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“Can you come outside for a minute?”
My spine stiffened. “Outside?”
“Yeah. I’m downstairs in my car.”
“Why are you downstairs? Tanner, what’s wrong? You’re scaring me.”
“I just … I really need you right now. I don’t know who else to talk to.”
At the sound of the desperation in his voice, I tore the covers off and swung my legs out of bed. “I’ll be down in two minutes.”
I threw my hair into a ponytail and gargled with mouth wash. In my fuzzy slippers and flannel pajamas, I ran down the stairs and into Tanner’s car.
“Where’s your coat?” he asked, fighting to get out of his jacket.
“I keep forgetting how cold it gets here.”
When he reached over to wrap his jacket around me, that’s when I saw his eyes. Wet and bloodshot.
“Tanner, what’s going on?”
“It’s my dad. He … he’s in the hospital.”
I sucked in a gasp. “What happened?”
“We’d finished eating dinner. He went into the living room with Khloe to watch Moana, and he just collapsed.” Tanner shook his head in disbelief. “Right there on the floor. In front of Khloe. He collapsed. I carried him to the car, and I drove like a madman to the hospital.”
My gut twisted thinking about Khloe having to witness that. “Where was Chase?”
“With Merritt. They’re at the hospital now.”
“What did the doctor say? How is your dad now?”
“The doctor ran a bunch of tests. Everyone just keeps saying how weak his body is.” A tear rolled down his cheek as he averted his gaze out the windshield. “He’s not strong enough to fight the cancer anymore.”
I swiped his tear away with my thumb, and held my palm against his face. “I’m so sorry, Tanner.”
He leaned over and buried his head in my neck. I wrapped my arms around him, stroking his soft hair as he cried on my shoulder. Words would always fail in a situation like this. I knew from experience. I knew what Tanner needed most: to be reassured that everything was going to be okay. I was thankful to be the one to give that to him. I wiped my own silent tears as I held him.
“I’m sorry I woke you. I couldn’t take being in that hospital any longer.”
“I’m glad you called me. You shouldn’t be alone right now.”
“You should go back inside. You’re going to be exhausted when you have to wake up.”
“Why don’t you come in?”
His eyebrows pressed together. “Right now?”
“You can have my bed. I’ll sleep on the couch until my dad leaves for work. I don’t have to be at the bakery until the afternoon.”
“You have class in the morning, don’t you?”
“I can skip it.”
He shook his head. “Don’t skip class for me. I can go home.”
“The thought of you in that house all by yourself would kill me.”
