Now that he had nothing else to think about, the pain was kicking in. His head hurt, and his ribs. But whatever he was feeling, he knew Nate had it worse. And Nate was somewhere in the back, completely out of Cody’s reach.
“Should we just go?” He didn’t want to, but if he couldn’t see Nate, there was no point in hanging around.
His mom’s lips thinned, her hands clenched together in her lap. Cody knew she was dying for a cigarette. “Not yet.”
He didn’t argue. He didn’t have the energy. He put his head in his hands and waited without knowing what exactly he was waiting for.
Some indeterminable amount of time later, the door swished open and his mom tensed. Cody glanced up in time to see Nate’s dad bearing down on him, still in uniform.
“Cody? What the hell are you doing here? What happened? Where’s Nate?”
But before Cody could answer, his mom was on her feet, rushing toward Mr. Bradford. She grabbed his arm and led him away from Cody, talking low and fast. Cody couldn’t hear her words, but he recognized the briskness of her motions, the flash in her eyes, the thin set of her lips.
“What?” Mr. Bradford’s voice was loud, and everybody in the waiting room turned his direction.
One of the receptionists began circling from behind the counter, whether to intervene, or simply to take Mr. Bradford to see Nate, Cody didn’t know.
“That’s ridiculous!” Nate’s dad said to Cody’s mom. “If these boys—”
Cody’s mom cut him off, edging forward, her voice still too low to carry, but her anger causing him to take a step backward. He finally glanced again over at Cody. He nodded, rubbing one hand through his thinning hair.
“I can take you back now,” the receptionist said to him.
He nodded, his eyes still on Cody. “Okay.” And then, to Cody’s mother. “Okay. I don’t understand it, but if that’s the way you want it—”
“It is.”
Mr. Bradford threw up his hands and turned away, letting the receptionist lead him through the double doors into the back area. Cody’s mother kept her head up as she crossed the room, even though everybody was watching her. She didn’t even stop as she passed him.
“We’re leaving.”
Cody hurried to follow her out the door. The passenger seat was spotted with blood and littered with the napkins he’d used to clean his face. He pushed them all on the floor while his mother punched the lighter, a cigarette already between her lips. He reached for his out of habit, stopped short, glancing her way. It wasn’t like she couldn’t see the packs in his room, or spot the butts in the ashtray that didn’t match hers, but he never smoked in front of her.
“Go ahead,” she said. “I think you’ve earned it.”
He didn’t, though. It felt too strange. He just watched as she lit hers, sucking deeply before leaning back to blow smoke toward the open window. Only then did she start the car and head for the parking lot exit.
Cody waited for the questions to begin, but they never did. His mom’s lips were still thin, her jaw tight, but her grip on the wheel wasn’t white-knuckled like it had been on the way to the hospital. He couldn’t tell if she was angry or upset or indifferent. He finally cleared his throat and made himself break the silence.
“What did you say to Nate’s dad?”
“I told him you weren’t there.”
Cody blinked at her, trying to wrap his head around that. “You what?”
“I told him you found Nate after it happened. You called me for a ride, but you have no idea who did this or why. I told him Nate may say differently, but if he does, it’s only because he’s confused about what happened, and I told him that dragging us into it won’t do him any good anyway. Not if he wants to protect his son’s reputation, and I have a feeling he does.”
“Do you think he believed you?”
“No, but I think he got the point.”
“Which is what, exactly?”
“First of all, that you weren’t the one who beat Nate up.”
“And what else?”
She didn’t answer right away. She pondered it while she took another drag off her smoke. Finally, she sighed, the smoke blowing out of her nostrils in two fast puffs. “I know Nate spends half his time holed up in your bedroom, but I told his dad that as far as I’m concerned, nobody needs to know about that. And if anybody asks me, I’ll deny everything. I’ll tell them I’ve never seen that boy before tonight.” She glanced Cody’s way and almost smiled. “Wouldn’t even be a lie, since I work weekends, and even when I’m home, he always sneaks out after you think I’m asleep.”