Page 65 of Keeping Kyle

Meanwhile, her busy life kicked in as she gave me a list of things to do and people to call to let them know what had happened. I was glad she felt good enough to ask for such things, and I’d happily do everything she listed.

THIRTY-TWO

AUSTIN

BARELY CONTROLLED CHAOS.

That summed up the day.

Helping Kyle and Greta turned into the only good thing that occurred.

Atlas had made their demands this morning—the only way for AMDD to not be sued was to fire Tamara, Max, and me. Knowing this before the board meeting allowed us to make a plan. I had no problem sacrificing myself and we couldn’t make a case strong enough to save Max. We did plead that Tamara should stay because to terminate the leads of both the technical and business sides would doom the company.

I convinced Tamara that I was the better one to go. We had enough to talent to carry on the design and tech. Atlas agreed so the board and Tamara voted yes to the changes.

My tenure was done—effective immediately.

For better or worse on my way home, I decided to return to the hospital. When I tried to return Kyle’s call, it went to voicemail. I couldn’t be sure if he ignored me, couldn’t get a signal where he was, if something else had happened, or maybe he was getting needed sleep.

At the ICU desk, I asked if I could see Greta, and the guy there got up to see if she’d see me. After a moment, Bobby came out of Greta’s space. He exited through the security doors and offered a handshake as he reached me.

“Hi, Austin. Thanks for getting Kyle here so quickly.” He looked and sounded exhausted.

“I’m glad I could help. How’s Greta? I’d heard that she woke up.”

He nodded and directed us away from the doors but not fully into the waiting room. “Things look pretty good. She’s mostly sleeping. When she’s awake, she’s frustrated that she’s stuck in bed and brought us all here.” He chuckled and I smiled. I liked that he could laugh a little. “I managed to send Kyle home. I got here about an hour ago, and he was dead on his feet. Looks like you could use some rest too? I heard you were here for a while.”

“It’s been…” I sighed. “A day.”

“You want to grab a cup of coffee? I could use some, and Mom’s dozed off again.”

I wasn’t sure how this would go, but my curiosity was piqued. Bobby asked me to stay put while he went back to the desk to tell them how to reach him if needed.

“Luckily, the gift shop has a Starbucks in it.”

“Sadly, that was closed last night. You’d think they’d be able to make better coffee from a vending machine, but that wasn’t the case in the E.R. or up here.”

Maybe that could be my new career—good vending coffee.

“Well, we owe you at least one coffee, so I can start to make good on that.” He smiled. He didn’t seem anything other than tired.

We walked in silence, and the guy seemed pretty chill. Bobby was a therapist, so he probably didn’t come out yelling at people even if he was pissed off.

After we got the coffee, we found an open table.

“Kyle hasn’t mentioned you two since he moved. I know the relocation hasn’t been easy on him, but are you two okay?”

My mouth dropped open before I could catch it. Kyle hadn’t told Bobby what happened? I’d thought he was an open book with his family.

I couldn’t school my body language fast enough as I slumped back in the chair and let out a sigh.

He wasted no time diving in. I guessed the small talk happened back in the waiting room. “I’ve never seen him happier than when things were going right between you two. He holds very tight to the words that got dropped into his head—for better or worse—by some of our extended family. Mom and I have tried for years, but can’t quite get him to let go. You can imagine that what happened last night hits a lot of his worst fears.”

I nodded and repositioned myself to sit forward at the table. To give my hands something to do, I wrapped them around the coffee cup. “Yeah, he told me about that. It’s one of the reasons I jumped to help.” I tried to meet Bobby’s gaze and not drift somewhere that would be easier. “I know how hard it was for him when he couldn’t get here for the presentation he was supposed to do too. I shouldn’t have let him withdraw after that, but… I’m way out of my comfort zone with relationship stuff.”

“Can I offer some unsolicited advice?”

“Please.” If anyone knew how to possibly fix what I’d done to Kyle, Bobby would. The business was fucked but maybe I could find a way to keep Kyle in my life. “Make him hear you. He can be very stubborn when it comes to beating himself up, so you’ll have to be forceful to make him understand that he’s being, frankly, a dumbass.”