Completing the Pass Read Online Free Page B

don’t . . . I don’t . . . Maeve.”
    â€œI’m right here, sweetheart.” Maeve cupped his face, not breaking eye contact.
    Josh looked to his mother, hovering in the doorway. Quiet tears tracked down Gail’s face, one hand over her heart as if to keep it from breaking.
    And he suddenly understood.
    Herb wasn’t just here because of a bad sunburn.

Chapter Three
    Carri felt a hand take hers and pull gently. She followed without thinking, giving her mother and the nurse some space to decompress and help her father.
    It wasn’t until she sank into one of the plastic chairs in the hallway outside her father’s room that she realized it was Josh who had smoothly led her away and sat quietly beside her. A kind gesture for a mortal childhood enemy.
    â€œMom,” Josh said softly, then something else followed, but Carri couldn’t hear anything more. She was too busy covering her ears to drown out the sounds of her father’s sobbing and her mother’s pleas to calm down.
    Josh’s large hand rubbed at her back. A decade ago—hell, forty-eight hours ago—she would have shrugged it off. Memories of a time when his touch would have made her skin crawl were impossible to forget. Now she was too tired to care whose hand it was. Too in need of the comfort, even if it came from someone she didn’t particularly care for.
    After a few minutes, fingers carefully pried her hand from one ear. “Carri. He isn’t just sunburnt, is he?”
    She shook her head, letting the other hand fall to her lap.
    â€œHow long?”
    â€œMom says months.” She shrugged. “But signs could have been there before now, and she just didn’t realize. He’s been home alone often since he retired.”
    â€œWhen was the last time you saw him?” When she whirled around to glare at him, she was surprised to find no judgment waiting for her in his eyes. “Just asking.”
    â€œChristmas last. I don’t remember him seeming off . . .” But then she did. How he’d handed her several of the gifts meant for Maeve, clearly marked on the packages. How more than once, he’d called her by her mother’s name. She’d chalked it up to too much eggnog at the time, but what if . . . “Oh, God. How did I miss it?”
    Josh’s hand simply kept rubbing in circles.
    Another minute later, Maeve walked out, her face red, eyes down. Gail immediately wrapped her in a hug. Carri’s heart clenched to see the two best friends cling to each other. It had been like that when Josh’s father had abandoned his family. The mothers had clung to each other, easing the pain and becoming a port in the storm. Maeve had become Gail’s safe place, her rock.
    Was she witnessing the same thing, from the other side this time? From Josh’s seat?
    â€œJosh,” Gail said softly, “I’m taking Maeve home. Can you make sure Carri gets back okay?”
    â€œSure,” he said before she could shake her head no.
    â€œI don’t need—” Carri began.
    â€œI’ve got her,” he cut in.
    â€œYour father is resting,” Maeve mouthed over Gail’s shoulder as she let her friend lead her away.
    â€œOh, God.” Carri let her face sink into her hands. After another minute, she realized he was still beside her. “Josh, you don’t have to stay.”
    â€œYeah, I do.”
    The support came from the most unlikely place, and she wanted desperately to cling to it without being obvious. “I know you love him, too.”
    â€œYeah.”
    She waited for a barb, a childish retort of
and he loves me better than you.
Something a nine-year-old Josh would have said. But nothing came.
    The nurse stepped out of her father’s room, and she stood. Josh stood beside her. “Is he . . . When will he wake up?”
    The nurse checked his wrist, looking a little hurried.