Infinite (Strange and Beautiful, Book 1) (79 page)

“That’s
my boy,” Dad murmured with a sleepy smile. The stern look on Luke’s face faded
into a soft, bashful smile, but he looked pleased nonetheless. I realized then
that, despite whatever Luke said or how he acted, Dad’s opinion really did
matter to him.

On
our way down to our cars, we decided on food from Taco Bell for dinner. I rode
with Skylar again because I figured she’d need some help handling the food at
the drive thru, and when we arrived home, Mom’s car was in the drive and Luke
had the table set with drinks.

“Mom’s
upstairs,” he informed us as we took our usual seats at the table. “She went to
rinse the stink off and crash for a few hours. We’re supposed to save her some
food.”

It
was somewhat odd to sit together at the table without our parents there,
forcing us to do so. Normally, if we were on our own for dinner, we’d just
scattered to the four—well, three—winds. Instead of dispersing, we’d chosen to
sit together and eat like a family.

We
ate mostly in silence, occasionally asking the other to pass another taco or some
hot sauce. I took solace in the quiet. The last few days with Grandma and
Grandpa Granger hanging around the house had been somewhat overwhelming. They
weren’t necessarily loud people, but their presence sometimes felt overbearing
because they were somewhat nosy.

It—for
me, at least—felt nice to have home to ourselves again. Luke and Skylar had
been pretty quiet all weekend, and I thought we were all probably still stuck
in a state of quiet contemplation. After all, Dad’s heart attack and subsequent
surgery had been a very sobering event.

I’d
always been so much in my head, thinking about things too much, but I’d decided
there wasn’t necessarily anything wrong with taking a deeper look into things.
Sometimes it could be good to reevaluate different aspects of one’s life. I
could think about my various relationships with people and reflect on the past
and look toward the future, but I realized it was just as important to actually
go out and live my life as it was to stop and appreciate things.

I
wondered if Luke and Skylar had found themselves doing the same sort of
evaluation of their lives. Luke hadn’t so much as mentioned Oxide over the past
few days. As much as I enjoyed the reprieved from band talk, it was also
somewhat worrisome because his life had been so much about the band as of late.

For
her part, Skylar seemed different somehow. It was nothing in what she’d said,
but more in how she’d behaved over the last few days. She’d been the voice of
reason with Mom several times, and she’d been quick to ask questions about
Dad’s condition and answer the phones at home, informing people of the latest
status report on Dad when they asked. There was also something calm and
comforting in her presence these last few days as well. I felt like I was
finally seeing the big sister I’d idealize her as when I was a child.

When
Skylar finally broke the silence, Luke and I both looked up, seemingly snapping
back into reality. “I think we should try to straighten up the house tonight,”
she commented. “Especially the living room because I can’t imagine Dad climbing
those stairs anytime soon.”

Luke
and I both nodded our agreement.

“I
can clean the bathroom down here,” I offered. I knew Luke wouldn’t even know
where to start if it were left to him. I’d watched Mom clean plenty enough
times—usually while I was chatting her up—to know how she liked things done.

“I
can clean the living room if you’ll straight up the kitchen,” Skylar said to
Luke.

“Sure,”
he shrugged before biting into his third burrito.

I
wondered if I should offer to load and start the dishwasher for him, but I
realized, suddenly, that I’d seen Luke do it himself several times in the past
several months, and there had been no further flooding issues. I smiled faintly
in approval.

Skylar
nodded absently, biting her lip. She looked as if she had more to say. I
watched for a moment, wondering why she was so hesitant when she normally spoke
first and thought later. I realized, for the first time, that it was one aspect
where we were actually very similar. It was strange I’d never noticed that
before.

Finally,
she sighed, “There’s something else I’ve been thinking about.”

“What’s
that?” Luke wondered. The seriousness amongst us was really starting to show.
Normally, Luke would have answered with something along the lines of, “Why,
Skylar, I’m shocked. I didn’t know you actually possessed the ability to
think.”

