Back to you | ✔

28 | Chapter Twenty Eight

J O S H

I'm not stupid. I knew the second I came downstairs to see Bonnie's mom sitting in the dining room; something was wrong. I knew it had to do with my dad. Why else would she ask for us both to come with her?

When we arrived at the hospital, all I wanted to do was jump out of the car and rush to find dad, and I did that without a second thought to Bonnie or her mom. I knew Bonnie wouldn't be far behind me, and I'm grateful for that.

I find the receptionist's desk and frantically think about what I'm even going to ask. I have no idea what is even going on. All I know is dad is here somewhere, and I need to get to him.

"Hi, I'm looking for my dad. I think he is here?" I stammer out, and the older woman behind the desk glances up at me from behind her thick black-rimmed glasses. She smiles at me softly before turning her attention to her computer, "and what is your father's name?"

"Mitch Carter," she nods her head slightly as she taps away at her keyboard. "Okay, he was brought in here earlier this morning," the rest of what she says doesn't register. But I do manage to get his room number and some directions before I turn and walk towards the elevator.

I spot Bonnie coming in as I'm walking away from the receptionist's desk, and I grab her hand in mine. She doesn't say a word, and I appreciate that. We walk through the hallway, stepping around all the people and nurses along the way. We stop when we reach my dad's room. His door is closed, and I take a second to collect myself.

Somehow, in rushing through the hospital to find dad's room, I lost the hold on Bonnie's hand.

"Do you want me to come in?" Bonnie whispers from beside me; I don't answer her. I reach out and grab her hand in mine again and slowly push the door open. We step inside, and the room is dark, but I can see dad lying on a bed in the back corner.

"Dad," I whisper, hoping not to wake him in case he is sleeping. "Is he awake?" Bonnie whispers from beside me, and I shrug. We walk closer to him, both being as quiet as possible. "I'm not dead, you don't have to tiptoe around me." dad grumbles, but I sense the sarcasm in his voice.

"What the hell happened?!" I breathe out the closer we get to him. He looks okay, besides all the chords and tubes hanging out of him. But, he is smiling, so that calms my nerves a little. "Just a minor heart attack, it's not a big deal."

"A heart attack!?" Bonnie gasps, beside me and dad chuckles. "Yeah, really, it's nothing to worry about."

"How did you get to the hospital?" I ask, and he pauses for a second before answering. "Well, I think it was your mom," he nods to Bonnie. "All I know is I woke up here, and they said my neighbor found me in the driver's seat of my truck."

I stare at my dad wide-eyed, if she hadn't found him, he could be dead right now.

I look over him, searching for any visible injury, but there's nothing besides the bruise under his left eye. My first thought coming into the hospital to see him was that I had seriously hurt him. Knowing he had a heart attack and I wasn't there to help him hurts. I am his only family left, I should have been there, but I was too busy being stubborn and immature.

I am still so angry at him, but this just made me realize he is my only family left, and I need just to move on and try to work on rebuilding our trust again. I know it's going to take a lot of work from both of us, but we have to do this. We have to mend our family.

"I'm going to get a coffee, did you want anything?" Bonnie asks, looking between dad and me. We both shake our heads, and I smile at her with a silent thank you. I know she is only offering so that I can get some alone time with dad, and I love her for that. I watch her as she bounces out of the room. Dad chuckles, watching her as she goes, and I turn to face him.

It's hard to look at him now, knowing that he was almost her father. That is for sure going to take me a while to process, especially if every time I look at him, all I see is his betrayal not only to me but to mom. I know he loved her, so I can't comprehend what he did or why. Knowing he was the one who initiated it, hurts the most. I kept that information from Bonnie, but I think I might tell her someday so she can stop being so hard on her mom. It takes two to tango.

"She's good for you," dad says, breaking my daze. I take a seat next to him and lean back, crossing my arms over my chest. "Dad, I'm so sorry," I mumble under my breath. I don't want to apologize to him, but I know what I did wasn't right, even if he deserved it.

"Josh, you don't need to apologize for anything. I'm in the wrong, completely." I grimace and look up to meet his stare. I don't bother arguing with him because we both know what he said is true.

"When I found out you could've been Bonnie's dad, I- uh," I sigh and close my eyes. I don't want to finish this sentence, "I don't know what I would have done if you were." He sighs and turns slightly to face me.

"I know how much Bonnie means to you, and I'm sorry we kept you from seeing her for all those years. That wasn't fair."

We sit in silence for a few minutes before Bonnie comes back in carrying piles and piles of snacks. "Here, in case you get hungry." She places them on the table beside dad's bed, we all chuckle. "I'm only in here for a few days, Bonnie, but thank you. I appreciate that." Bonnie smiles at him cautiously. I can see she is trying not to stare at the bruising under his eye, but she isn't doing a very good job of keeping it a secret.

"It doesn't hurt," dad says lightly touching the bruise, "oh, good," is all Bonnie manages to say. 

God, she is so beautiful. How could anyone ever cheat on her? That dude is an idiot. Jokes on him though, he lost her; I got her back and I plan on keeping her with me for good this time.

"This might be rude to ask, but are you sure nothing is going on between you and my mom?" Bonnie's question causes us all to go silent. Dad sits there, contemplating how to answer that question, and that tells us everything we need to know.

"We aren't dating, but we are very good friends." Bonnie nods, seeming happy with his answer, but I'm not. I know when he is lying, and I know there's something more going on between them. If they want to keep it a secret for whatever reason, I don't even care at this point. As long as it doesn't interrupt anything with Bonnie and me, that's all that matters.

"Dad, Bonnie and I have to get going, are you going to be okay?" He nods, and I go to stand, "I'll come back later tonight with dinner if you want?" Dad smiles at me, "thanks, that would be nice."

***

"He's lying, isn't he?" Bonnie asks when we get back to her house. 

When we left the hospital, Bonnie's mom was still waiting for us right where we left her. We got in the car and rode silently back to Bonnie's house. Now, I'm back in her bedroom, and it's like we never left this morning.

"About what?"

"Him and my mom, he's lying about them not dating, isn't he?"

I smirk at her and pull her into my lap, "I don't know, BonBon, but who cares. As long as we aren't related, isn't that the main thing?" she lightly smacks my chest, and I laugh—the massive smile on her face melting the last traces of stress from this morning.

"Tomorrow night, we are going on a date," I state, and she raises an eyebrow at me with a smirk. "Oh, are we now? She teases. "If you ever want to read those letters, yeah we are." Her grin drops replaced with a pout, and I smile.

"Where are we going?" she says as she lifts herself from lap and makes her way over to her wardrobe. "It's a secret," I tease, and she turns to face me. Her hands planted on her hips and a determined frown on her pretty face.

"I need to know what to wear, though." She turns back around and starts rummaging through her clothes, separating them into a yes and no pile.

"Wear something warm," is the only clue I give her.

"I gotta go home and pack some things for Dad. But, I'll pick you up tomorrow at 7 pm, okay?" she nods, and I go to lean down and kiss her pretty mouth but decide not to. For now, at least. I divert and kiss her on the cheek.

"Bye," she waves at me with an excited grin on her face.

"I love you." The words leave my mouth without warning. Instantly, both of our smiles vanish.