Page 80 of Stick By Me
“Will do.” I slid my curser to the corner of the screen to end the meeting.
My phone buzzed on my desktop,Archerscrolling across it.
Okay, odd. Why would he call now? “Gotta go, Leslie.” I clicked to end the meeting, then picked up my phone and strolled out of my cubicle and through a set of glass doors into the courtyard between buildings. My coworkers didn’t need to hear my conversation with my boyfriend. Not that any of them knew I even had a boyfriend. “Hi, babe. What’s up?” God, I loved calling him that. I looked up at the gray sky. Yes! We were finally getting some rain.
“Leo?” His voice cracked.
I held the phone tighter, my heart kicking. “Archer? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“No, I’m not okay. My dad…he’s in the hospital. Shit, I think he’s in the hospital. Uncle Tad just called me and told me my dad had a heart attack.” His breath caught. “I-I need to maybe change my flights and leave today. He’s having bypass surgery in a few days.”
I dropped my mouth open, staring at the fake grass beside the concrete walkway. “Are you at home?” I had to get to him. No way was I going to let him handle this by himself.
“No, I’m still in the parking lot at school.” He held a breath.
“Go home, Archer, and I’ll meet you there. Can you drive?” Shit, hadn’t thought of that. “Where’s Jonah?” Maybe we could find a way to leave his car there for now.
“I can drive and I’m pretty sure Jonah is taking a final right now.” His voice steadied, as if he was forcing it. The rumble of an engine starting up carried through the phone.
“Okay, I’ll meet you at your house.” My chest pinched. Fuck, I did not want him driving. But it was only a few miles. He’d be okay. I pinched the bridge of my nose. “See you soon. Love you.”
“Love you, too.” He hung up the call.
I glanced at the doorway to the office. I had to get out of here. I’d tell my boss I wasn’t feeling well and needed to leave. Period. I already had tomorrow off.
After parkingmy car in the street in front of Archer’s house, I jumped out and jogged to the front door. The sky was even darker than before, but the rain had yet to start. I lifted my hand to knock.
The door opened and Archer stood there, a frown on his face and his eyes red and swollen, his shoulders hunched.
“Oh, babe.” I hooked my arms around him and held him to my chest, then kissed his hair. “I’m so sorry.”
He clung to my sweater, fisting his hands into the back of it. “Why didn’t he tell me? I hung up on him. Does he think I hate him? I don’t hate him.” He sniffled.
I squeezed, then released him and held him in front of me, my hands on his shoulders. “I don’t think he hates you. I don’t have the answers, but you’ll never know until you get up there and talk to him. He’s conscious, right?” With my brows knitting, I peered into his sullen face.
“I-I don’t know. I didn’t ask. I assume so.” He scrubbed his face. “But then, why wasn’t he the one calling me?”
“Maybe he’s on oxygen or something. We won’t know until we get up there.”We?Fuck yeah, I was going with him. I wasn’t going to let him deal with this alone. I pressed my lips into a grim line.
“Leo? You’ll go with me?” His frown relaxed and he freed a long, staggered breath.
“Yes, I’m going with you. Let’s look at flights and figure this out.” It was a few days before Christmas and it was going to cost me a small fortune, but fuck that. We’d find a way. “Let’s sit down and get things sorted. Once we work out the logistics, then we can focus on the rest.” My professional planner self was out in full force. Thinking logically and lining up tasks, then checking them off one by one was what I was good at.
I led him to the couch in the main room and we sat down as I opened my phone. “What flight are you on?”
He opened his itinerary on his phone inside his email and showed it to me.
I got to work. There were no flights out tonight, but I could still get on his flights with him, so I booked them. “Okay, one thing done.” I had until tomorrow afternoon to get next week off work and…shit. I stiffened. “I have to tell my family about us before we leave.” I threw my arm around his shoulders as my heart flipped in my chest.
“What? Why?” He wrinkled his forehead.
“How the hell else am I going to explain to them why I’m leaving at the last minute over the holidays to go to Minnesota with you?” I rubbed my forehead. If I’d had a backbone and did it a long time ago, I wouldn’t be in this mess.
He sucked in a breath. “You can tell them what happened, and we’re friends. We’re?—"
“We’re boyfriends. It doesn’t make much sense the other way.” I wrapped my hand around the side of his neck and pressed my lips to his. I’d show him with a kiss I was ready for this, ready to make him my priority.
Slanting his mouth over mine, he deepened the kiss, shifting closer to me, sliding his tongue inside my mouth, tangling them together.
