The Quest for Epic

Chapter Forty Nine

Two days later, I was in Darryl's hospital room, reading the sports pages of the day's newspaper to him. Tribune's football team was shit, but that didn't stop him from rooting for them, though.

"I can't believe The Falcons lost again", Darryl grunted. His speech had greatly improved now; he could communicate his displeasure without flinching.

"Mmm-hmmm", I rolled my eyes at him, making sure he could see me and he chuckled.

I had spent most of my waking hours the past two days with Darryl, sometimes with Sandra, sometimes with Noah and sometimes alone. Like now.

It was my last visit with him and I was here to say my goodbye. I didn't want to leave but I had to, my mid-semester quizzes were coming up and I couldn't miss them if I didn't want to fail out or defer this semester. I promised him I would be back to visit in three weeks though. We had bonded even more over the past two days; I hated to even imagine what would have happened if the operation had taken the other 50 percent chance and I had lost him. I was getting to know him, and it was a beautiful thing.

"I'll miss you Darryl", I finished reading and leaned over to drop a kiss on his cheek. My voice was choked up, I couldn't help being emotional after everything "Don't ever do anything that dangerous again, okay?"

He gave me a small smile. "It's the nature of the job"

"Well then you need to retire", I admonished him

"Aww, it'd take a lot more than a little old fall to off this geezer", he joked but then the smile died on his lips when he took in the look on my face. "C'mon I'm joking!"

"Promise me, Darryl"

"Okay, okay. I promise"

I smiled as I looked over at him. He had healed quite a bit for someone his age according to Dr. Sullivan. His broken bones were still up in supports and would take a longer time to heal but Dr. Sullivan assured us with the right amount of therapy, he would regain most of his mobility.

"I'll miss you, honey", Darryl said, his voice as emotional as I had ever heard it "I love you"

I reached down and hugged him. "I love you too, Dad"

When I pulled away, I was still wiping away some moisture from my face when Darryl said, "Where's that fella of yours? Send him in; I need to have a talk with him on how he's been treating my daughter"

Noah was off booking actual flights for us to head back to New York but I was sure he was still close by. That wasn't the problem, though. Darryl still thinking we were together was.

Well, this was going to be awkward. I hated leaving on a sour note, but I had to be honest with him.

"Well err... Noah and I aren't together anymore"

Darryl straightened in his bed, and then narrowed his eyes at me. "What do you mean, girl?"

"We broke up"

"But he came here with you"

"Yes"

"What happened? Why did you break up then?"

I didn't really know at this point.

I exhaled deeply and ran a hand through my hair, straightening my ebony locks. "It's complicated, Darryl"

"Hmm. Complicated", Darryl smirked "Ellie?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you love him?"