Murders Of The Past

THREE

CARLOS RISES FROM his chair and reaches out to me, but I push through his arms, turning around and walking back the other way again.

  "Sadie, why don't you sit down?" He suggests.

  "Carlos, why don't you shut up?" He rolls his eyes.

  "I'm sure your dad is fine. He's just an old guy, heart attacks happen to old guys." I spin around and glare at Carlos, poking his chest hard.

  "No, Carlos. Heart attacks happen to dying guys." Carlos quickly shakes his head.

  "He isn't dying."

  "And how do you know that?" When Carlos doesn't respond I raise a brow.

  "When can we see grandpa?" Carlos and I both look to the left at Bailey who's cradling her baby doll. Speaking of baby dolls, where's mine? I look around when my eyes land on Thana who's sitting on the  floor in front of Aiden, who's reading her a book. I smile warmly. How sweet.

  "I don't know, hun," Carlos tells Bailey. Exactly. And you don't know he isn't dying either. "Sadie?" I look at Carlos who's watching me with an unsettled gaze.

  "Sadie?" I turn around at the sound of a familiar voice and perk up.

  "Julie." I rush over to her and embrace her, pulling away to look down at her stomach. Still flat as a pancake. Shit. That reminds me. "What are you doing here? Who told you to come here?"

  "Carlos called and said Dad had a heart attack." I whip my head around to scowl at Carlos.

  "You called her?"

  "Sorry. I didn't know if her dad was dying or not!" He throws his arms up at his side.

  "You shouldn't have told her to come here!"

  "Why not?" I look back to Julie, glancing down at her pancake stomach. Julie looks down, bringing her hands up to hold her stomach as her head drops sadly.

  "Oh..." Carlos scratches the back of his neck.

  "Yeah." I mumble, shaking my head. Sam comes up behind Julie and squeezes her shoulders.

  "Any news?" He asks and I shake my head. "I'm really sorry." I shrug my shoulders.

  What if Dad is dying? What am I going to do? I never imagined my life without him. I always saw him as invincible. He was like a superhero. He got into so many deadly situations. Once, he came home with stab wounds that were stitched together by his friend. His friend wasn't even a doctor. I'm still amazed he didn't die that night. He's endured worse than that too. That's why I always saw him as an invincible superhero. So he can survive multiple stab wounds but he can't survive a damn heart attack?

  "Dennis Bane?" My head snaps up and I lock eyes with a nurse. I quickly begin following her with Julie behind me. Sam and Carlos stay in the waiting room with the kids.

  When we enter the room we find him lying on a bed with tubes up his nose.

  "Dad?" Julie croaks, rushing over to him and taking his hand. His eyes peel open and he blinks at Julie, a wrinkly smile growing on his lips.

  "Hey, Julie."

  "Are you okay?" Dad smiles, rolling his eyes.

  "Pfft, I'm tough. I'm alright."

  "You had a heart attack."

  "I did?" He drops his smile and I tense. He doesn't even know what happened? Dad looks down at himself, frowning. "I thought you had to have a heart to have one of those?" I relax, realizing he was just joking.

  "Then I guess you have a heart," Julie chuckles, squeezing his hand. "Can I get you anything?"

  "Yeah, you can." Dad raises his hand and points at the nurse who's standing by the door. "You can get me that gal's number." I roll my eyes, dropping my face into my hands. 'That gal' is like twenty-six. Dad is fifty.

  "I... uh..." Julie stammers. She turns and looks at me for help. I shake my head, crossing my arms.

  "Dad, what happened?" I ask and he finally acknowledges my presence.

  "Sadie, hey."

  "Hello. What happened?"

  "You seem grouchier than usual." He tilts his head. "Are those kids of yours giving you a hard time?" He perks up. "What about that husband of yours? Have you blown his brains out yet?"

  "Dad, what happened?"

  "Oh! Where are my grandkids?"

  "Dad!"

  "They're right here." I turn around and watch two men and three children enter the room. This room is way too small for seven people.

  "Come here!" Aiden climbs onto the bed with Dad and Bailey sits beside Dad while Carlos picks Thana up and sets her on his lap. "Who wants to give me some money?" Bailey laughs while Aiden pouts, crossing his arms.

  "Grandpa, it's the other way around," he reminds him.

  "What is?" I can't tell if Dad is faking his confusion or not.

  "The money. You're supposed to give us money."

  "Aiden." Carlos shakes his head.

  "Jeez, you're just like your father," Dad grumbles. "Tell you what. I pay you with food. Let's all go out to eat."

  "I do like food!" Aiden nods excitedly, jumping off the bed. I guess we're going out to eat then.

Why didn't Sadie want Julie at the hospital? Will Dennis be alright? Why is Sadie so grouchy?