Burn Point by Rae Fields

Author:Rae Fields [Fields, Rae]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HEA Books LLC
Published: 2023-10-04T16:00:00+00:00

I pushed Dad’s wheelchair down the long hallway back to his room, laughing at his silly dad jokes, marveling that he still remembered them to tell them even after all this time.

He made a motion to stop with his hand—I was quickly learning his communication methods—right in front of the nurse’s station.

The two women looked up at him, smiling. “Hi Waylon, who is this?” The one closest to us asked.

“My daughter. Isn’t she beautiful?”

“She sure is. Looks like you are a lucky fella today. You’ve got a visitor waiting in your room.”

My eyebrows crept up my forehead.

Dad clapped his hands together, so I rolled him to his room for his next surprise. I pushed us through the doorway to see my stepmom, fluffing the pillows on his bed.

His room was a standard hospital room, with a large mechanical bed along one wall. The windowsills were filled with potted plants and picture frames. There was a dark brown wooden armoire in a corner. The wall beside it held a bulletin and white board combo that had photos and card mementos. A colorful fleecy blanket covered the foot of the bed, giving a splash of color against the white linens.

My stepmom straightened as we passed through the door, a wide smile aimed at my dad. “There’s my handsome fella.”

“Jo, honey.” Mom wrapped me in a fierce hug, tears streaming down her face.

“Mom, what’s wrong?”

“It’s your dad.”

I froze, paralyzed with fear that something had happened to Dad.

“What happened, Mom?”

“Oh, Jo, he’s getting married.”

I pushed away from her. She was crying just like she had when she’d told me they were getting a divorce. She scared me to death that time, and my dad had walked through the door an hour later and we’d talked everything out. Now she was doing the same thing. Honestly, I’d known this was bound to happen. Dad was too full of life, and he and Sandi had been dating for a while.

And yet my mom was acting devastated. Again.

I pushed him farther into the room and stood awkwardly to the side, shrugging off the bad memories as Sandi came to him, giving him a hug and a peck on the cheek.

“You look great today, sweetheart. And I see you’ve brought a straggler with you?”

Her gaze shifted to me.

For a moment, my heart sputtered. The last time I spoke to this woman, I hadn’t been nice. And though she’d still sent me updates on my dad’s health status for a while, I’d been a brat and hadn’t responded to her. I’d been no better than my mom, overreacting about the news of their divorce, closing myself off from them, long before his accident.

Shame and remorse were such a bitch combo to deal with.

I squared my shoulders, knowing I deserved any kind of crappy comment she made. I looked her in the eye and offered a reconciliatory smile. “Hi, Sandi. It’s been a while.”

She reached for me, pulling me into a hug. Her soft hair brushed my cheek as she whispered to me, “Thank you for coming.

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