“That you do,” she said.
Dad shifted his weight. “I just finished a project and don’t have anything else lined up right now, so I’ll be home with him every day, every night. I’ll have Ed, the life coach, come to the house to work with him, and my trainer, too. I’ll bring in a nutritionist. Shit, I could use a mindset and body refresh myself. No comments from the peanut gallery—” He tilted his head at me.
“None at all,” I said.
“Thank you, Eric.” Clarice and Dad hugged, and she went in to see Jude again.
“Dad, are you sure about this?”
“Totally sure. I tried helping Dave, but he wouldn’t let me. He fought me, he fought the doctors, his therapist, because he knew better. Now worms are eating him in the ground, and his kid is out there on her own. I love Jude—the two of you grew up together. It’s great news that the doc thinks it’s a medical issue, but Jude still needs to deal with a lot of shit. And if I can help him, I will.”
“Dad.” I hugged him, and he thumped my back.
Clarice came out of Jude’s room. “He’s sleeping now. His color is coming back.” She smiled.
“Why don’t I take you out for a quick lunch,” Dad said. “You need a break.”
Clarice began to protest, but I jumped in. “Go ahead. I’m going to stay here. I’ll call if anything happens.”
Her hand touched my arm. “Thank you, honey.”
“Of course.”
“All right then. That would be very nice,” she said to Dad.
“Good. Let’s go. We got a lot of catching up to do.” He and Clarice took off down the hallway, and I sank onto a small sofa in the seating area opposite Jude’s room. I checked my phone—Nine fifteen. That meant it was ten fifteen in South Dakota. I licked at my lips. Maybe she was still asleep, still in bed…fuck yeah.
I sat up and texted Violet.
“Good morning, fiancée.”
I waited.
Those three dots that danced came up onscreen, and my stomach tightened.
“Is it official on social media???”
“IT IS.”
“How’s Jude doing?”
“I just saw him. He’s okay. Exhausted. The docs are doing lots of tests which is good - there might be something else going on, it’s not so much the drugs.
And when he gets out of here, he’s going to go stay with us at our house to chill and get on track.”
“WOW! Wonderful!
And how are you doing?”
“I miss you. Are you still in bed?”
“Yes.”
I pictured her naked, stretching out, her gorgeous body twisting next to me in our bed in Mykonos, like she did every morning when she woke up. Then I’d stroke her, lick her strategically, we’d fuck.
I typed:
“A bed without you SUCKS and I don’t like it.”
“Don’t use that word with me now!”
“SUCKS
SUCKSSSSSS
slurp
lick”
“YOU ARE EVIL