Page 32 of Serious Cowboy
“Who were you speaking to? That man and that woman?”
“They’re Zeke’s parents.”
Callie looked over at one, then the other. They remained mulishly separate, not even glancing toward one another’s general vicinity. She remembered what Erika had said about how they’d acted back when Zeke had been a teenager, and their subsequent divorce.
Seemed from their current attitudes that not much had changed.
She also realized a little belatedly that talking to those two would be the only method Tim had of finding out the more vital information about Zeke. HIPAA laws now restricted who could ask about and receive a patient’s most private and personal medical details.
His mom and dad would likely be his next of kin since he wasn’t married. Well, technically, he’d been widowed, even if all those traumatic events had transpired over a decade prior.
Callie considered the tragedy he’d suffered through. Part of her reasoning for not reaching out to him after he’d texted her was because it seemed as if he simply wasn’t interested in being romantic with anyone again. She’d inadvertently reminded him of how such relationships could turn out, and he’d balked.
He’d been protecting himself.
And now that she stood in his place waiting to hear news that could possibly end in the worst of ways, she had a new appreciation for why he’d made that decision. Loving someone meant risking yourself for them. It meant that they could hurt you deeply, even on accident. Even if it was through dying.
That must’ve been what he’d wanted to prevent.
Comprehending that made her stop crying. Mainly because she was furious. Callie didn’t get angry often or easily. But understanding that Zeke had chosen not to continue with her likely due to that reason left her incensed. If they hadn’t been compatible or hadn’t had a spark, that would make sense. But because he’d been afraid? Because he’d been nervous about possibly losing her?
Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.
She remained in her quiet temper for the next several hours. In a way, it was like she’d reinforced herself with steel because being angry instead of sad kept her from falling apart. It kept her in control of herself and allowed her to concentrate on whatever new information came to light.
Callie and Tim stayed there at the hospital throughout that night. Thankfully, yesterday had been Saturday which meant his office wouldn’t have been open the next day regardless. But they’d have to come up with another solution after that. He had his own patients with their previously made appointments to attend to.
All through Sunday she and her brother remained, and at one point, Zeke’s vitals bottomed out, and they had to do another surgery to stop some internal bleeding. It’d been horrifying almost losing him again. But Callie didn’t descend into more weeping. She braced herself and spent all her energy on praying and picturing Zeke wake up. It was all she could let herself think about.
Before Tim drove home Sunday evening, he introduced Callie to Debbie, Zeke’s mom and Darrell, Zeke’s dad. The two—who she gauged to be somewhere in their late fifties or early sixties—seemed pleasant enough individually, still refused to so much as glimpse in the other person’s direction. How crazy was it that they had been married and birthed a child together but couldn’t be adult enough to act in that same child’s best interests?
Not even now that their son was thirty-six years old?
Concealing her irritation with them proved almost as difficult as keeping her composure while worrying about Zeke living through all this.
Zeke remained in the Intensive Care Unit throughout that week, and Callie secured herself a hotel room so she could stay nearby. She hadn’t thought to bring a suitcase or anything else in her hurry to get there, and having Amanda show up with a collection of her things was a godsend.
“How are Tim and the kids doing?” she asked her sister-in-law.
“They’re okay. How are you holding up?”
“I’m fine,” she said, then backpedaled. “Well, I’m not actually fine. But I’m hanging in there.”
Amanda hugged her. “What else can I do while I’m here? Want me to go get you something to eat?”
She hadn’t been hungry and when she could tell that she needed to eat, she’d frequented the hospital’s café. It’d been all right. Right now, she could probably consume a Michelin-starred meal and have it taste like cardboard. It was more about her frame of mind and emotional state rather than the actual food.
“Not right now.” There was something she did need from Amanda, however. “Did you know about Zeke’s past, about him losing his wife and child?”
“Oh,” she said softly. “Yeah. Tim told me about it when I first met Zeke and noticed how demoralized he always seemed to be.”
Demoralized.
“I think that’s the reason we can no longer be together,” Callie admitted. “Because he can’t deal with that loss. I’ve been texting him and leaving him voicemails, and he finally texted me back only to finalize things between us.”
“Callie, I’m so sorry, sweetie. Zeke isn’t the best on a social level and can be a little… closed off sometimes. It can come across as harsh, even when I know he doesn’t mean it to.”
“He wasn’t harsh, it was just…” She didn’t know how to put it, so Callie handed her phone over to show her. “That’s what he wrote.”