If Not for You (Completed)

Chapter 16: Kale

16Kale

I was more nervous than I had been when going to see my mom, more than even going to see Mo. My knees were bouncing, and my heart was racing in my chest. Travis's hard-knuckled fist to my ribs had done a number on them, making each breath I took feel as though there was a dagger stuck between them. I'd been trying to hide the discomfort from Kazzi all morning, but there was no escaping her scrutinizing eyes. She was watching me, I could tell; stealing peaks at me as she drove, her brows drawn together in a look of worry.

"We can wait a couple of days until you feel better." She offered for the third time since we'd gotten in the car.

With a heavy, pain-laced breath, I shook my head. "Isn't she expecting me?"

"Yeah, but..."

"Then for the last time, Kazz, no. I'm fine. Stop mothering me."

"Someone needs to." She muttered under her breath, and I heard her huff in frustration.

"How is it that Kate is your patient?" I asked, changing the subject, and she glanced at me.

"What do you mean?"

"You said you work with homeless people. If Kate's living with my mom, she's not homeless."

She shrugged. "She told me she was homeless for a while. The psych ward she's in now recommended she call me and get an appointment." She said as she rounded the intersection directly across from our school. I didn't ask for further details. It didn't matter in the long run anyway.

The sight of the school still gave me nightmares. I'd kept an eye on it for years after I'd supposedly died, hovering in the shadows where no one looked, watching Kazzi finish out her senior year, unbeknownst to her or anyone. The school had been a source of hurt for me in more ways than one. Isolation, loneliness, physical beatings, and the ache of giving up Kazzi bred too many memories for me to find anything fond whatsoever associated with my high school years.

Except maybe my first kiss...

The building was quickly dragged away from my line of sight as Kazzi made a right and started down the backside of town. The businesses and homes eventually leveled out into spans of woods as the path wound up through the trees, onward toward the hospital that sat perched atop a hill at the end of the road, a few miles up from where Kazzi had hit me. I frowned when we slowed for a stop sign, and my eyes fell over the section of street where she'd run me down. In my peripheral, I caught Kazzi glance at me again.

"Look familiar?"

"Painfully so." I agreed as I laid a hand on my ribs. "You completely ruined my dumpster diving plans for that day."

She rolled her eyes. "Can't really say I'm sorry about that."

"I was totally sorry. I heard the grocery store had pitched an entire box of Hostess cakes after they fell out of the truck. I was trying to get to them before the garbage truck came. I'd have eaten like a king for at least two days."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm still not sorry. At least about ruining your trash-picking plans."

I smiled, just a bit, then let out an aching breath. "Oh well. It doesn't matter now."

She shrugged. "Maybe it was meant to be. Maybe God picked you up by your shirt collar and deposited you in front of me on purpose, so we could be together."

I huffed and shook my head. "Unlikely. His sense of humor can't be that cruel."

Her brows came together again as she turned her head to look at me. "Is it really just a cruel joke to you that we found each other?"