Chapter Twenty-Two

Thalia pressed the key fob to unlock the truck. She opened the back door of the truck and swept off the bench seat in the cab with her hand. “Sorry it’s a mess.”

Amari assisted Brianna into the truck. She tugged the seat belt into place, avoiding her daughter’s arm. Brianna’s eyes were glassy and had taken on the thousand-yard stare she often had when she was overwhelmed with pain and sensations. Amari sat next to her and fastened her seat belt.

“What hospital?” Thalia inclined her chin toward Brianna’s arm. “Children’s?”

“Yes. They do a much better job with kids on the spectrum there.”

“You got it.” Thalia closed the door gently.

She swung into the driver’s seat and then clicked her seat belt into place.

“You know the way?”

“My nieces and nephews are always breaking themselves. I think I could drive there in my sleep.” Thalia started the truck.

Amari rubbed her forehead as her thoughts spun out in all directions of in anticipation of how things would go at the emergency room. A cast, that much was in Brianna’s future. There was no doubt in Amari’s mind her arm was broken. And the disruption of her routine, and that in some ways was worse for Brianna.

Amari stared at the back of Thalia’s head unseeing as she tried to stay calm and keep Brianna calm. Brianna wasn’t crying now. She had gone nonverbal, barely responding to Amari’s questions. Amari pulled her phone from her pocket and called her mother.

“Hello?”

“Brianna fell at the park and hurt her arm. We’re on our way to the hospital.”

“Are you in an ambulance?”

“No. Thalia’s driving us.”

“What?”

“It’s a long story. I’ll call you when I know what’s up. Will you take care of Lucy?”

“Of course. Let me know if you need me to come. Put it on speaker. I want to talk to Brianna.”

“Brianna, Grammy wants to talk to you.” Amari touched the button to set the phone to speaker.

“Brianna?”

“Yes.”

“Baby, Grammy loves you. Be good and let the doctor and nurses help you, okay?”

“Okay. I miss Lucy.”

“I’ll take good care of her while you’re gone. Love you, baby.”

★

Thalia pulled out of the parking lot, taking care to avoid the random potholes and dips that might jostle the truck. Her arm ached in sympathy for Brianna. A visceral memory of her first fracture crowded her mind. It had spoiled her first trip to the ocean and ruined a family vacation when she was seven.

Traffic was light as they pulled out onto the highway toward the hospital. She glanced at Amari in the rearview mirror. Misery was etched on her features, spoiling her handsome face. Unable to come up with any words of comfort for Amari, Thalia focused on the road, trying and failing miserably to not listen as Amari called her mother and explained the situation.

“Long story” indeed. In the time since her last meeting with Amari, Thalia had put in motion the purchase of the building for her bookstore. After calling Amari out as a coward for her failure to address her fears, Thalia had forced herself to address her own. The enormous task of cataloguing her book inventory in preparation for opening the bookstore gave her something to do in the evenings and nights and weekends when it was hardest to not to violate her pledge to not contact Amari. Three weeks of filling every waking hour with work had helped to ease Thalia’s anxiety but had done nothing for her continued desire to see Amari, to talk with her, and perhaps to salvage at least a friendship out of the mess of their attempt at dating.

Brianna whimpered in the back seat. The raw animal sound cut through Thalia’s rumination. She glanced behind her. The pain etched on Brianna’s face made Thalia’s heart ache. Anxiety about Brianna’s injury cramped her stomach. Thalia accelerated, pushing the speed limit, as she drove toward the hospital.

“Thank you.” Amari’s voice was soft. “I don’t have words to tell you how grateful I am. I didn’t want to call an ambulance. The sirens are torture for Brianna.”

“Happy to help.” Thalia glanced in the rearview briefly before she looked back at the road.

“Mama, do we have to go? I don’t want to go to the hospital.”

“I know, baby, but we need to get an X-ray of your arm. We need to see if it’s broken.”

“Am I going to have to stay? I don’t want to stay. It smells. And it’s too loud.” Brianna’s voice rose in pitch. “I don’t want to go.”

“Hey, Brianna, do you want to wear my headphones?” Thalia turned on to the street for the emergency room. She pulled her hearing protectors from the center console and held them up. “They might be big for you, but they might help.”

“They aren’t mine.”

“No, but they might help. Do you want to try them?” Amari took the offered headphones.

