Give Us a Chance (31 page)

Ivy slowly pushes off my shoulder and sits up, wiping her eyes. "When Liza gets here, you can go."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Jake, you don't have to stay. It's late, and you have to work tomorrow. You should go home and sleep."

She attempts to take her hand from mine but I keep hold of it, turning to face her. "First of all, it's not late. It's just after seven. And second, I haven't slept all week and I won't sleep tonight either, so it's a waste of time to even try. And third, I'm not leaving your side. You may say you don't need me but I'm going to pretend that you do, because I want to be here for you."

She half-smiles. "I never said I didn't need you."

"Good, because I'm not leaving." I bring her head back down to my shoulder and kiss her forehead.

I never did that before dating Ivy. I never kissed a girl on the forehead or the top of the head or the cheek. I just never had the urge to. Kisses with other girls were sexual, a part of foreplay. But with Ivy, I find myself giving her these innocent kisses without really thinking. It just happens, like just now.

Ivy's phone rings and she quickly answers it because there's a sign that says to turn your cell phone off.

"Liza, where are you?" Ivy listens, then frowns. "What are you going to do? I can't leave."

"What's going on?" I ask.

"Liza, hold on." Ivy turns to me. "Liza's car won't start. She's stuck in the parking lot at work."

I get my phone out. "Tell her to wait a sec." I call Bryce. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Watching TV. Why?"

"I need you to go down to Hoedowns and pick up Liza, Ivy's sister. Her car won't start. I need you to take her to the hospital. Steve collapsed at the house and they brought him in. You need to leave right now."

"I'm on it." I hear the TV shut off. "Tell her I'll be there in a few minutes."

He hangs up and I say to Ivy, "Tell her Bryce is on his way. He only lives a couple miles from there."

"Liza, did you hear that? Bryce is coming to pick you up." Ivy nods. "Okay, see you soon." She hangs up and hugs me. "Thank you. You've been such a huge help. I'm such a mess right now. I don't know what I'd do without you."

That's another thing that's always kept me away from relationships. Having someone need me. Someone depend on me. It goes back to my mom dying. Bryce and Austin depended on me to run the house while my dad was grieving and it was too much for me. I hated it. I just wanted to kick back and enjoy my last year of high school, not take care of my two younger brothers and grocery shop and cook and act like a damn adult. Nash did his best to help keep up the house and yard, and Bryce and Austin pitched in, but ultimately it was me handling the day-to-day responsibilities.

Because of that, I'd say I'm more responsible than most people my age, but I don't want to take on the added burden of being responsible for someone else. And yet, I want to take care of Ivy. Make sure she's safe, happy, and has what she needs. I don't feel burdened by that, not even a little. In fact, it's just the opposite. I like taking care of her.

"Ivy." I nod toward the nurses' station where one of the nurses is pointing at us as she talks to the doctor.

We both get up and go over to them.

"Do you have an update on my dad?" Ivy asks the doctor. He's an older man, thin, with gray hair.

"Yes. Let's talk over here." He steps off to the side and we follow. "I'm Dr. Andrews." He shakes her hand and then mine.

"I'm Ivy, his daughter," she says. "And this is my friend, Jake."

Friend.
I don't like the sound of that. I'm supposed to be her boyfriend, but I fucked everything up and now I'm just her friend.

"Is my dad awake?" she asks. "Can I see him?"

"You can, but he's pretty out of it right now. He woke up soon after he arrived but he was in a lot of pain so we gave him a strong painkiller that makes him tired."

"So he passed out from the pain?"

"We believe so, but we'll know more once we get a better look."

"What does that mean? What are you going to do?"

"We're prepping your father for surgery."

"Surgery?" Ivy's shoulders fall and her knees nearly give out. I quickly put my arm around her waist, holding her up. "Why does he need surgery? What's wrong?"

"The scans of his back showed a—"

"Ivy!"

We turn and see Liza racing toward us, with Bryce walking behind her. I let go of Ivy and she hugs her sister.

Ivy turns back to the doctor. "This is my sister, Liza."

"Dr. Andrews." He shakes her hand. "As I was telling your sister, we did some scans on your father and found a mass close to his spine. That's what was causing his pain."

"A mass?" Liza says, biting her lip as a tear slides down her cheek.

"No." Ivy's shaking her head, also tearing up. "Not again."

"He had a mass before?" the doctor asks. "I didn't see that in his chart."

"She means our mom," Liza says. "Our mom died of cancer."

"I see." He nods. "Well, we don't know that this is cancerous. The mass could simply be benign tissue that's been pressing on the nerves by his spine and causing him pain. His records show that he had a back injury last year. Can you tell me more about that?"

"He fell off a roof," Ivy says. "He was getting better at first but then the pain started again and it's just been getting worse."

"His back injury likely
was
getting better," the doctor says, "but then this mass developed, igniting the pain again. I can't say for sure if the mass has any relation to his earlier injury. We won't know until we get it out of there and see if his pain decreases."

"Can we see him before the surgery?" Ivy asks.

"Yes, but just briefly, and like I said, he's out of it from the drugs so he may not know you're there."

"That's fine," Liza says. "We still want to see him."

"Right this way." The doctor opens a door to a long hallway.

"Will you wait here?" Ivy asks me.

"Yeah, I'll be right here."

When they're gone, Bryce and I go sit down. "What the hell happened?" he asks.

"I was at his house, putting the last coat of paint on the bathroom and he came out of his bedroom and just collapsed."

"Shit, that's bad."

