Robin Alexander - Pitifully Ugly

my nose and nearly head-butted Hailey.

“Fuzzy, knock it off.” Hailey switched on a light on her side

of the bed.

It’d been years since I’d had to get up at such an early hour. I

lay there and tried to force my eyes open. Fuzzy got me again on

the side of the cheek. “Fuzzy, please,” I said with a groan.

Hailey ushered the little licker out of the bedroom and came

to sit on the bed beside me. “Look on the bright side,” she said

with a smile. “Your face has already been washed.”

“Is that your secret to looking so young?”

“No, I use face wash.” Hailey gave me a soft nudge. “You

have to get up now, but while you’re in the shower, I’ll fix you

breakfast and make coffee.”

I let her take me by the hand and lead me into the bathroom.

As I brushed my teeth, Hailey brought in the clothes that I’d set

out, then closed the door behind her.

After my shower, I was fully awake, and tension began to pull

at my stomach. Kalen had not called during the night, so I took

that as a positive sign and assumed that Dad had been admitted.

I felt sorry for my mom being there all alone and probably being

eaten up with worry. She was the strongest woman I’ve ever

known aside from Kalen, but I knew having us there with her

would ease her anxiety.

“I made something light because I figured you’d probably be

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Pitifully Ugly

too nervous to eat,” Hailey said as I walked into the kitchen. She’d

toasted and buttered an English muffin and peeled a banana.

“Would you prefer milk or juice?” she asked as she pulled out

my chair.

“Milk would be great, and thank you for taking care of me.”

Hailey set the milk next to my plate and kneaded my shoulders.

“I’m really sorry about your dad. If you get a chance, please text

me and let me know how things are going.”

I managed to choke down half of the muffin and the entire

banana before Hailey pressed a to-go cup of coffee in my hand.

She looked so cute with puffy eyes and sleep-tousled hair. I

wanted to kiss her again. Instead I hugged her tight and whispered

my thanks before heading out the door. She stood in the doorway

watching me as I waited for the elevator.

“I’ll miss you,” Hailey called out softly, then closed the door

before I could respond.

“Where were you last night?” Kalen asked after we’d taken

off. “I called your house a half-dozen times before I tried your

cell.”In lieu of everything going on with Dad, I didn’t want to

argue about the events of the previous evening. “I stepped out to

get something to eat.”

“Alone?”

My right leg started bouncing, which was a classic indicator

that I was being intentionally misleading. My brain started

screaming out in warning. Don’t bounce, she’ll be on to us in a

heartbeat. I crossed my feet at the ankles to still it. “Don’t you

think it’s odd that mom hasn’t called us?”

Kalen shook her head. “She knew we were gonna catch the

first flight. She probably didn’t want to wake us up.”

“How come Toad didn’t come with us?”

“I told Todd,” Kalen glared at me, “to wait and see what we

found out.” She adjusted her neck pillow. “He’s been overloaded

since we came back from vacation. I didn’t want to make it any

more difficult on him.”

It only took a few minutes before Kalen was nestled against

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my shoulder fast asleep. I figured that she’d been unable to sleep

at all the night before. I stared out the window into the darkness

and said a prayer for Dad, then my thoughts went to Hailey.

The women in past relationships grew on me over time, but

I’d never met a woman who made me want her like Hailey did. I

thought back to my brainstorming session with Fuzzy in the park.

Was it that I thought I could never have her and therein was the

charm? I began to tick off in my mind what I found so alluring

about her.

She was physically attractive, for sure. I enjoyed the way our

bodies fit together as she snuggled against me the previous night

and that morning when I hugged her. Her sense of humor was

another factor. But aside from all that, I think the thing that struck

me the most was the way I felt when we were together. Like she

was the missing part that I’d been searching for.

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Pitifully Ugly

Chapter 14

Secrets revealed.

Mom was asleep in the waiting room of the cardiac ICU when

we arrived. Kalen and I left her to rest and sought out someone

who could fill us in. “He’s doing well,” a male nurse said. “He’s

scheduled to have a stent put in around an hour from now.” He

rattled off more about a blockage, using medical jargon that no

one outside of the medical field could understand. “I can tell you

more after the procedure,” he said, looking down at a chart. “He’s

awake right now. You can visit him for five minutes.”

I found it unnerving to see Dad hooked up to so many wires

and an IV when we walked in. We’d been blessed with healthy

aging parents, and this was the first time that we’d ever seen one

of them in the hospital for anything serious.

“Look, I’m bionic,” Dad said, gesturing to the EKG leads.

“They’re gonna make me stronger, faster, and better than I was

before.”

Kalen and I took turns planting kisses on his head.

“Is your mom sleeping?” he asked seriously.

“Yeah, she’s out in the waiting room. We didn’t want to

disturb her,” Kalen said.

“Make her go home and get some real rest. A woman her age

does not need to be hanging around a place like this.”

Kalen and I laughed. “She’ll go home when she’s ready, Dad.

There’s nothing we can say to tear her away from here,” I said.

Dad wasn’t often serious. It was usually one quip after another

with him, especially when he was nervous. He smoothed back his

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thick gray hair. “Tell her there’s a sale at Macy’s, and there’ll be

nothing but a vapor trail.”

“I assume they’re going to put you on a special diet when you

get out of here,” Kalen said. “And you better follow it to the letter

because I need my dad.” Her voice quavered. “Especially now.”

Like our mother, Kalen was usually stoic. Not much rattled

her, so it surprised me when she got emotional. Dad and I

exchanged odd glances.

“I’m pregnant, Daddy.”

Dad and I expelled a shocked breath, and his heart rate sped

up a bit on the monitor.

Kalen wiped at her face. “Probably not the best time to tell

you, but if we aren’t reason enough to live, then think of the

grandbaby you have on the way.”

Dad was grinning from ear to ear. “I wonder if ol’ Todd put

the stem on the apple.”

“Well, we’re not going to know that until he or she gets

here because Todd and I agree we don’t want to know the sex

beforehand.” Kalen turned and looked at me. “Can you believe

it? After all this time and trying for years, we’d given up, and at

thirty-eight, I’m gonna be a momma.”

I was crying like a baby when I pulled Kalen into my arms.

We were standing there blubbering when Mom walked into the

room.

“Dear God, what is it?” she asked in alarm.

“Hot damn!” Dad slapped the bed. “Kalen’s got a bun in the