Page 58

Fifty-Eight

Jade

We’re in the ambulance, and the paramedic hands me a clipboard. “Can you fill these out on our way to the hospital?”

I stare at all the boxes and freeze. “Um…”

“Jade, isn’t this so cool?” Bodhi asks, his eyes shifting in every direction inside the back of the ambulance.

I’m sure he’s still in pain, but the paramedics stabilized his arm and gave him a basic pain reliever I’d seen Henry give him once when his throat was sore, so he’s in better spirits now.

“The coolest,” I say dryly, and the paramedic snickers.

“Are you still in a lot of pain, Bodhi?” he asks.

“Listen,” I say, glancing at his patch, “Paramedic Bianco.”

“You can call me Luca,” he says.

“Okay, um… I’m not his mom, and I don’t have any of this information.” I bite my lip.

“Do I need to call my brother?”

I look at him, not understanding what his brother has to do with this.

“Did you kidnap him? My brother is a police officer… well, detective now.” He laughs—probably at my pale face. “I’m kidding. It’s okay, just fill out what you know. So, are you the nanny?”

“No,” Bodhi answers. “She’s my Jade.”

Luca’s eyebrows raise, and he pauses, staring at Bodhi. “I know you.”

“You do?”

“Are you Henry Hensley’s son?” Luca asks.

“Yeah. Do you know my daddy?” The way Bodhi sounds so proud warms my heart. He loves his daddy.

“There was a fire a few months ago. My oldest brother gave you a plastic fireman helmet.”

“That’s your brother?” Bodhi’s eyes widen in awe.

Luca nods. “Yeah, he’s the chief.” He glances at me.

“You and all of your brothers are first responders?” I ask, a little disbelieving.

He chuckles and nods. “Yeah.” He points at me. “And we get a lot of those looks when people find out.”

“Okay, well, I’m Henry’s girlfriend,” I whisper. “And this was my first time watching Bodhi.”

His head rocks back in understanding.

“How bad is it?” I bite my bottom lip.

He cringes. “It’s broken.”

Fuck. I mean, I knew it, but I was hoping that with my lack of medical training, I was somehow wrong.

“You’ll know more when we get you to Children’s. They’ll do an X-ray.” He stops and thinks for a moment. “The Falcons are playing tonight, right?”

I glance at my watch. “Right now.” I purse my lips. “He’s on the ice right now.” My breakdown starts with tears, but I try to keep myself composed for Bodhi. I can do this. “And I’m not sure how I can reach him, but…”

“Is there anyone else you can call? Someone who might know?”

I glance at Bodhi, who’s playing with a stress ball Luca gave him. “My stepdad.” When Luca’s eyebrows draw down, I shake my head. “It’s complicated.” I’m not getting into my life story in the back of the ambulance.

Finally, we pull up to the hospital. Okay, I have to figure this out. And I have to be the one to call Henry.

As they wheel Bodhi into the hospital, briefing the nursing staff as I follow aimlessly, my gut twists and turns with the thought of having to tell Henry when he’s so far away.

While they move Bodhi from the stretcher to a bed, I call the only people I know can guide me through this.

“Hello?” Reed answers. “Jade?”

“I need you and Mom to come down to Children’s, and do you have any idea how I get a hold of Henry while he’s playing a game?” All the words come out in a rush, and I somehow manage not to break down in tears.

He groans and sighs.

Yeah, I screwed up.

He puts the phone on speaker, and I tell him and my mom the entire story.

“You let him break his arm?” Owen asks, laughing in the background.

“I didn’t let him. It was an accident,” I snipe.

“It happens. Okay, Reed and I are on our way,” Mom says. “And, Jade, don’t freak out. These things happen all the time.”

“I’ll see about getting the news to Henry,” Reed says.

“No. I want to be the one to call him.”

“I’d dodge that bullet, sis,” Waylon says. “Let Dad take it. He’s way past his prime anyway.”

“Excuse me?” Reed says, clearly insulted.

“Your dad is still in his prime,” Mom says.

“Can we revisit this line of conversation later? Just get me the number of who I need to call. I need to tell Henry myself.” Although I can’t deny I’d love to hand it off to someone else.

“Sure thing. We’ll see you in a little bit,” Reed says.

“If I don’t see you again, love you,” Owen says, and I click End, not wanting to hear their bullshit.

I head into the room where one of the nurses asks me what happened, who I am to Bodhi, and where is his father. I answer all their questions. Then a doctor or intern or someone comes in and asks me all the same things again.

“Am I going to get a cast, Jade?” Bodhi asks once everyone is out of the room.

I track Henry’s game on my phone to see that they’re in the second period. I hate that he has no idea what’s happening right now. “I think so, but I don’t know.”

“Willow had a purple cast. Can I get red?” He’s watching the TV mounted in the corner and not paying any attention to me.

“I’m sure you can get whatever color you want.”

Another nurse, or it could be social worker for all I know—there have been so many introductions, and I don’t know who anyone is—comes into the room. “So, what happened, Bodhi?” she asks, looking at me.

