My Own Way

Chapter 23

I heard the phone ring and ran to answer it hoping it would be the call my brothers and I were hoping for. 

“Hello?!” I said a bit too loudly into the receiver.

“Hi honey, we’re on our way." I heard my dad say.

"Hi!" I was overjoyed.  I thought I’d be talking with my mom.  "How are you feeling?" I asked him, feeling so happy to hear his voice.

"Happy.  I miss being home." He answered.

"Well, home definitely missed you too.  Are you still at the hospital or in the car?"

"We're in the car and we'll be there soon." He said.

"Sounds great…  See you soon, I love you." I told him.

"Love you too honey." He said and hung up.

When I arrived at the hospital that first night, I knew he was in a lot of pain.  His sentences were very short and he couldn't keep up a conversation and sometimes he couldn’t focus, even in the days that followed.

"Hey!  They're in the car!  They'll be here soon!" I yelled out so both A.J. and Felix would hear me.

"Okay!  I'm almost done!" Felix yelled from his room.

"I'm done vacuuming.  I only did the main floor though, and I put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher." A.J. informed me.

"That's perfect, thank you.  I know they'll both really appreciate it." I said to him with a smile on my face.

"Are you sleeping here tonight?  I mean...dad's home so..." He asked.

"I don't know yet.  I'll talk to mom later tonight." 

"Don't you miss your life?" He asked.

"I'm needed here and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.  I do miss working to be honest which is really strange to say but I'm starting to be friends with some of the girls there, it's going to be nice to see them."

"Really, even after just four days?" He asked.

"Well, it’s not like this was a vacation.  The stress, anxiety... like dad said at the hospital, 'normal sounds pretty good'."

"You've been working at the diner for awhile.  You're starting to have friends now?" He asked giving me a confused look.

"You know how I am with new people... well people in general.  I close up." I said to him and he nodded.

We continued to make sure the house looked nice, Felix put up his latest drawings on the wall just in time as mom and dad pulled into the driveway.

I opened the front door and the three of us came out of the house.

"Need help?" A.J. asked loudly.

My mom nodded as she walked towards my dad’s door to help him get out.  Felix ran towards them while A.J. brought in dad’s suitcase while I made the trips back and forth to bring in the flowers.  He had received two arrangements of flowers and one plant.  I recognized one of the flower arrangements since I bought it.  I bought three little cards so my brothers and I could write what we wanted without having to share the space on those tiny cards.  The other flowers were from Justin and his family and the plant was from my dad's workplace.  I thought that was pretty nice of them.

When we all got inside the house my dad took a seat and looked at my little brother's pictures with a big smile on his face.  Felix had the same smile on...they looked so much alike, even though Felix was still very young.