She didn’t talk, she just sobbed, scrunching my t-shirt in her fist as she buried her face and wailed. My heart dropped.

Why is she not saying anything? Jesus, please say something.

I didn’t know what to do so I just stood there and let her cry on me, gently rubbing her back and kissing the top of her head.

“Honey, what’s going on?” Sophia begged in a loud whisper, trying not to wake Lucy. “Please … talk to us.”

Kacie pulled back as Fred handed her a box of tissues. “Thanks,” she muttered quietly. “Um, I don’t really know yet. They closed her head … it took 23 staples. She’s going in for a CT scan now so they can see how severe the swelling in her brain is.”

“Was she conscious?” Fred asked.

Kacie shook her head. “They gave her medicine to keep her asleep for now.”

“Oh my God,” Sophia cried as she covered her face with her free hand.

Fred rushed over and put his arm around her, tears falling from his face.

“How are you? Can I get you anything?” I asked, desperate for her to need me.

“I’m … awful, I’m overwhelmed, I’m freaking out. I just want her to be okay.” Her voice trailed off as the tears came back.

“She will be.” I pulled her against me. “She’s got a strong mama who taught her to fight like hell, she’ll be okay.” My words only made her cry harder.

“I need to sit,” she said after a few more minutes of tears. She limped exhaustedly over to the chair next to her mom, leaning over and kissing Lucy’s cheek. “How has she been?”

“She was pretty upset, not talking much, just crying.” Sophia smiled at me. “She’s actually been with Brody almost the whole time.”

Kacie looked at me and smiled, exhaustion covering her face.

“Kacie Jensen?” a nurse said from the doorway.

“Yes.” Kacie stood up and leaned against me.

“She’s out of CT, you can sit with her again if you’d like.”

“Okay, thank you.” Kacie hugged her mom, kissed Fred’s cheek and walked by me. Before she got all the way to the doors, she turned and rushed back to me, rose up on her tippy toes and kissed my lips. It wasn’t a sexual kiss by any means; she just pressed her warm lips against mine and sighed, seemingly happy that I was there.

“Thank you,” she said softly against my mouth before she disappeared through the doors. I didn’t exactly know what for, but she was so welcome.

Shae came back a few minutes later with water bottles and juice boxes for everyone and the waiting began.

After an hour or so of torture, the door swung open again, startling all of us as the nurse ushered another group in. My mouth fell open when I saw my parents.

“What are you guys doing here?” I asked incredulously, hugging them both at the same time.

“Shae called and told us what happened. We felt helpless, we didn’t know what to do.” My mom had tears in her eyes. “So we got in the car and came.”

“Thanks,” I sighed. “I don’t know what to do either.”

I felt bad that they had driven all this way, especially since I hadn’t exactly been honest with my mom and told her about what was going on, or not going on, between Kacie and me. A little hand wrapped around my fingers and I looked down at Lucy standing next to me. “Hey,” I said, squatting down to her level. “You okay?”

She nodded and held her arms up. I scooped her up in my arms and faced my mom. “Lucy, this is my mom and dad. Can you say hi?”

“Hi,” Lucy said quietly, laying her head on my shoulder.

“Hi Lucy, it’s so nice to meet you.” My mom’s voice shook, clearly overwhelmed.

Lucy peeked at her and smiled, then she cupped her hands around my ear and whispered. “Brody, I’m hungry.”

“You are? Okay, want me to go get you something?”

She nodded and squirmed to get down.

I finished introductions with my parents and Fred and Sophia, waited patiently as Sophia and my mom hugged and cried together, and then excused myself to go find something for Lucy to munch on.

“Brody? Hang on.” My mom peeked her head out of the waiting room. I stopped so she could catch up, hooking her arm through mine.

“So there aren’t any updates?”

“Not since the last time Kacie came out. Apparently Piper got a CT scan to check on her brain, but that was the last we heard.”

“What about the guy on the WaveRunner? Did they catch him?”

“Yeah, they took him away. I was so pumped right after it happened that had he even thought about running, I think I would’ve swam after that fucking WaveRunner and caught him myself.” I looked down at her, smiling apologetically. “Sorry.”

She let out a quick laugh. “It’s okay. After the day you’ve had, I would say the f-bomb is in order. So … how are you?”

I sighed. “Pretty shitty. There is absolutely nothing I can do to make this situation better. I feel so helpless.”

“Welcome to parenthood.” She smiled up at me, the crow’s feet around her eyes looking more predominant today.

“I’m not a parent, Mom. I feel bad for Kacie.”

“Seriously? Here, sit a minute.” She walked over into a private seating area off to the side and sat down, motioning for me to follow her.

“I know you and Kacie have only been seeing each other a couple months, and you aren’t the girls’ biological father, but you love them like a parent. This is it, this is being a parent.” She laid her hands on mine, her gentle eyes searching my face. “It’s precious agony, Brody.”

The culmination of the last couple weeks of strain between Kacie and me, what happened to Piper and my mom’s words all joined together and made my emotions boil at the surface. She sensed it and opened her arms, pulling me in and squeezing me tight while I lost my mind and silently sobbed into her shoulder for a few minutes. When I came up for air, she rubbed my cheek with the back of her hand. “You feel better?”

“Kinda. Thanks, Mom, but I’ll feel much better once Piper is out of the woods and home.”

She squeezed my hand. “Say a little prayer, she’ll get there.”

“Let’s go get Lucy something to eat, everyone else too. Looks like it’s gonna be a long night,” I said as we stood and walked toward the cafeteria. A gift shop off to my right caught my eye. “Hang on, I want to run in and see if they have flip flops.”

“Flip flops?” She looked at me, confused.

I laughed. “I’ll explain later.”

Piper’s body looked tiny and fragile lying so still in that big hospital bed. Her head was wrapped in white gauze to keep her wound sterile, an oxygen mask covered her nose and mouth and her little arm had an IV sticking out of it. Purple bruises were already forming on the right side of her face, sprinkled with a few scrapes. It gutted me to see her like that; I wished more than anything it had been me in that lake instead of her.

Someone knocked softly on the door.

“Can I come in?” my mom whispered as she peeked her head in the room.

“Yeah, come on in,” I said, relieved she was here. “She’s still out.”