Am I supposed to answer, or is he?

“I broke my arm,” Bodhi says.

“And how did you do that?” she asks, glancing at me again.

“We were playing hot lava, and a killer whale tipped our ship. Jade fell in, and I dived in to save her.” Sweet Bodhi rehashes the entire thing.

“What was a killer whale doing in the lava?” she asks.

Bodhi shrugs with his good arm. “I don’t know. Jade said he was there.”

She hums and lifts her gaze to me.

“There were a lot of animals. We had elephants, hippos, crocodiles…”

“All living in the lava, huh?” She arches an eyebrow.

I want to bury my head into my hands from embarrassment.

“So, we heard that your daddy plays for the Falcons?” she continues to quiz Bodhi.

“He’s right wing.” As always, pride laces his tone.

“Pretty cool, and who is Jade to you, Bodhi?”

He looks at me, and his nose scrunches. “She’s my Jade.”

“I know she’s Jade, but who is she to you?”

“I’m Henry’s girlfriend.”

“And my friend.” With his good arm, Bodhi covers my hand with his. “She’s ours.”

My nose tickles, and my eyes sting, but I push back the tears. I am his. And he’s mine.

“Oh, that’s nice,” she says. “Okay, I think the doctor is about to come in. I assume Dad is on his way since you can’t fill out the paperwork in its entirety?”

“Yeah, can I talk to you outside?” I stand, running my free hand over Bodhi’s hair. “I’ll be right back.”

I follow the woman who is definitely not my favorite person. Although I understand them worrying that I might have intentionally hurt Bodhi, and they only have his best interests at heart, I don’t love the feeling of being put under a microscope and judged.

“So yeah, um… he’s in the middle of a game. Like, playing right now against Carolina. I have someone trying to find me a number, but…”

“Jade!” Mom waves to me from down the hall and weaves through the throng of people over to me. “Is he okay?”

“And who are you?” the woman asks.

Mom’s back straightens. “I’m Victoria Warner, and Jade is my daughter.”

“So still no one related to Bodhi?”

“We are his family. We might not be blood or legally, but we are his family. My husband is parking the car. He’ll give you everything you need.” Mom turns her back and points at the room. “In there?” I nod, and she goes on in. All I hear is, “Oh, Bodhi, you tried to save Jade. My hero.”

She’s so good with kids, you’d think I’d be better having had her as a role model.

“I guess we’ll wait for your mom’s husband then.” She rolls her eyes.

I’m pretty sure by the end of this, I’ll lose my patience with this woman.

I’m in the room with Mom and Bodhi, him telling her the entire story of the animals trying to kill us and how we had to run and jump and leap. He’s still so excited even though he’s lying in a hospital bed.

I’m tired of waiting, so I excuse myself and call Henry’s phone. It goes straight to voicemail. “Hey, Henry, it’s Jade. Could you call me when you finish your game? Um… I screwed up, and I’m really sorry. Bodhi’s fine. He’s good… well… don’t worry, he’s not in critical… oh shit. Just call me.”

Not exactly the message I should have left him. I send him a quick text asking him to call me, hoping he gets that first.

Reed walks in with his messenger bag across his chest. He doesn’t come over to me, but heads to the nurses’ station. He pulls out some paperwork, and they hand him the clipboard with the papers I couldn’t fill out.

“Hey.”

He glances at me. “I have the paperwork to act as the decision maker for Bodhi should Henry not be available. Just passed it on to the nurses.” He goes back to filling out the paperwork.

“You do?”

He smirks, not looking up. “Henry’s a planner, you know that. Of course, he wanted all the Ts crossed and Is dotted.”

I nod because that’s so Henry, always prepared for the worst. He really needs someone in his life who can take that responsibility from him or at least share it. Maybe that person isn’t me.

Reed finishes the paperwork and hands it back to the nurse. “We’re trying to get a hold of Henry. Where are we in the care that Bodhi needs?”

“A doctor will be in to discuss it with you shortly.”

The social worker peeks at Reed over my shoulder. Oh great, she’s back. “You’re Reed Warner, District Attorney?”

“Yes.”

Her gaze goes to me. “Boy, you know a lot of people.”

“Excuse me?” Reed gives her an unimpressed look.

“Oh nothing. Just first a Falcon and now the DA.”

He doesn’t smile and doesn’t say anything back to her. “Where’s Bodhi?” he asks me, and I point at the room.

We start to walk to the room, but my phone buzzes in my hand with Henry’s name on the screen. I hold it up to show Reed.

“Are you sure? I’ll tell him,” he says.

I shake my head. “No, I’ll be right there.”

He squeezes my hand and nods, heading into Bodhi’s room.

“Hey,” I say like a fucking idiot. “I screwed up.”

“Jade, what happened?” The panic in his voice is evident.

“His arm is broken.”

“Fuck!” I hear a loud bang, and I assume he threw something.

Guilt weighs like an anchor in my stomach. I did this.