by Regan Black
“Why would you ask that?”
“Rico, you’ve been helping people who are in trouble your whole life. It started when you were in kindergarten and beat up a much bigger eight-year-old for picking on two little girls on the school bus.”
Rico smiled. “Oh, yeah. I remember that.” He wasn’t sure how much to tell his dad. But he needed to tell someone. “We did just sort of stumble into being together at the cabin. But she might be in trouble,” he said. “She’s not being very forthcoming to me.” And Hannah is saying odd things, he added silently.
“Perhaps she and her daughter are on the run.”
Placido Metez had not been an undocumented worker but had busted his butt alongside many on the fruit-picking farms of southwestern Colorado. He understood people who lived in a shadow, going about their business but always, always ready for the big shoe to drop. To squish them and destroy the life they’d made. “She says that Hannah isn’t her daughter, that she’s just a caregiver helping out Hannah’s parents who are traveling in Asia. But there’s a resemblance between the two of them. I think she’s more than a caregiver.”
“We were very poor when you and Charro were little. And one thing I realized very quickly is what a person will do to care for a child. Lie. Cheat. Steal.”
“You wouldn’t do those things.” His father was the most honorable man he’d ever met.
“I didn’t have to. We worked hard and scraped by. But I would have. Make no mistake about it. Would have done all those things and worse to ensure that you and Charro were safe and cared for. Don’t judge her for loving a child.”
“How did you get to be so smart?” Rico asked.
His dad just smiled. “I don’t need a babysitter. You can go home. I’ll be in this bed when you get here tomorrow.”
Rico shook his head. “And miss the opportunity to have dinner in the hospital cafeteria? I don’t think so.”
“You’re going to have to sleep in a damn chair.”
“Dad, I do personal and property security. I’ve slept in worse places. Not that long ago, under a truck. That was parked outside. And the ground was damn cold, by the way.”
His dad smiled but it faded quickly. “I need to know something.”
“What’s that, Dad?”
“I wanted you here because I need to know that if something happens and this does not end well, that you’ll be there to take care of your mother. I believe you will be but damn it, I just need to hear it. I just need you to say it.”
Rico swallowed. “Everything is going to be fine. But if it makes you feel any better, you have my word. I will be here for Mom, for Charro, for the kids. Everyone and everything will be taken care of.”
“I never worry about you, Rico. Never. But Charro. Maybe because she’s my little girl. Or maybe because she’s married to a man who doesn’t understand that it’s his job to take care of his family.” His dad paused. “Charro didn’t have enough money to make last month’s house payment. Your mother and I had to help.”
Rico sat forward in his chair. It was worse than he thought. “I don’t want you to have to do that,” he said. “I’ll help Charro.”
“She said that she’d asked you for help but that you said no. I told her that didn’t sound like you.”
“It’s complicated,” he said. “But I don’t want you worrying about it. I’ll…talk to Charro.”
“She’ll be angry with me if she knows that I told you about the house payment,” he said.
“She’ll never—” a knock interrupted them and a male nurse came in “—know,” Rico finished.
* * *
When Laura woke up, Hannah’s bed was empty. It made her heart immediately start to race. She had not heard the child get up.
She checked the bedside clock. Just after six. Way earlier than Hannah would normally be up.
Laura practically vaulted out of the twin bed. She had the door open and was halfway down the hall when she heard Hannah laughing. And the quiet murmur of Janice’s voice.
She slowed down. Walked into the kitchen. Hannah was at the table, on her knees, having a piece of toast and what appeared to be scrambled eggs. Janice was at the stove.
“Morning,” Laura said.
“Hi, Laura,” Hannah said. “I’m having breakfast.”
“I see that. You must have gotten up very early.”
The little girl shrugged.
“She and Lucky were on the couch when I got up at five,” Janice said. “I was going to let her sleep but she woke up when Lucky scrambled down to go outside. But it worked out fine. We’ve been having a perfectly lovely time.”
“I’m sorry,” Laura said. “You’ve got to have a hundred things on your mind and you didn’t need one more thing to deal with.”
“Nonsense,” Janice said. “I’m grateful for something else to think about. I’ve already talked to Rico. Placido had a good night, relatively restful.”
After Janice had dropped her very poignant remark about not breaking Rico’s heart, she’d gotten busy fixing dinner and had acted as if she hadn’t said anything remotely unusual. Laura had kept Hannah busy and even after Charro arrived with her two children, Nathan and Aleja, who’d evidently been waiting next door, the conversation was innocuous. The kids had talked about school and friends and various things. They’d wanted to know about their grandfather, and both Janice and Charro had provided details of the day.
By the time dishes were cleaned up and Hannah bathed, Laura had almost managed to convince herself that she’d imagined that Janice was warning her away from Rico.
“What time do you want to leave for the hospital?” she asked.
Janice studied the clock above the sink. “Charro said she’d be over about six forty-five. She’s going to drive her own car but wanted to go at the same time in case the streets are bad. Can you be ready by then?”