She
pursed her lips, as if gathering her thoughts into words. “Well, Dad probably
won’t be able to go back to work for a while,” she began. “And the baby’s
coming in September. Maybe I should look into going to college someplace
closer.”

My
jaw dropped at the suggestion. I knew how badly she wanted to go to the Art
Institute of Chicago. I’d seen the joy written all over her face when she’d
finally received her acceptance letter. I couldn’t believe she was actually
considering not going.

Skylar
seemed to read my shock and added, “It would just be for a year. Then I could
transfer to Chicago the following fall.”

As
much as I wanted to believe her, I couldn’t help but worry that if she were to
be held up in going, she might not ever end up at the Art Institute. I’d heard
so many times about that sort of thing happening. I didn’t want that for
Skylar.

Before
I could articulate any of those thoughts, though, Luke was speaking. “Listen
Sky,” he said, without a hint of humor in his tone. “I’m sure things are going
to be pretty rough around here for a while, and it’s great that you want to be
here to help, but I really can’t see any point in you delaying your plans.”

I
nodded my agreement as I chimed in. “Knowing Dad, he’ll be back at work in no
time. You know how much he loves the office. Besides, Luke and I will be here
to help with the baby.”

Skylar
didn’t look convinced. “I know what you’re saying is right, but I can’t help
but feel that maybe I should be closer to home just in case.”

“Sky,
we’re all worried about Dad,” Luke replied. “But like Silly said, he’ll
probably be up and moving in no time. Anyway, isn’t it too soon to make this
kind of decision? I mean, you’ve still got like four months until you’re off to
Chicago anyway.”

“Three
months,” Skylar corrected, but she nodded. “But I guess you have a good point.”
It probably galled to her admit as much. “I just don’t want to leave when
things are so crazy.”

“Making
a rash decision isn’t going to help,” I pointed out. “Besides, Dad was really
proud of you for getting into the colleges of your choice, whether they’re what
he’d pick or not. And hasn’t he already signed the loan and grant applications?”
I arched an eyebrow. “You know Dad doesn’t like doing stuff for no reason.”

Skylar
smiled just a little. “That’s very true. I guess you’re both right.” She nodded
to herself and then took a deep breath. “I guess we should get cleaning then.”

It
took about an hour to get the downstairs whipped into shape. None of us were
particularly enthused about cleaning, but if Luke and I were going to fill the
void left by Skylar, we needed to start helping out now instead of just after
she was away at college.

Tegan
and Trista stopped by on their way home from the stables to see if we needed
anything. I was happy to inform them that we had pretty much everything
handled.

I
asked Tegan if she could stay to help me with my History homework. We didn’t
share the class at the same time, but we had the same teacher and assignments.
Our homework wasn’t too horrible, but I hadn’t been concentrating at all in
class. Tegan was far more studious than I was anyway, always taking notes and
paying attention during lectures, so her assistance was much needed.

Mom
woke just after Tegan left for home—Tierney picked her up on her way home from
Jesse’s, to find Skylar—Luke and I lying around in the living room, disagreeing
on the merits of reality television.

I
was sure her plan was to straighten up the house before she went back to the
hospital, so she seemed very pleased to find the house—downstairs, at
least—neat and tidy.

“Thank
you, kids,” she smiled tiredly. “You’ve been really great through all of this.”

“We
just wanted to help,” I shrugged.

Mom
smiled appreciatively as Skylar asked, “What did the nurses say? Dad still set
to come home tomorrow?”

“Yes.”
She smiled brilliantly. “He’ll have to take more physical and occupational
therapy before he can go back to work, but I think being in familiar
surroundings and out of that depressing, sterile room will help quite a bit.”

“I
hear that,” Luke muttered. He was sprawled on the couch with his eyes still on
the television. For someone who’d lost out on watching
How I Met Your Mother
,
he was awfully interested in
Wife Swap
, or, at least, the derriere of
one of the wives at any rate.

Skylar
made a face, noticing Luke’s preoccupation. “What time will Dad get out of the
hospital?”

“I’m
not sure,” Mom sighed. “I can’t imagine it being too terribly early. I’m going
to go there in the morning, nonetheless; I’m sure we’ll have plenty of
paperwork to go over before they release him.”

