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Hospital? Her father? He was the type of person who never went to the doctor. He had a toothache for week when she was a teen and didn’t say a thing until one day she found him in the bathroom trying to take it out with a pair of pliers. She forced him to go to the dentist. What in the world could he be sick with that made him go to the hospital?
“What’s the matter with him?”
“He fell.”
She scrunched up her nose. “Like, he tripped? Why would he have to go to the hospital for that?” She wasn’t comprehending what Derek was trying to say. Did he get sick, or did he fall? Or both?
“He said they think his wrist is broken.”
He must be in too much pain to deal with it at home, because the father she knew would wrap it up and keep working. “Oh. Well, that sucks. But it’s not a big deal. Why did he call you about that?”
Derek ran a hand over his hair, his expression unreadable. “He hasn’t been well lately. I don’t know if you noticed, but he’s lost weight. I tried to talk to him about it, but he waved me away. He didn’t want to discuss it.” He sighed and his gaze penetrated through her. “I think he might be sick. Like, really sick.”
A tiny alarm went off in Nara’s head as she stared at Derek. What did he mean, really sick? A knot formed in her belly and she had a hard time taking in a breath. “What are you talking about?”
Lines formed across his forehead. “I think he might have something serious going on. Like cancer.”
She stopped walking, her heart stabbing in her chest. A few fat raindrops fell from the sky, indicating it would start pouring soon. Tourists skirted around them as they stood in the middle of the sidewalk. She swallowed, trying to get her voice back. “Cancer?”
Derek’s Adam’s apple bobbed several times in a row, his face white. He held out his hands. “I don’t know for sure.”
“But you suspect?”
He nodded, his lips pinched together.
Nara tried to process what had happened. What both her father and Derek had been keeping from her. The thoughts swirling around in her head were making her dizzy. “So, he called you just now to tell you he was in the hospital?”
“Yes. He didn’t want me to find out by watching the news.”
Her face flushed hot and she let out a grunt. Her father called Derek to tell him he was in the hospital. Of course, he did. That was so like her father. Derek was the one he turned to in his time of need. Not her. Ouch. That really stung. She blinked as the sidewalk blurred in front of her.
The sky opened up and rain fell in earnest, pooling on the low spots of the cement. She turned from Derek and started walking toward the gazebo that sat in the small park halfway to their resort. She sprinted the last ten feet, but it did no good. She was drenched by the time she got under the shelter.
Derek stepped in beside her, drops of water clinging to his eyelashes. It would have been cute if she wasn’t so upset with him. Upset at what her father had done. She poked his chest with her index finger. “Why did he call you?”
A blank look crossed his face, as if he wasn’t sure what exactly she was asking. “He knew we were together.”
For some reason, that made her even angrier. “Don’t you think he should have called me about that? I am his daughter, after all.” The daughter he conveniently forgot about when it wasn’t to his advantage. She folded her arms, seething inside.
Somewhere in the back of her brain she knew she was overreacting. She didn’t have a good relationship with her father. What gave her the right to be upset when he called Derek instead of her? But she pushed back that rational side of her. She didn’t want to be rational. For some stupid reason all she wanted to be was angry.
A frown pulled at Derek’s lips. “I’m sorry.”
She paced back and forth in the space, a surge of energy now itching at her. Words began gushing out, like someone turned on the faucet and left. “And why wouldn’t he tell me if he was sick? What kind of a selfish man keeps that from his daughter? Cancer isn’t something to push away and forget about. It won’t go away with a couple of pain relievers. What was he thinking? He wasn’t thinking, that’s just it. He never thinks. He just runs away from everything. Well, now he’s in a fine mess.”
She wanted to pound on something. It was just like her father to wait until something was bad to do something about it. And now he’s falling and hurting himself? The image of her father, who was the strongest man she knew, falling and breaking something was not computing with her.
And another thing Derek said wasn’t quite fitting in. He suspected her father was ill, but Derek didn’t know. He could be upsetting her for nothing. What if her father had simply been on a diet? What if he wasn’t sick at all? She rounded on him. “What makes you think he’s got cancer?”
Derek looked like he’d rather step back into the rain than answer her question. But he spoke anyway. “He said they wanted to admit him for more tests because he has a low white blood cell count.”
“Wait, that’s it?” Nara held up her hand, her fingers shaking. “That’s what made you jump to cancer? I’m sorry, can’t that just be a simple infection? What if he has a virus?”
The more she thought about it, the angrier it made her. “I can’t believe you told me that he might have cancer, when all it could be is something simple like that.” She shoved Derek’s shoulder. “You made me worried for nothing.”
Derek just stood there, like the statue he usually is, no expression on his face. It made her even more ticked off. “Why are you not saying anything? That’s not fair at all to do to me. Do you even know how mad I am right now?”
She went to shove him again, but Derek was too fast. He reached out and took her into his arms, pulling her close to his chest. The hug surprised her, and she stood, shocked for a moment. And then tears sprang to her eyes and she began crying, even though she didn’t know why.
