Salted Wound

Chapter 48 Zamari- Jan 27, 2019

The drive home from the hospital is more stressful now than it ever has been, even going to the hospital after the crash wasn't this bad. Okay, that's an exaggeration but it's pretty bad. I glance at Jade every few minutes, hoping the bumps don't jostle her too much. Her leg is in a cast, for now, crutches laying across the backseat. Finally, she speaks up to my granny driving.

"Zamari if you go any slower we'll miss Amari's high school graduation." She says, rolling her eyes. "I'm fine, let's just get home."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I say, picking up the speed slightly, but still glancing over to make sure her leg hasn't flown off and out the window. After a moment of silence, she comments

"You're friends are pretty great."

"I told you they grow on you," I say with a grin.

"Ana especially is nice." She comments and I glance at her out of the corner of my eye to see a pensive expression on her face.

"See, no more reason to be suspicious of her, she's great."

Jade nods and opens her mouth to say something before she seems to rethink it, and closes her mouth.

"They really do want to get to know you more," I add and she nods.

"I'd like that, they're nice people."

We finally get to the house with minimal complaints from Jade, and mom is already in the driveway, Amari hopping circles around her. We pull into the driveway and Jade throws her door open, Amari throwing his arms around her immediately. She shifts so her leg isn't in his way, and hugs him back. Mom pulls the back door open before I can get to it and gets her crutches. I can see the lack of patience straining Jade's features as she holds herself back from telling us that she's okay, she doesn't need help. She knows she does. I grab her backpack from the backseat and trail behind them, taking the time to send a quick message to Naomi before I forget and become one of those people that sends birthday messages the next day. Amari chatters about the meal he and mom spent the day preparing for Jade's return.

In the house, Jade drops onto the couch with a world-weary sigh, dropping the crutches next to her and swinging her leg up onto the cushion next to her. I nudge her other leg as I walk past and she does her best to kick me. At least her violence hasn't gone anywhere. Amari follows mom into the kitchen to finalize dinner and I collapse into the recliner with the remote in hand. Before Jade can complain about me taking control of the tv I put on Aladdin, one of her favorites. Delight fills her features before she seems to realize something.

"Zam, I've been meaning to ask, how in the hell did mom pay for the surgery?"

I scratch the back of my head.

"Dad insisted. He wouldn't let mom struggle on her own to pay for it."

She rolls her eyes and an uncomfortable feeling floods my gut. It's not exactly a lie, dad did pay for the surgery. What I didn't exactly detail is that I plan to pay him back every penny of the money he spent on Jade. I won't let him go off to another country to forget about us while we are indebted to him.

She grimaces slightly and I take the opportunity of being alone to ask something I've been wondering since we got to the hospital and she first started refusing to see him.

"What happened? You always used to be the one who defended dad and told me to go easy on him, now all of a sudden you won't see him, even when you were in the hospital mom says you were turning him away."

Her eyes drift toward the tv but I know she's not actually watching. Her gaze seems far away and the weary look she wears makes her look so much older than she is.

"It took getting plowed into by a truck but I kind of started to see your perspective in the hospital. He should have been there for us, I shouldn't feel guilty for wanting his attention and affection, and it's fucked up that he doesn't see us as family anymore, we're his kids and he doesn't...want us."

The lost look in her eyes makes my chest hurt and I don't have the heart to tell her I had just started to see her perspective.