Chapter Text
“I’m telling you, Ben. Andre’s in the bag.”
“I just don’t want to count our eggs before they’ve hatched.”
“We’re not, Ben,” Anna joined. “He’ll sign. You’re just paranoid.”
“As usual,” Alex jibed.
Ben, Anna, and Alex started an art PR firm four years previous and now they were a day away from signing their biggest client yet. John Andre was a successful attorney before he had decided to take his interest in art to a more professional level. He was excited to have a PR team at his disposal and was willing to pay well for the services provided. Today they had met him for an early supper at a restaurant Andre recommended to discuss some final details. If Andre decided in their favor, he would come by their office the next morning and sign the papers. The three partners were now on their way back to Anna’s car where it was parked in a garage several blocks down from the restaurant. The day was pleasant for June in the city and Ben was light and excited. He figured this was what happiness felt like. Business from John Andre would be a big break for them and on top of that, Ben liked him. He was warm and charming. Anna and Alex were convinced that their firm was on the top of John’s list because he was interested in Ben but Ben always brushed of their insistence. Secretly, he wondered if it could be true. He found might not mind if it were.
“Where is he, Ben?” Alex urged, turning to walk backward in front of him.
“In the bag?”
“In the bag!” Anna chimed joyously, linking arms with Ben.
Ben rolled his eyes but allowed them a conceding grin.
They were almost to the garage when Ben stopped and pulled his vibrating phone from his pocket. A call was coming in. He seemed confused by the number but answered anyway.
“Hello?… Yes, this is he. Who’s calling?… Oh yes, of course.” Ben sent a bewildered look at Anna and Alex. He was silent for a couple minutes, just listening. The lighthearted confusion on his face transformed into concern and then all the color drained from his face. “Y-yes, thank you. I’ll be there. I’ll be there sometime tonight.”
Ben hung up on the call and covered his eyes with his hand. Anna went up to him and laid a hand on his arm.
“What’s the matter? Who was that?”
“Mrs. Washington,” Ben answered abstractedly, for the moment unaware that the name meant nothing to his friends. When he came around, he explained in a stammer: “My dad fell, he’s in the hospital. I—I’ve gotta go.”
“You can’t leave, Andre’s supposed to sign tomorrow morning. You’ve got to be there!”
Alex was trailing around at Ben’s heels in his apartment fifteen minutes later. Anna was on the sofa, reluctantly occupied in the task reserving a plane ticket to Burlington, Vermont while Ben packed.
“Ben, this is it. This is our big client! The one we’ve been imagining and dreaming about since we started this damn thing! Andre’s gonna put us in the top five and you’re—you’re bailing! When’s the last time you went home for Christmas anyway?”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Alex plowed over him. “You couldn’t stay until after we meet with him? Leave at noon tomorrow.”
“No, I’m going now. I can’t stay.” Ben was adamant. “You said yourself, Andre’s in the bag. He’ll sign either way.”
“He might back out last minute if you’re not there to bat your eyelashes at him.”
Ben threw three pairs of pants into the duffel on the bed and swung around to look at Alex indignantly.
“I do not bat my eyelashes at—” He then interrupted himself to cry, “I don’t even know why we’re arguing about this! My dad’s lying unconscious in a hospital in Vermont. I have no idea what happened or how bad it is. He could have had a heart attack for all I know. He could be dying.”
Alex threw up his hands and turned to give Anna an exasperated look.
“How am I supposed to respond to that?”
Anna shrugged resignedly and shook her head, getting up from the sofa to join Alex at Ben’s bedroom door.
“Plane’s booked, Ben.” Alex started up in protest again but Anna’s hand on his arm stopped him. “Let it go, Alex. It can’t be helped.”
The plane ride was less than an hour and a half but to Ben if felt like an eternity. The five minutes it took to get a cab at the Burlington airport felt even longer somehow. He felt heavy now. Odd how everything could seem to unravel in a matter of hours. He got to the hospital at half-past eight and was directed to the floor where they had taken his father.
“Benjamin?” A woman’s voice came from one side of him when he entered the waiting room.
Ben turned to find his second-grade math teacher, Martha Washington, approaching him. It had been something like eight years since he would have last seen her, but he would have recognized her anywhere. She hadn’t changed at all.
“Mrs. Washington.” Ben dropped his duffel bag at his feet and let her hug him lightly, needing the comfort her touch brought.
“I’ve talked to the doctor. He fractured the shinbone on his right leg. That’s the extent of it, except for a few scrapes and bruises… The doctor says he fainted, probably from the pain, and that’s why he wasn’t conscious when the ambulance arrived. There’s no head injury… He’ll be in surgery tonight, but you’ll be able to see him in the morning.”
Mrs. Washington’s soothing voice murmured to him through the fog of his anxiety. Ben heard all that she said but it was distant as if he were listening in on a conversation in another room.
“What happened?” He asked, rousing and forcing himself to be present.
“He fell from a neighbor’s tree,” she answered carefully. “He was cutting branches away from the power lines and he must have lost his balance.”
Anger and exasperation flared up in Ben. “Jesus Christ! He’s gonna be sixty next year, what was he thinking?” He covered his face and turned away. Then, remembering himself, he turned back and apologized.
Mrs. Washington shook her head and reached up to rub his arm soothingly. “I understand that you’re upset. It’s been quite a scare, I know.” She paused tactfully. “Can I get you anything? Some coffee from the cafeteria maybe?”
“Oh no, you don’t need to that… I can get some myself.”