"Yeah, I know. I hope it's not cancer. I don't think Ivy can go through that again."

"She may not have a choice." He checks his phone. "So I hear you and Ivy are done."

"We're not done. I just need some time to think."

"Think about what? How perfect she is for you? How you'd be completely stupid to let her go?"

"Speak for yourself." I cross my arms over my chest. "I've been telling you that about Jen for years and you never take my advice."

"We're talking about you, not me." He swipes through his phone. "So if you're breaking up with her, then why are you here?"

"You know why. If it were Jen, you know you'd be here."

"But I shouldn't. It just confuses her when I do that shit. I need to stop acting like her boyfriend. She already has a fucking boyfriend."

"She'd dump that guy in a heartbeat if you—"

"Don't start. I don't want to hear it."

"I don't understand you. I don't know why you keep pushing her away when you know you love her."

He chuckles. "Guess it's in the DNA."

"What are you talking about? Dad never—" I stop when I realize he's talking about me. "Bryce, don't use me as an excuse for why you won't date Jen."

He shrugs. "You're my older brother. And watching you avoid relationships all these years? Makes me think you got the right idea. I mean, look how many times Nash has been burned by women."

"Yeah, but now he has Callie."

"I know. I'm just saying. Maybe it's easier to just be single."

Shit. I had no idea he was using me as a role model. He should be using Nash as an example, not me.

"There's nothing wrong with relationships. I avoided them all those years because I never found the right person."

"But now you have, and you're breaking up with her. It just proves that relationships don't work."

"They DO work. Look at Nash and Callie."

"They're not married. They could still break up."

"They're not breaking up. And I never said I was breaking up with Ivy. We're just taking some time apart."

He smiles and shows me his phone. "Look what Jen just sent me. It's a cartoon she made in her stats class. She's always so bored in that class that she draws cartoons and sends them to me."

"You should tell her about Ivy."

"Shit, you're right." He texts her. "She'll want to be here."

Jen and Callie have become good friends with Ivy and her sister.

"Did you tell Nash?" I ask, getting ready to text him.

"Yeah. I called him on the way over. He said he'll tell Dad and Austin."

Ivy and Liza come out the door the doctor took them through earlier. Their eyes are red and they're sniffling.

I nudge Bryce. "Put your phone away and get up."

We stand up as the girls approach us. Ivy hugs me. "I'm so scared."

I keep her in my arms, smoothing her hair, and kissing her head. "It's going to be okay."

Liza's standing in front of Bryce, sad and teary-eyed. I give him a look, and he says to her, "You look like you could use one too."

She smiles a little and steps up to him and he hugs her.

"Did they say how long the surgery will be?" I ask Ivy.

"They said it could be hours. Since it's so close to the spine, they have to be really careful." She sighs. "It's going to be a long night."

"Let's sit down."

The four of us sit at the back of the waiting room, Ivy and Liza between Bryce and me.

"Do you guys need me to go back to the apartment or the house and get you anything?" I ask.

"No," Ivy says. "At least I don't."

"I don't need anything either," Liza says. "Although I don't know what's going to happen to my car. I'm not supposed to leave it there overnight."

"Bryce, can Devon go pick it up?" I ask. Bryce's friend, Devon, works for a tow-truck company.

"Yeah, but I should probably go see if I can get it started first."

"Then go ahead. If you can't get it started, then tow it out of there so she doesn't get in trouble."

"Wait," Liza says as Bryce gets up. "I can't afford the repairs right now. If your friend could just tow it to my house, that'd be great. Just have him send me the bill."

"The guy owes me like a thousand favors," Bryce says. "He won't charge me for the tow."

"And Bryce will take care of the repairs," I say. "He has all the tools and parts at our dad's house. Bryce, you got time to work on it this weekend?"

"Yeah, no problem. If I have the parts, I can probably get it done by Monday."

Liza jaw practically drops to the floor. "Are you serious? You'd really do that for me?"

"Sure. I don't mind."

"Thank you." She jumps up and hugs him but keeps it quick. "I really appreciate this."

"I better get going." He shrugs on his black leather jacket. "I'll check in with you guys later."

As he's leaving, Nash and Callie walk in. Callie spots us and runs up to Ivy and Liza. "I'm so sorry, you guys."

The three of them hug.

"How did you hear what happened?" Ivy asks.

"Bryce called us right after Jake called him."

"But you didn't have to come here."

Callie smiles. "You don't know the Wheeler family. When something happens, we all show up."

Nash smiles at the fact that she included herself in our family. I know he wants to marry her so I don't know why he's waiting to propose.

"Over here," Nash says, as my dad and Austin come walking in.

Liza's still got that shocked look on her face. "The whole family came?" She smiles a little. "We're not going to have enough chairs."

My dad goes up to Ivy and gives her a hug. "I'm sorry about your father. Whatever you need, we're here for you."

"Thank you," she whispers, crying again. "I can't believe you all showed up."

My family loves Ivy almost as much as I do. She's been coming to Sunday dinners and we've gotten together with my family a few times during the week. And she sees my dad and Nash at work all the time.

We sit there and wait, then Jen shows up an hour later and we wait some more. Then just after midnight, the doctor appears again. Ivy and Liza race up to him. My dad and I follow behind.

"Are you a relative?" the doctor asks my dad.

"No. A friend of the family. I'm Jake's father."

My dad always does this. He steps in and acts like a dad to whatever kid needs one. And although Ivy and Liza aren't kids, and already have a dad, he feels like they need someone older to listen in and help out if needed.