Page 51 of Just A Bet

“I’ve always seen you, Lennox,” I whisper. “All I see is you.”

Her eyelashes flutter, and she bites her bottom lip again. “Really?”

I nod. “I’m sorry I acted like your annoying brother for so long.”

She touches my chin. “I’ve never seen you as my brother.”

She leans in and my phone buzzes again.

“You should get that,” she whispers against my lips.

I sigh and step back, reaching for my phone.

A name pops up, and it stops the blood in my veins.

Dad.

My shoulders and chest turn to ice. Do I answer it? He hasn’t called in years. What could he want?

“Answer it.” Lennox nudges my arm.

My thumb twitches as I slide it across the screen. “Hello?”

“Hi.” My father’s rough voice crackles through the phone. When was the last time I heard his voice? “Hello.” He says again. “I’ve uh, been meaning to call you.”

I kick a pebble off the sidewalk. He couldn’t have picked a worse time.

“Okay,” I say, waiting for him to continue.

“I’m in the hospital.”

Whatever I expected him to say, it wasn’t that.

“Are you okay?” I hate how worried I feel when he’s never been concerned about me.

“I’m sick. It’s liver disease…and it doesn’t look good. I know how you feel about me, but I just wanted you to know.”

“What?” I breathe.

“I know I’m the last person you want to see,” he coughs a few times before continuing. “But I’d like to apologize to you in person.”

Apologize in person? How sick is he? I didn’t expect to feel fear, or worry for him, but it’s still there, in the middle of my chest like an ax.

I swallow the lump in my throat. “Where are you?”

He tells me which hospital and mumbles directions of where to find him, but my mind is running.

After all of this. After all he’s done to me, after all the pain he caused me, can I forgive him just because he’s sick?

I hang up.

“What’s wrong?” Lennox asks. She grabs my hand and pulls me closer.

I rub at my chest, and the pinpricks of pain spread. “My dad is in the hospital.”

“Let’s go,” she says.

I finally look at her. “We?”