“Allow me,” she insisted softly. “You can sit down here and rest. Cream and sugar?”
“Please.”
“Oh, you might want to call your brother. I decided against calling him earlier because I know he’s in Chicago and I assumed it would be better not to worry him before we had all the details.”
Ben nodded, “Yeah, that was probably best. I’ll call him now. Thank you, Mrs. Washington.”
“Martha,” she corrected him in the same gracious tone he’d heard her use when the second graders got the answer wrong to an equation. It felt strange to call her by her first name, but he complied and amended his thanks.
Martha smiled kindly and withdrew. Ben collapsed into the nearest of the waiting room chairs and reached to drag his bag over and tuck it under the chair. He got out his phone and pressed the speed dial number seven for Sam. Ben almost felt guilty breaking the news to him when Sam picked up with a cheery greeting. Ben explained things to him and they agreed that Sam would try to scrape together enough for the fare one way and Ben would cover his ticket back.
“You okay?” Sam asked when there was a pause.
“Yeah,” Ben let it out like a sigh. “I’ll be better when I can talk to him. But I’m okay.”
“Alright. Well, hopefully, I’ll see you in the next couple of days. Might take me some time to come up with the cash. Keep me updated on Dad, okay?”
“I will.”
Another pause.
“Hey, Ben, I love you.”
Ben smiled wearily, “I love you, too.”
They exchanged goodbyes and a minute or so later Martha returned, holding two steaming Styrofoam cups in her hands.
“Just as a warning, I’ve had a sip of mine and it’s not the best,” she said ruefully as she settled into the chair next to him and gingerly handed him his cup. “But it’s hot and it’s caffeinated.”
Ben smiled at her. Her presence was soothing. She was capable and calm and warm. His head began to clear and he realized just how much Martha had handled this evening. He settled his cup of coffee on his thigh and attempted to thank her more formally.
Martha just smiled and waved him off. “I was worried about your father and wanted to help. I’m sure George would have come have come along if he were in town when it happened. But he was running an errand for me in Morrisville.”
Ben asked about her husband, just wanting her to talk and distract him. He wasn’t sure, but as he continued to ask questions about her and their hometown of Little Eden and the people there he began to think she knew his reasons. Ben didn’t mind, he liked her and knew she was happy to provide whatever distraction he desired.
A couple hours passed before a doctor appeared and approached them. She explained that Nathaniel was out of surgery and that everything had gone smoothly. He would have to stay at the hospital for a week or so before he could be moved to the next step.
“He is under sixty-five, which improves his chances of a quicker and fuller recovery. Things are looking good right now, considering.”
Martha had a friend in Burlington and left the hospital to spend the night with her. Ben spent the night slumped in the armchair in his father’s room. He was surprised to find he’d slept at all when he woke to the sound of heavy rain in the early hours of the next morning. He sent texts to Anna and Alex and called Sam again to fill him in on what the doctor said.
“So why were you in a tree?” Ben demanded after his father was awake and they were finished with breakfast.
“Mrs. Boyd needed the branches cut away from the power lines before the storm last night.”
“Didn’t get to finish the job, did you?”
“I made some good progress,” Nathaniel answered pointedly.
“Dad…”
“I’m alright, Ben. And I’ll be alright.”
Nathaniel’s rough features were softened with exhaustion. Ben felt bad for being so harsh with him.
“It could have been worse, you know.”
“It wasn’t worse.”
Ben’s head rolled down in aggravation but he decided to change the subject instead of arguing.
“Sam’s gonna try to get up here soon. Not today but maybe tomorrow. He won’t be able to stay for long but he wanted to come see you.”
Nathaniel nodded.
“Martha called and said she’ll drop by to see you before heading back to Little Eden.”
Ben got a call from John while Martha was visiting. He jumped to answer it and moved over by the window to talk.
“I’m just calling to let you know I signed with your team. I’m sure you’re much preoccupied but I thought I’d let you know anyway.”
“Oh, John, that’s great news. I’m glad to hear it. We’re excited to work with you.” Ben hoped the formalities didn’t sound too hollow.
He could hear the smile in John’s voice when he spoke again:
“I think it’s fantastic. I’m very happy with the prospect. I was, however, very sorry to hear about your father. How is he?”
“He’s fine, thanks for asking. It’ll be another few days before he can leave the hospital, but the doctors are confident that he’ll recover fully.”
“Good, good. Look, Ben, I’ve just reached my appointment so I’ll have to go now, but you’ll keep me up to date about your father, won’t you?”
Ben felt a little flutter in his stomach that he attempted to quash immediately.
“I’ll do that. I really appreciate your concern.”
“Of course.”
Ben didn’t realize that Martha and Nathaniel had stopped talking until he hung up the phone. They looked away from him quickly and continued with their conversation as if there hadn’t been a pause. Ben returned to his chair silently and caught an amused glance from his dad.
The week went quickly. Ben got a room at a nearby hotel to spend his nights and spent most of his days at the hospital. Sam came up for two days and the brothers just sat by Nathaniel’s bed and talked for hours. Nathaniel wanted to go back to Little Eden instead of being admitted to a rehabilitation center. Ben and Sam tried to convince him that constant professional care would mean a quicker recovery but their father was adamant.
“I just want to go home.”
That was when Ben decided to go home with him.
“Ben, I’m sure I’ll have plenty of help. You don’t need to put your life on hold to look after me.”
“You’re more important than anything I’d be putting on hold, Dad. Besides, it wouldn’t have to be for very long, just long enough to get you settled in and make sure everything’s taken care of. A month or so—at most.”