Married to a Boy-Band

44

“Ahh, if it isn’t the elusive Thyme Hall, sneaking away in the middle of our tour and not telling anyone what’s going on,” Braxton said.

He sounded so lighthearted; I felt bad for what I was going to have to tell him next.

“Brax…”

“Uh-oh. I don’t like the sound of that.”

“It’s your dad. We’ve, uh, transferred him to hospice.”

“Shit. Shit. Shit.”

I could tell from the sound of his voice just how upset he was. He sighed loudly.

“How soon should we be there?” he asked.

“I don’t know… It’s hard to say. He’s really gone downhill. But… I think you should wait until your mom is ready to call you and tell you to come out. I just wanted to prepare you for what’s coming. You deserve to know.”

“What if it’s too late?”

“The hospice workers said he wasn’t actively dying. They’re just here to make sure he’s comfortable.”

He was quiet for a minute. Finally, he spoke up.

“I’m torn here, Thyme. I made a business commitment to work for two more weeks. At the same time, I don’t want to look back on my life and realize I missed the last days of my dad’s life because I was working.”

“I won’t let you miss the last days of your dad’s life. If he was actively dying I would let you know.”

I didn’t know what that meant, even, but I knew that hospice would let us know when it was time to start saying our goodbyes. We had had a meeting with their team and they had told us everything we would ever need to know about hospice. They had been patient and understanding and so helpful. Jane and I had both been impressed with them. I was glad that they had put Jane at ease, at least a little. Even though Jane hadn’t wanted to tell the boys yet, I thought that they deserved to know. They were coming home for the holidays after their tour, but I wasn’t sure that they would be back in time. Tom’s decline was progressing faster than we could have imagined.

“I didn’t realize you had gone home. Why all the secrecy?” he asked.

“I wanted to wait until Jane was ready to tell you… Then this whole thing with hospice happened and I knew I needed to tell someone.”

“Have you talked to Chase? Or Jude?”

Chase and I had been sending each other generic “how are you” text messages. It felt like we were back to square one in our relationship.

“Not really.”

“Okay. I’ll keep it to myself for now.”

“How’s your tour going?”

“It’s been great. We’ve seen some cool places and we have so many fans. I never realized how many people liked us.”

“Where are you right now?”

There was some rustling, “Ah, Japan actually.”

“I’ve always wanted to go there.”

“You could always come out here. Our show is tonight.”

“I wouldn’t get there in time.”

He was quiet for a minute, “Thanks for doing this, Thyme. I really appreciate that you’re keeping mom company. I’m sure she’s having a tough time with all of this.”

“Of course, Brax. I love her too.”

“I’ll talk to you soon, okay?”

I hung up the phone, feeling an ache of sadness. I missed my friends. Being in Michigan was a welcoming break, but it sucked not having anyone around. It seemed to be good for Harper, at least. She needed some stability.