Right Uppercut

Chapter 17

Back at school the following Monday, things were back to semi-normal. Noah and I acted like nothing had happened. Of course, Mitch freaked out about my whole weekend when I finally got in contact with him. He was more worried about my minor disappearance than anyone else. But then I told him everything and he calmed down before moving on to tell me he was convinced that Ethan had real feelings for me, making him act more possessive when Noah was around.

I let him speculate, but it didn’t change anything. Why would it, especially considering that since we parted at the hospital, he hadn’t spoken to me.

Luckily, Heidi didn’t really ask any questions. She seemed relieved, but I didn’t know her well enough yet to tell if it was because she didn’t know how to tell a dying man that she lost his daughter or if she was genuinely concerned about my whereabouts. Either way, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit guilty.

After my meltdown in the hospital room with Heidi, I felt closer to her, like I finally had someone who really understood me and my feelings. The next day, we were sitting around my dad and he was beginning to doze off again.

She looked at him and then back at me. “Hey, let’s give him some space. I wanna show you something.”

I shrugged. “Okay.”

We quietly left the room and wordlessly exited the hospital. She led me to a black Lexus SUV. It beeped after she unlocked it with her keys.

I slid into the passenger seat. “This is your car?”

“Yeah,” she blushed. “It was a Mother’s Day gift from last May.”

I nodded and looked around at the sleek black leather. “Fancy.”

She didn’t reply to that and I felt bad for making her feel embarrassed. I had never been in something so nice and clean, considering that I’ve only ever rode in Mitch’s car, where I don’t even want to think about the mysterious remnants he would find if he ever cleaned it out.

We drove in silence and it slowly felt less tense and more comfortable. I was thankful that we got to the point where I didn’t feel like I had to fill the silence with her. It was nice.

She was soon pulling outside of an AT&T store that was a little ways out of town.

“What are we doing here?” I asked as she shut off the engine and the car became even more silent.

She turned to me with a small smile. “Well, when I couldn’t contact you the other day, I was really worried. I didn’t know where you were, if you were safe.” She bit her lip before continuing. “So, I want to add you to my family plan, that way I can always contact you if I need to. Plus, what teenager doesn’t have a cell phone?” She laughed lightly.

I sat back in the seat. “Heidi, can I ask you something?”

“Of course, anything,” she replied and folded her hands in her lap.

“What’s your family like?” I looked her in the eyes with curiosity. “Do you have any kids?”

She seemed a little taken aback, but that expression quickly switched to one with a genuine smile. “I have two kids. My oldest is eighteen. His name is Logan. He plays soccer, so I hardly ever see him with his practices,” she waved her hand as she told me details.

“And the youngest one is sixteen, but she’ll turn seventeen over the summer. Her name is Natalie. She plays volleyball, but she’s very social, so she’s in a lot of clubs and organizations after school.”

“What about your husband?” I asked. An image of her “picture perfect” family was forming in my mind.

She beamed. “Our 20th anniversary is this August and it feels like we just got married yesterday. Dave works for my father. To be completely honest, I’m not sure exactly what he does, but I know it has something to do with managing the finances of the company. He works very hard at balancing time with his job and with the family, which is something I am so grateful for.”