The Reunion

Chapter 15 - Kaia

There was a nagging feeling that swarmed Kaia's thoughts. It was a plague of questions and her darkest fears.

Not once did it seem that Karlie wanted to be near her. Let alone touch her. For Christ's sake, she fell off the pool float when she stood next to her in the water. She wouldn't even text her back. Maybe she could get over this stupid high school crush. Get past the feelings she had harbored for years. If anything, most of all, she would be happy to have Karlie back in her life even as just a friend.

She had absolutely no idea how long she would be in town and seeing that she had yet to show up for any of her dad's therapy sessions, it probably wasn't going to be long. So, Kaia had to either suck it up and do something about it or do absolutely nothing at all. Either of those options felt fine. She oddly was okay with both. She had spent the last decade unaware of Karlie and her life. She could go another if that's the way this was supposed to play out. She had crushes all the time, and nothing came of them. Who was to say that it couldn't be like that with Karlie. Just a crush with nothing to show of it. She could get over it just like she had with the others.

That's what she reminded herself of as she walked into work. She wasn't supposed to be in, but she didn't care. She had made a promise, and if Kaia was anything, she was someone who followed through. Her job was to assist in surgeries, hand over the tools and equipment to the surgeons, clean up before and afterwards, not check on the patients they performed on. If someone were to know she was checking on Mr. Harris, it could have a negative impact, but that was the furthest from her worries. She told him she would be back, and that's what made sense to her.

"No scrubs today?" Mr. Harris asked as Kaia walked into his hospital room.

She looked down at her attire, sport shorts, sneakers and running tank top and shrugged. "I'm not technically on the clock today."

He narrowed his dark eyes. He had more color in his face today. It reminded her of how he had looked when she was a kid. He had more lines beside his eyes, but shockingly, they seemed to be all that changed, aside from the grey in his goatee and his receding hairline. Kaia couldn't help the thought that ran through her mind, that if Karlie had his bone structure, no matter how much she hated it, if she were to have his genes, she would look so beautiful as she aged. The man barely looked different after ten years.

"And you came here anyway?" he asked.

"I said I would be here for your therapy." Her answer was simple as she wheeled the chair over to the side of his bed. She checked her watch, "and if we don't get a move on, you're going to be late. I take it nobody came by to get you ready."

"I don't even know what time of day it is right now. I can't tell you if I'm on time, late, or early."

Kaia chuckled, "in here it's easy to lose track of the day."

As she wheeled him down the hall to the elevators, he tilted his head, "can I ask you why you're helping me?"

The door slid open, and she pushed the chair forward. As she pressed the button to the floor they needed, she said, "I said I would."

He turned to look at her, "but why?"

She wanted to say she felt like he needed someone in his court. She wanted to tell him that by being with him, she was learning more about Karlie's past, that she wanted to see if there was a chance at easing the pain from her heavy burdens. Most of all though, being kind to him, even when he didn't think he deserved it, was what she felt most of all.

She cleared her throat as the elevator descended. "Something I've learned from working here, is that a lot of us need help, but we don't know how to ask for it. Me included." She leaned back and rested on the wall behind her, "you told me that you aren't happy with how you left things with Karlie, and... I'm not either. I don't think I treated her the way a best friend should have. And I think there's a lot we can learn from each other." She could see his reflection in the chrome of the closed elevator doors. They made eye contact before he broke it and looked at his lap. "I also do my best to follow through with my word. I said I'd be here with you, and I intend to keep that."