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“It’s your dad. He’s...well, he’s in the hospital.”
“My dad?” My stomach drops and my knees begin to feel weak.
“Fuck. I mean...I mean, Jamie. Not your dad. Not our dad.”
I haven’t heard my birth father’s name in years. Taking a deep breath of relief, I try to process what this means and how I feel about it. How am I supposed to feel?
“What’s wrong with him? Is he going to be okay?” I ask my brother.
He looks back towards the ground. Marc has never been good at giving bad news. He’s too nice to have to deliver such terrible words.
“No, EJ. I don’t think he’s going to be okay.” He looks up at me with pity in his eyes. “His liver is failing, and by the sounds of it, he only has a couple of days left.”
I look down to the same ground my brother was staring at because I can’t look him in the eye. “How do you know?”
“Dad.” He pauses. “He’s been calling you, but I think your phone must’ve been on silent during class. He got ahold of me and asked me to come and find you. He needs you to call him.”
Marc has always called my dad, “Dad.” His own was never around because he left before Marc was even born. When our parents married, we were only three years old at the time, and mine was the only father he had ever known. I, on the other hand, have always referred to Marc’s mom as Mary. It’s not my mom’s fault that she’s no longer around, so I reserve the title of “Mom” for her.
As far as my birth father goes, he’s a piece of shit and never deserved to be referred to as “Dad.” He left me as soon as my mom died. When I was only six weeks old, he decided that drinking was more important to him than me, so he asked his dead wife’s brother to adopt me. Twenty-two years later, and nothing has changed.
I don’t know how to process this information or how I should feel about it. I’ve always hated the guy. He would send me a card on my birthday when he was sober enough to remember, but besides that, I’ve only seen him a handful of times in my life. How sad can you be that someone is dying when you never even knew them? Not to mention, the things that I did know about him I hated.
Grabbing my phone from my bag, I have five missed calls from my dad. I start dialing. As soon as I hear the tone of his voice, I head towards my car to go back to my house. I can already tell that he’s going to want me to pack a bag and head home to Indiana, even though it’s the last thing I want to do right now.
Chapter 20
Logan
I spot three seats together towards the front of our economics lecture. Taking the middle of the three, I place my bag on one chair and my jacket on the other to reserve them for Marc and Ali. Marc left our last class early when he got a call from his dad, but I doubt he would miss another in the first week of school. That’s just not like him.
As the class is about to start, I begin to worry that something is wrong with Marc. I glance around, but he’s nowhere to be found. Ali rushes through the doors, waving at me when she spots me towards the front.
“Hey, girl! Thanks for saving me a seat,” she says as I pull my jacket off her reserved seat. “Where’s Marcus?” She motions towards the empty chair on my other side.
“I’m not sure. It’s not like him to be this late.” I glance around the room again.
Quickly pulling out my phone before class begins, I find a long text waiting for me from Marc.
M: Hey. Long story, but I’m not going to make the rest of classes today—family emergency. EJ’s birth dad is in hospice care. I think we are heading back to Indiana early in the morning so that EJ can say goodbye. Is there any possible way that you could bring me our assignments when you’re done with classes tonight? We are staying at our parents’ place ten minutes from campus before we head home in the morning. I would really appreciate it. I don’t want to fall behind on our first week, but this is a priority.
My eyes widen as I read his text. Eli’s birth dad? I had no idea he was adopted.
“Everything alright?” Ali asks with a concerned look on her face as she notices me focusing on my phone screen.
“I’m not sure.” I shake my head, looking down at my phone. “Sounds like something is up with Eli’s dad.”
“Eli? Who is Eli?”
I look at her, confused. “Eli,” I repeat again, but with no response.
“EJ?” Still nothing.
“Maddison?” I try for the third time to connect the dots for her.
“Oh! Marcus’ brother.”
I nod but find myself a little annoyed at her for not knowing his name. It’s not her fault, though. I doubt she’s had him on her mind since their first meeting the way that I have.
