been there with him all this time? Why didn’t you call me?”
Guilt assuaged me. Because I didn’t want you to know. I didn’t want you to think Beau wasn’t the guy for me.
“I guess you haven’t seen the news this week, huh?” Jaded Regret, despite trying to contain it, had been quite the buzz this week while people tried to figure out what had happened with their drummer. While no one had any concrete proof, the rumor mill was rampant. Heath had brought in a few more guys while they were still in Orlando to keep the press and rabid fans away from them. Bex, Johnny, and Tanner already had to move hotels twice. Thankfully, they had no shows planned anytime soon, so they could lie low and try to ride out the paparazzi wave.
“I’ve clocked over a hundred hours this week,” Dad said. “I’ve been traveling around to other hospitals, giving classes on a new technique in brain surgery. But I still would’ve been there for you, April. I’ll always be there for you.” He peered over at my mom. “I guess you didn’t see anything about this, either.”
She shook her head, tears running down her face. “Why didn’t you tell us, April? You’ve seen something terrible happen to someone you care about, and you need to talk to someone.”
“I’m sorry. I was . . . afraid you’d judge him.” They both shook their heads at me, like I should’ve known better. I guess I should’ve. “That’s not all.” My mom’s eyes widened.
“What started this whole thing was he found out that little boy we’ve been visiting? Robbie? He’s his son.”
It took me a few minutes to explain why that was such a devastation for Beau and that Robbie was now here with Natalie and me, but when I finished talking, neither of my parents had dry eyes. My dad patted his eyes with a tissue, handing my mom one as well.
“What do you want to do, April?”
“I want him to talk to me, Dad, but he doesn’t think he’s good for me. He won’t let me see him in the hospital. I want to be with him. I want it all.”
“Are you sure you can get past what you saw, April? That’s hard to unsee.” My mom was right, and I knew the image of him falling would be seared in my brain for a long time. But that did nothing to the feelings I had for Beau. If anything, it made them stronger. I wanted more than anything to make him feel the love I had for him—the love he was worthy of even if he didn’t believe it.
“I love him. The rest of it I can work through.”
She nodded, her eyes meeting my dad’s. A knowing look passed between them, and I knew they were thinking about when he’d saved her from the life she’d led.
“I have an idea,” Dad said. “But first, you need to eat some food, and I’m going to get you an appointment to talk to Buddy. Before you’re going to be any good to Beau or his son, you need to work through this.” Buddy was my dad’s best friend, and I’d called him Uncle Buddy my entire life. He was also the most sought after psychiatrist in our area.