Page 59 of Truth or More Truth
“Sir, I understand you’re upset, but yelling at me isn’t going to help anyone. Are you family to Ms. Jacobs?”
Which Ms. Jacobs is she talking about? “My name is BobbyJacobs.I’m Kelli’s dad and Nanette’s …,” I don’t know how I should finish that sentence. If I admit she’s no longer my wife, they might not tell me anything about her. But I also don’t want to lie.
“Husband?” the woman supplies. From the tone of her voice, I can tell she’s guiding me to say yes, whether it’s true or not.
“If that’s what you want to go with,” I hedge.
“Well, if you’re Nanette’s husband, I can tell you she’s been admitted to the hospital. But if you’re not, I’m really not supposed to say.”
I squeeze my eyes shut. “Is Kelli there with her? Can I talk to my daughter? Please?”
The woman clears her throat. “You can probably talk to your daughter if you call Room 478.”
“How about you connect me to Room 478?” It’s all I can do to keep from growling at the lady, helpful though she has been. I just want to know what’s happening!
“Will do, sir. You have a nice night.”
There’s a click in my ear, followed by a few seconds of elevator music, and then the ringtone starts. After three rings, my body finally relaxes a fraction when my daughter’s voice comes on the line. “Hello?”
“Baby, it’s me. Is your mom okay? What’s going on? Is it her headaches?”
Kelli sniffles, and my chest squeezes. “Yeah, after I talked to you earlier, they got worse, and she said she didn’t need to go to the ER, but I was scared. I couldn’t get through to you on your cellular phone, and I didn’t know what to do, so I finally called for an ambulance. Mom was mad, but I’m glad we came because she’s not okay.” She starts crying in earnest now, and I hear Nanette’s voice in the background, soothing our daughter.
Then my ex-wife’s voice comes on the line. “Hey, Bobby.”
I let out a deep breath, as her voice sounds stronger than I feared it might. “Hey. What did the doctor say?”
She tells me about the tests that were run and explains about a procedure the doctor wants to do to relieve some pressure on her brain. “They’re doing it in the morning.”
“Tomorrow? On New Year’s Day?”
“He doesn’t want to wait, and I guess I don’t either. I know you can’t be here?—”
My hand grips the phone tightly. “I’ll be there.”
“There’s no way you can get here from Little Rock in time.”
“Then I’ll be there when you wake up,” I say. “I’ll be on the next flight out of here.”
Nanette sighs. “If you insist. Kelli isn’t allowed to stay here overnight with me, even though it’s almost midnight, so Whitley’s mom is coming to pick her up. She’s going to bring her back in the morning and stay with her in the waiting room through the procedure. It shouldn’t take long.”
Whitley has been Kelli’s best friend since second grade. Her mom has helped us out on more than one occasion when we needed last-minute childcare. Kelli’s old enough to stay home alone for a few hours, but not overnight, and especially not when her mom is in the hospital and I’m out of town.
“All right. But I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“I know you will. Thanks, Bobby. Again. For everything.”
“You know I’ll always be there for you—if not in person, then in spirit.”
I call every airline that flies out of Little Rock and book the flight that will get me home to L.A. the quickest, which leaves in only a handful of hours. By the time I get that done, make a few other calls, and pack my bag, I realize I need to tell Melissa I can’t drive home with her. However, it’s 3:30 in the morning, and I don’t want to wake her up. I also don’t want her driving all the way to Chicago alone. While I don’t want to wake her, I have no qualms about waking the man who’s going to solve that problem for me.
“You realize it’s the middle of the night?” Diego rubs his eyes and ushers me into his hotel room. He crawls back into bed and closes his eyes for a moment before jerking to a sitting position and fixing his eyes on me. “Why are you here? Why are you dressed? Is Kelli OK? Nanette?” He asks all these questions in rapid-fire Spanish.
I sit on the edge of Diego’s bed and give him a rundown of the situation, answering a boatload of questions from him throughout.
“I’ll drive to Chicago with Melissa,” he declares before I can ask him to do so.
“I appreciate it. I owe youbig time for this.”