Thalia parked the truck as close to the emergency room doors as she could.

“They’re pink and they smell like Thalia.”

Thalia turned to look at Brianna. “Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?”

“Good thing.” Brianna looked at Amari. “Will you put them on me? I don’t want to let go of my arm.”

Amari settled the headphones over Brianna’s head and adjusted the strap to make them fit as best she could. She lifted her gaze to Thalia’s face. “Hot pink?”

“The only way I could keep them from getting lifted on jobs.” Thalia opened the door to the truck. After opening the rear door, she held it while Amari helped Brianna down from the cab.

“Thank you again.” Amari held Thalia’s gaze. “I’ll make sure we get the headphones back to you.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Amari rested her hands on Brianna’s shoulders. “Let’s go.”

Brianna planted her feet and resisted. “No.”

“If we go in and let them check your arm, we can watch the ball machine after. But you need to let them see why your arm hurts first.”

“No. It’s fine now, Mama. I can just hold it like this.”

“No, Brianna, we have to let the doctors check out your arm. And we need to go now.”

Thalia winced at the tiredness and frustration in Amari’s tone. Thalia bent down until her face was level with Brianna. “I’ve never seen the ball machine. Would you show me after the doctors check your arm?

Brianna screwed up her face. “Before.”

“After, okay? Because your mom’s worried about your arm.” Thalia glanced up at Amari’s face. “Is that okay?”

Amari scrubbed her hand over her face. “If it means we can get in the door without a meltdown, that’s great.”

Thalia stepped back and inclined her head toward the door of the emergency room. “Come on. The quicker we get them to see you, the quicker you can show me the machine.”

★

Amari walked behind Brianna as she followed Thalia across the parking lot. Thalia was like the Pied Piper. Brianna was totally under her spell. She wasn’t the only one. Amari stepped around them to open the door to the emergency room. A line of children and adults stretched halfway across the room.

“It’s a big line, Mama. We should come back after the ball machine.”

“If we lose our place, it will take longer. And we agreed to after for the ball machine.” Amari pulled her wallet out and took out her insurance card and identification.

“Brianna, tell me about your favorite part of the machine.”

Amari listened as Thalia chatted with Brianna. Unlike other adults who would tire of Brianna’s overly detailed and obsessive discussions, Thalia listened, truly listened to Brianna. Love. Amari would always love Thalia for this moment. Seeing Thalia’s kindness toward Brianna melted her heart. Thalia was a gem, a precious soul, and Amari had been a fool to walk away from her.

After Amari signed them in, she scanned the waiting room for three seats together. They crossed the room and sat down. Brianna sat between them. She shifted and leaned against Amari. “Hugs?”

Amari pressed her brow to her daughter’s head. “Hugs.” Her heart ached as it always did when Brianna was hurt. Her body responded viscerally to her pain. She would endure thousands of hours of pain herself to spare her daughter one second of it.

Brianna was animated as she talked about Poppy Troll and the Trolls World Tour movie, her current obsession. Amari observed Thalia from under her lashes. Thalia was engaged, asking Brianna genuine questions. So many people became overwhelmed with the random trivia and obsessive details that Brianna recited, they checked out of the conversation and shut Brianna down.

Brianna launched into listing all the voice actors and their roles in Trolls and Trolls World Tour. Amari tuned out Thalia and Brianna’s conversation when Brianna started in on her monologue about Poppy Troll.

Amari turned over the crazy twist to what should have been a simple outing to the park. Her mother had been right. Birthing Brianna had been the easy part. Parenting was an entirely different pain.

“Foster? Brianna Foster?” an attendant in dark-blue scrubs called from the double doors leading to the treatment rooms.

“That’s us.” Amari stood and helped Brianna to her feet.

“Can Ms. Thalia come with us, Mama?”

“I’m sure she’s got other things to do. We’ve taken enough of her time.”

“She can’t leave. I have to show her the ball machine.” Brianna’s eyes grew wide, and her voice rose in pitch. “She can’t leave.”

“Foster!” the attendant at the door called, impatience writ large in her tone.

“We have to go. Come on, Brianna.”

“I’ll come back with you.” Thalia touched Amari’s arm. “If you’re okay with it?”

“Yes. Thank you, again.” Amari gripped Brianna’s shoulders gently and steered her toward the double doors.