Page 58 of A Coffee Away

Long gone was his soft voice. His warm smile. His love-filled brown eyes.

He was gone far away from me. And there was nothing I could do.

I jolted awake and turned toward the open door. “Mom? Dad?”

Dad hugged me.

“He’s gone,” I cried. “I can’t reach him.” I soaked Dad’s shirt. The wound was still so new. So fresh. How could everything be so fucked up? “Why? Why when I finally found him?”

“I’m so sorry, son. I wish there was more I could do.” He stepped back.

Mom held me and kissed my temple. “I’m so sorry. Sometimes life hits us with impossible situations, but he will make it. Robbie will come back to you.”

I buried my face in the curve of her neck and breathed in her vanilla perfume, traveling back to my teenage days. Days so hard only my parents could have helped me through. I never felt left out. Never felt different. And now, when I most needed them, they were here again with open hearts.

“Excuse me.”

We all turned.

His stern voice matched his face as he entered. An empty feeling took root inside of me. There was no denying who he was.

Robbie’s father was a surgeon at the hospital, but before a coworker informed him, I decided to do so by phone. He had been away at a conference and told me he’d be here.

We’d never met before. Both he and his mother had cut ties with Robbie until he left his wicked ways.

I rolled my shoulders back and walked to him, then extended my hand. “Mr. Fernández, we talked on the phone. I’m Esteban.”

He humphed and moved past me, ignoring my hand, and went directly to the bed as if my parents were invisible.

He kissed Robbie’s hand. “Don’t worry, son. We’ll make sure you get better. I’m here now, and your mother is on her way. We’ll sort things out.”

My skin rose in goosebumps. The tone of his voice. The glare he gave me. What did he mean?

He faced me. “The doctor tells me Robbie left you as his proxy if anything happened to him. I don’t know who you believe you are or how you brainwashed my son, but I will challenge it. We’ll be the ones making the decisions here.”

I froze, unable to make sense of what he was implying. Could he really do that? A lawyer did not sign the letter, but we exchanged it after I proposed. We wanted to be there for each other if anything happened. “But—”

He stopped by the door. “This is your fault, and I’ll protect Robbie no matter what.” He left without a glance back.

A heaviness settled over me. Maybe he was right. I should have seen the car coming. I should have never let this happen.

“It’s not your fault.” Mom’s soft voice broke through my dark thoughts.

“Maybe he’s right,” I said.

Dad squeezed my shoulder. “No, son. He’s just reacting to a bad situation. I’m sure he doesn’t mean it.”

I shook my head. “You don’t understand. They…”

I’d never told them about Robbie’s parents. They thought they were okay with us.

I sighed. “They don’t approve of us.”

Mom frowned. “What do you mean?”

I clasped my hands together. “They won’t accept he’s gay.”

My father stepped back and took Mom’s hand.