“You promise?”
“Promise.” Thud. “It’s driving me insane.”
“What is it?”
“Kaden. He’s been at it all morning. I’ve tried to get him to practice with me, but apparently, I’m too slow for him. He likes using a tennis ball instead.”
“A tennis ball?” Thud.
“Yes. He throws it against the house, and then he chases after it. He does it over and over! Please see if you can make him stop, even if it’s just for a little while.”
“I’ll handle Kaden.” I stood up and headed for the back door. “Why don’t you go take a nice, hot bath and maybe a nap or something?”
“That would be wonderful. Thank you, Kaci.”
I was relieved to see her heading upstairs and hoped that she would take my advice and get some rest. When I found Kaden in the backyard, his hair was damp with sweat and his clothes were covered with grass stains and dirt. He was just about to throw the ball again, so I shouted, “Kaden!”
He twirled around with surprise. “What?”
“Dude, you’re driving Mom nuts with that crazy tennis ball.”
“I know.” He threw the ball against the house again. “But I’ve gotta practice, Kaci. Coach said it was important.”
I rushed over and grabbed the ball before he could catch it. “There has to be a better way than this.”
“Tucker said—”
I cringed at the sound of his name. “This was his idea?”
“Yeah. He said it would help with my hand-eye coordination and speed,” he explained.
“Um-hmm.” Trying to remain calm, I started walking towards the garage. Once inside, I began rummaging through my dad’s old junk until I found a large piece of plywood. “I think this might work.”
“What are you going to do with that?”
“You’ll see.”
I dragged it out onto the grass, and once I got to the very back of the yard, I leaned it against the fence. Once I got it straight, I took the tennis ball and threw it at the board. When it bounced back and flew in Kaden’s direction, he caught it and smiled. “Awesome!”
We spent the next couple of hours practicing different drills; by the time we were done, Kaden was getting better at catching the ball. I hated to admit it, but Tucker was right. Damn.
Tucker
After spending half the night in the ER and the other half in the hospital waiting room, Colton and I were relieved to see the nurse heading in our direction. We both hoped that she’d have some good news about our father. We’d brought him in worried that he might’ve had an issue with his heart. Of course, my father tried to blow it off as nothing. We’d just eaten supper, and since it was getting late and he didn’t want to be a bother, he insisted it was nothing. We both knew not to listen. Hell, the man would be halfway in the grave before he’d admit that anything was wrong, so when I saw him rubbing his chest and arm, I knew it was time to get him to the hospital. Immediately, they rushed him back and hooked him up to all kinds of monitors, and the doctor ordered a long list of tests that needed to be run. Eventually he was put in his own room, and we were sent out to the waiting room, where we’d been waiting for the past six hours.
“Is he okay?”
“Yes. He’s going to be fine. The doctor will be out shortly to speak with you.”
“Did he have a heart attack?”
“The doctor will explain everything.” She gave me one of those half-smiles, which really meant: Eat shit. I’m not going to tell you a goddamn thing. “He shouldn’t be long.”
Colton nodded and said, “Thank you.”
I rolled my eyes as I watched her walk away. “What are you thanking her for? It wasn’t like she actually told us anything.”
“She’s just doing her job, Tucker.”
We were about to sit back down when Seth, our other brother, came rushing through the front door. He’d been in Chicago at some conference when we’d called him about Dad. As much as he wanted to be here, he couldn’t make it to the hospital until this morning. With anguished look on his face, he asked, “Is he okay?”
“We don’t know yet. Nurse Ratchet just said the doctor will be out in a minute to tell us what’s going on,” I explained.
“What happened?”
“We’re not sure,” Colton told him. “We’d just finished dinner when Tucker noticed that he was rubbing his chest. You know Dad. Since Mom died, he hasn’t been taking care of himself like he should. It was only a matter of time before something like this was bound to happen.”
We all knew he was right. Our mother passed away a few years ago, and Dad had a difficult time dealing with her death. Even with Colton and Seth close by, he didn’t like being alone. He missed the feeling of being needed, and we all had to find a way to make him realize how important he was to us. Seth followed Colton and me over to the seating area and as we sat down, he asked, “Do you really think it was a heart attack?”
“Hell if I know, but either way, this should be a wakeup call for him.”
“Let’s hope so.”
I was worried about Dad, and our conversation wasn’t making me feel any better. Hoping to change the subject, I looked over to Seth and asked, “So, how was the conference? Did you learn any new tricks for dealing with your nut-jobs?” I teased. Seth was a psychiatrist, and while I loved giving him a hard time about his patients, I knew he was great at his job.
He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Do you ever get tired of being an ass?”
“Nope.”
“I didn’t think so.” He sighed.
Remembering how upset he’d been about not being here when we brought Dad in, I said, “I thought you weren’t going to be able to get here until later today.”
“I did too, but Grace made a few calls and was able to book me an earlier flight.”
“Grace? Who’s Grace?” Colton asked like he’d never heard her name before.
Since we’d just had a long conversation about her the other night, and Colton was sitting with us as we talked, I wasn’t surprised to see a look of irritation cross Seth’s face. “I bet if she had something to do with one of your cases you’d know who she was.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know exactly what that means. You’ve become so obsessed with work and that baseball team of yours, you don’t pay attention to anything else. I get why you do it. I really do. I know losing Hannah and Morgan was tough on you, but Hannah wouldn’t want you living like this.”
“Where the hell is all this coming from?” he growled.
Colton had lost his wife, Hannah, and two-year-old daughter, Morgan, in a terrible car crash a few years back. Ever since, he’d closed himself off, using work and anything else he could focus on to distract himself from the pain of losing them. I knew that spending all this time back in a hospital today wasn’t making things any easier on him, so I leaned towards Seth and said, “Hey. Ease up on him. He’s been trying. He’s been over at Dad’s more, and he’s been working with the team.”
“The team isn’t his family, Tucker.”