“Do
you think he’ll be home by the time we get here?” I asked curiously.

“God
willing,” Mom smiled. “Well, since I don’t have to clean after all, I think
I’ll take care of a few things upstairs and then head back to the hospital.”
She eyed us sternly. “Don’t stay up too late, okay?”

“We
won’t,” Luke yawned.

True
to Luke’s word, he, Skylar and I headed upstairs one at a time shortly after
Mom left to be with Dad. I didn’t go to bed right away. I decided to do some
reading to help clear my mind. Things had just been so crazy, and reading
seemed like the one norm in my life. I’d picked up
City of Bones
by Cassandra
Clare from the public library the week before, but I’d yet to start reading it
in the midst of all the chaos. I sprawled out in bed, intending only to read a
couple of chapters; instead, I fell asleep reading.

In
the morning, I woke to the awful sound of my alarm clock and discovered my face
was stuck to the pages of the book. Embarrassingly, there was also a wet spot
on the page. Apparently, I still drooled in my sleep like I did as a child. I
grimaced at the book, hoping it would dry without leaving a spot.

Cringing
at the annoying beeping emanating from the clock, I crawled, sluggishly, across
my bed. I slapped the snooze bar so the noise would desist while I fumbled
around for the button to turn it off completely.

Yawning,
I moved off the bed, grabbed some clean clothes and shuffled my way to the
bathroom. After a quick, lukewarm shower, I headed downstairs to find Luke and
Skylar eating their breakfast. It was Pop Tarts and cereal all around.

“Mom
was here to pick up some things for Dad, but she left a while ago,” Skylar
answered when I asked if anyone had heard from her.

I
nodded that I’d heard as I poured myself a bowl of Froot Loops and sat down at
the table. I hadn’t noticed before—because we usually didn’t do family
breakfast during the weekend and the grandparents Granger had been here the
previous morning, which was off putting enough—but it was so weird not to see
Dad sitting there, reading the morning paper and sipping on his coffee. I was
so glad Dad would be home by the end of the day. I didn’t think Dad was the
only one needing his sense of normality restored.

School
was mostly like the day before. I managed to pay a little more attention than I
had the previous day. It seemed Luke was feeling better because he launched
into discussing Oxide during lunch. Since it was obvious Dad would need his
rest and that would be hard to do with the band banging around in the garage,
the group was trying to make other arrangements for practice.

In
the end Toby said, “I’ll talk to my parents tonight. They might let us use
their basement for a while.”

It
was actually kind of nice to hear band talk again. It felt normal and inane,
which was strangely comforting. I was kind of sad about practice being moved
elsewhere. I’d enjoyed listening to the band, but it would also be nice to be
able to think without a constant beat keeping time for my thoughts. I wondered
if Luke would let me tag along with him; if not, maybe Mark would be
willing—especially if Tegan went—to take me.

“It’s
nice to see you smile again,” Jackson commented during lunch.

I
turned to him, smiling again, and confessed, “It’s kind of nice to hear the
normal lunch chit chat.”

“I
know what you mean,” he agreed. “So, your dad’s coming home today?”

“That’s
the plan,” I nodded with a contented sigh.

“I’m
really glad he’s okay.”

“Thank
you. So am I.”

Jackson
and I hadn’t really had the chance to talk much over the last few days. Between
being in and out of the hospital all weekend and being totally zoned out the
day before, I hadn’t been the best conversationalist. The only parts of
conversation I could accurately recall were Jackson’s words of reassurance that
Dad would be okay and asking me the previous day how Dad was doing. Thankfully,
he understood and didn’t seem to mind.

“I
don’t think I ever said it, but thank you for coming to the hospital Friday—or,
I guess, I should say—Saturday morning.”

He
smiled softly. “You know there’s no need to thank me.” I wanted to argue, but
Jackson changed the subject. “I take it you and Tegan worked out your
differences?”

I
nodded, glancing over at Tegan. She was seated across the table next to Mark,
apparently, caught in the middle of the ongoing Oxide discussion.