“Of course,” Laura said.
“I’ll take care of getting this one cleaned up and dressed, if you don’t mind,” Janice said.
Laura wasn’t surprised that Hannah had managed to quickly worm her way into Janice’s heart. She’d done the same thing after Laura had managed to get a job at the daycare.
“I’ll lay out her clean clothes,” Laura said.
Everyone was ready by the time Charro arrived. “It’s not too bad out there,” she said. “Do you have snow like this where you’re from, Laura?”
“Not in Tennessee.” She’d told Janice that she lived there the night before. Had the two women not exchanged notes when Laura had been busy getting Hannah ready for bed? Or was she just testing her, to see if she offered the same explanation?
“But I grew up in Indiana,” she added. “I learned to drive in snow.”
“I see.”
Janice pulled her coat from the hall closet. Charro helped her mother put it on. “Peter has an interview this morning,” she said.
“That’s good,” Janice said.
It was a statement but said almost as if it was a question.
“Of course,” Charro said. “It’s just a matter of time.”
“I know that, dear,” her mom said.
Laura recalled that Rico had said something about Charro being angry because he hadn’t helped her husband find a job. Had the man’s unemployment affected the entire family?
Maybe the man would find something and Rico would be off the hook. It would no longer be an issue between the two siblings.
For today, anyway, they were likely to put it aside. They would bond in their shared concern over their father. And hopefully it would not get any more complicated than that.
They walked out to the garage. Laura waited while Charro got into her car and pulled out of the driveway. Then slowly backed out of the garage, expecting the small drifts that had gathered during the night. Rico’s heavy SUV went right through the
m. When they got to the street, she saw that the plows had been through already this morning. For now, the snow had stopped again.
Hannah, likely tired from having gotten up much earlier than her regular time, fell asleep on the short drive from the house to the hospital. She awoke when Laura got her out of the car seat but as Laura carried her inside, she again fell asleep on her shoulder.
When they got to Placido’s room, Laura stayed back so that Janice and Charro could enter first. Then she followed them in.
Rico was standing, hugging both his mom and sister. He looked up, their eyes locked, and she swore she felt heat in places that shouldn’t be warm at that moment.
“Hi,” she said. He needed a shave.
“Is she okay?” he asked, his voice low.
“Just tired. She got up early to have breakfast with your mom.”
He smiled. “Let me take her.”
And it seemed the most natural thing in the world to hand over Hannah, who snuggled up against Rico’s chest. “She smells like strawberries,” he said, sniffing her small head. “And her hair is curly.”
She’d discovered after Hannah’s bath last night that there wasn’t a hair dryer in the bathroom. She’d then asked Janice if there was one to borrow, only to be told that there wasn’t one. Charro had volunteered to go to her house to get one but Laura hadn’t wanted to be that big of a bother. She’d towel dried the little girl’s hair. This morning, however, when she’d seen her at the table she’d realized her error. Hannah’s hair had sprung back into her natural curls.
“It’s cute,” he said.
“How’s your dad?” she asked, wanting to change the subject.
“Ready,” he said. “Wants to get this over with.” He motioned with his head that they should step out into the hallway. Once there, he asked, “How was your night?”
“Very nice. Your mom is sweet.”
“She and Charro didn’t make you uncomfortable?”
“Your mom told me not to break your heart.”
His dark eyes got big. “No.”
“It’s fine,” she assured him.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
She waved away his concern. “We show up together, having been at your cabin together. People can read something into situations that isn’t there.”
He stared at her. Not blinking. “Right,” he said.
Then he shook his head, like he might be trying to clear it. “Was this too early for Hannah?”
“She got up sometime during the night and found the couch. When your mom got up, she woke up and they had breakfast together.”
“It probably was good for my mom to have something else to think about.”
“Exactly what she said.”
He ran a hand over his short hair. Then checked Hannah, who was still in his arms, to make sure she was sound asleep. “Hey, I’ve been wondering about something Hannah said right before we left the cabin,” Rico said quietly. “She said that her mama and dada were both in heaven.”
“I know,” she said. Sometime during the night, she’d decided how to play this. “What an odd thing for her to say.”
He stared at her. “It was a very specific thing—not likely something that she’d get mixed up.”
Laura shrugged. “I’ve known Hannah’s parents for some time. Perhaps there is a story there that I’m not aware of, but I’m certainly not going to drill Hannah about it. She’s four. Her information is probably not very reliable and who knows what kind of issues questions from me could raise.” Read between the lines, Rico. I don’t want you asking her, either.
“You seem kind of relaxed about what is a very unusual statement.”
She wasn’t relaxed. Just out of choices. “She has a very active imagination. Have you heard the things she says to Ja-Ja?” she asked, forcing her tone to be amused.
“I guess,” Rico said, leaning back against the wall. He tilted his head up, stared at the ceiling.
Maybe he believed her. He could be hard to read.
