Page 57 of Billionaire Retreat

“She’s the worst!” Kenny yelled from his position on the ground.

“Hey, you want more?”

“Didn’t I tell you?” Kenny said raising himself up on his elbows, addressing Sadie.

“Tell her what?” I said, looking at him suspiciously.

“Your mom loves to beat me up.”

“Oh my gosh, we beat each other up. Don’t listen to him, Sadie.”

I helped Kenny up even though I wanted to push him back down, and together the three of us covered in dirt and water made our way inside Mom’s house.

“God, this place brings back so many memories. Remember how short we were and when we wanted to drink water from the faucet we had to put our feet on the vanity and lean over?”

I nodded. “We weren’t that much older than Sadie is now.”

“Those were the best of times.”

We placed Sadie in front of the television and made our way to the kitchen to talk.

“So, how is he?” Kenny asked, putting his hands in his pockets and looking at me anxiously.

“Stable... he’s stable. They want to run some tests, but the worst is over.”

“Do they know how it happened?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, no one really talked to me.” I felt helpless and useless. I felt like a little girl, even though I was raising one of my own.

Kenny held out his arms and I stepped into them. He hugged me tight and rested his chin on top of my head.

“We’ll get through this together. He’ll be fine. You’ll see. He has all of us. He’ll be fine.”

I squeezed my eyes closed, hoping to God that Kenny was right.

And then I felt arms circling my waist and realized that Sadie had joined us in a group hug. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“You feel left out?”

She shrugged. “Maybe a little.”

I picked her up and hugged her tight. “You can head to the H-O-S-P-I-T-A-L. We’ll be ok,” I said to Kenny looking over my shoulder at him.

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

He ruffed up my hair and then Sadie’s and left.

“So... what should we do now?” I said to Sadie, so happy to be home even though the situation was less than ideal.

“Make brownies?”

“Yum yum, brownies. Sounds like a plan.”

I placed her down and thought again how wonderful it was to be home.

Four hours later, Sadie was taking a nap next to me on the couch. I was reading a book, or at least trying to. My focus was off and I found myself staring at the wall, worrying about Dad. I texted Kenny, but he hadn’t gotten back to me yet. I didn’t want to call Mom because I was sure she was busy with Dad.