Fangirl

head. “Kid.”
    He was wearing gray dress pants and a light blue shirt, untucked. His tie, orange with white starbursts, was stuffed into and hanging out of his pocket. Presentation clothes, Cath thought.
    She checked his eyes out of habit. They were tired and shining, but clear.
    Cath felt overwhelmed then, all of a sudden, and even though this wasn’t her show, she leaned forward and hugged him, pressing her face into his stale shirt until she could hear his heart beating. His arm came up, warm, around her. “Okay,” he said roughly. Cath felt Wren take her hand. “Okay,” their dad said again. “We’re okay now.”
    *   *   *
    Wren didn’t have to stay in the hospital. “You can sleep and drink water at home,” the doctor said.
    Real home. Omaha. “You’re coming back with me,” their dad said, and Wren didn’t argue.
    “I’m coming, too,” Cath said, and he nodded.
    A nurse took out Wren’s IV, and Cath helped her to the bathroom, patting her back while she dry-heaved over the sink. Then Cath helped her wash her face and change into her clothes—jeans and a tank top.
    “Where’s your coat?” their dad asked. Wren just shrugged. Cath took off her cardigan and handed it to her.
    “It smells like sweat,” Wren said.
    “It’ll be the best-smelling part of you,” Cath answered.
    Then they had to wait for Wren’s paperwork. The nurse asked if she’d like to speak to an addictions specialist. Wren said no. Their dad just frowned.
    “Have you eaten anything?” Cath asked him.
    He yawned. “We’ll drive though someplace.”
    “I’m driving,” Cath said.
    Their dad had tried to get a flight out of Tulsa the night before, but there weren’t any until this afternoon, so he’d ended up renting a car—“Kelly gave me the agency Visa”—and driving for seven hours.
    The nurse came back with discharge papers and told Wren that she’d have to leave the hospital in a wheelchair. “It’s policy.”
    Wren complained, but their dad just stood behind the wheelchair and said, “Do you want to argue or do you want to go home?”
    When the nurse buzzed them out into the waiting room, Cath felt her stomach jump and realized that she was half-expecting to see Laura still sitting out there. Fat chance, Cath thought.
    The doors opened, and Wren made a sobby little gasping noise. For a second Cath thought maybe Laura was still there. Or maybe Wren was trying to throw up again.
    There was a guy sitting in the waiting room with his head in his hands. He heard Wren’s gasp and looked up, then stood up, and Wren was out of the wheelchair, shuffling toward him. He took her in his arms and pushed his face down into her pukey hair.
    It was the big guy from Muggsy’s. The guy who threw punches. Cath couldn’t remember his name. Javier. Julio …
    “Who’s that?” her dad asked.
    “Jandro,” Cath said.
    “Ah,” he said, watching them hug. “Jandro.”
    “Yeah…” Cath hoped that it wasn’t Jandro who dropped Wren off at the emergency room, then left her alone. She hoped that he didn’t know anything about that bruise on her cheek.
    “Hey,” someone said, and Cath stepped aside, realizing she was standing in the middle of the hallway. “Hey,” he said again.
    She looked up—and into Levi’s smiling face.
    “Hey,” she said, and it almost came out with an exclamation point. “What are you doing here?”
    “I got your text—I texted you back.”
    “My phone’s dead.” Cath looked up at Levi’s crinkle-cut eyes and relieved smile, trying to take him all in.
    He was holding two cups of coffee and had a banana shoved into the pocket of his flannel shirt. “Mr. Avery?” he said, holding out a cup of coffee. “This was for Jandro, but it looks like he’s covered.”
    Her dad took the coffee. “Thanks. Levi.”
    “Levi,” Cath repeated, and she knew she was close to crying. “You didn’t have to come.”
    He made a loose fist and chucked her gently on the bottom of her chin, taking a half step toward her. “Yeah, I did.”
    Cath tried not to smile—but ended up smiling so wide, her ears almost popped.
    “They wouldn’t let me back,” he said. “Or Jandro. Only immediate family.”
    Cath nodded.
    “Is your sister okay?”
    “Yeah. Hungover. Embarrassed … We’re going back to Omaha now, all three of us.”
    “Are you okay?”
    “Yeah. Yeah. ” She reached for his hand and squeezed it. “Thank you,” she said.
    “You didn’t even know I was