A nurse walking down the hall stopped in front of Placido’s door. “It’s time,” she said, looking at Rico.
He nodded. Waited until the young woman went into the room before turning to Laura. “That nurse has been in and out for the last couple of hours. Between her and the doctor, I’ve got a pretty good idea for how this will go. He should be in surgery for four to six hours. If it all goes well, he’ll be in the intensive care unit for a day or two, moved to what they call a step-down ICU for the next couple days, and go home within six to eight days.”
“Do you have a good feeling about this?” she asked.
“I guess. The idea that they’re going to cut his chest open, saw through his breastbone and start rerouting blood vessels isn’t all that appealing. But the alternative really sucks.”
She put her hand on his arm. “It’s going to be okay. I can feel it.”
He stared at her. “I’m glad that you’re here,” he said.
Of course it was nice to have company. She didn’t want to make more out of his statement than he intended. She didn’t want to be anywhere else. “We should probably go in,” she said.
“Yeah,” he said.
“I can take her,” Laura offered. “You don’t need the extra weight on your ankle.”
“You sound very official.”
Damn. “Must be the surroundings,” she said. “Makes me sound as if I know what I’m talking about.” She reached for the sleeping child, hiding her own warm face behind the little girl’s curls.
CHAPTER 12
They sat in the waiting room, a pager on the table in front of them. It would ring, they’d been told, when there was news. But had been warned not to expect to hear much, if anything, for several hours.
She sat with Hannah, grateful that there was a television in the corner of the room. While she would not normally let the little girl watch endless television, she was happy enough with what the PBS station was broadcasting and it kept her occupied.
Rico read the newspaper, or at least he pretended to. He was flipping pages so quickly that at best he was simply glancing at the headlines. When he got through one paper, he picked up another. Janice pulled a wad of yarn and knitting needles from her bag. Charro played with her phone.
The waiting was always the worst. She knew that from experience. She’d had to wait days, hoping that one or both of her parents would find their way out of the coma. And in that time, her mind had played cruel tricks, and memories, long dormant, had popped up. Good ones that brought smiles. Bad ones that brought regrets. Those were the ones that lingered, threatening to pull her under. Why wasn’t I a better daughter? Why didn’t I come home to visit more often? Why didn’t I ask them to visit me? The list was endless.
She reached into her purse and pulled out a paperback that she’d bought at one of the gas stations on her and Hannah’s drive from Nashville. Opened it to page one. On page ten, she heard a buzz. Thought for a minute it was the pager but realized it was Charro’s phone.
“Hey,” Charro answered. She listened to whoever was on the other end and Laura could see a whole array of emotions cross her face. Excitement. Disbelief. Sadness.
Finally, she said, “There will be other jobs. You’ll find something.”
She listened, looking weary. Finally, she said, “Look, I have to go. The doctor is coming.” She ended the call.
There was no doctor in sight.
The only person in the waiting room not looking at Charro was Hannah. But Rico’s sister wasn’t looking back; she was staring at her phone.
“What was that, honey?” Janice asked.
Laura thought it was pretty obvious but understood that Janice was attempting to give her daughter an opportunity to talk about it.
“That was Peter. He went to his interview and he said he was there for probably
about ten minutes when they told him that unfortunately, they’d already offered the position to somebody else.”
Rico said nothing.
Janice frowned. “Why would they have had him come in to interview if the job had already been filled?”
Nobody responded. The question just hung in the air.
Over the years, Laura had done her share of interviewing physical therapy assistant candidates. She could recall advice that one of the other therapists had given her once. If the candidate is a real dud and you want to get out of the interview quickly and avoid him calling you back to check on the job, just tell him that you just offered it to somebody else. She’d never had to use the tactic, but was that what had happened here?
How awful for Peter if that was the case. And for Charro.
“I’m going to get some coffee,” Charro said.
* * *
“I’ll walk with you,” Rico said quickly.
Charro paused. “Oh, fine,” she said, and waited for him to grab his crutches.
“So it sounds like it was a tough morning for Peter,” Rico said, once they were ten feet down the hall.
“There will be other jobs,” she said, her tone defiant.
He pushed the elevator button. “I’m sure. Look, I’ve been thinking about Peter’s job search. I think I may have something for him. He’s pretty good on computers, right?”
“Yes.”
“I could use some help with my rental properties. I need someone to coordinate the verification of employment checks that needs to be done on all new tenants.”
“Is that a full-time job?”
Not hardly. In the four rental properties that he owned, there were over a hundred apartments. But there was also lots of stability in renters because he had nice places that were reasonably priced. “My renters all pay online,” he said, avoiding the question. “He’ll also be the point person ensuring that rent payments are made timely.” He had someone who did that job now but she was super talented and Rico could move her into a bigger job.
“That sounds great,” she said. “Can I call him and tell him?”
“Sure. Tell him I’ll stop over this afternoon to discuss the details.” By then, maybe he’d have thought of something else he could do.
