Maid For Beckett Catching The Baseball Legend’s Heart novel Chapter 3

Chapter 3

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Caleb was a big kid. He’s already standing five foot seven at fourteen, and unlike most teenagers who’d have their noses buried in their phones, Caleb would rather read books and study. Our life is tough, but every time I see Caleb, it makes giving up a trivial idea. If I give up, who’d take care of this sweet boy? He was the fuel that kept me going, even if my life is cluster fucked.

My little brother sat solemnly on the hospital bench. His huge frame made him look five years older than his actual age. With shoulders fallen, my heart ached for him. He didn’t have to go through this again. His eyes lit up as soon as he saw me enter the hospital.

“Andi!” he jumped on his heels, hovering over me, crushing me with his brawny arms in a tight embrace. He might look big, but he was still just a kid. “It’s Mom. She was blue when I saw her on the couch.” Raw emotions made his voice tremble.

“Shhh, Caleb, calm down,” I said, betraying the rapid punch of my heart in my breastbone. But I have to be tough. I can’t show that I’m shit scared because Caleb looks like he’s one string away from falling apart. “Where is Mom now?”

“She’s still in the ER. The doctors won’t let me see her. They want you here,” he fired like an automatic rifle.

I stepped away from him and pulled out my wallet. “Here, get us something to drink from the cafeteria. I want coffee.”

“Coffee again?” His forehead creased, berating me like I would usually do to him when he was little. “Coffee is not water, Andi. You’ll get sick.”

He’s such a sweet soul. If only he knew that coffee has been the only thing that has fueled me since yesterday. I pinched his nose. He was already two inches taller than I. “Tomorrow, I’ll stop, promise.”

He pursed his lips, unconvinced, but he walked away and let me be. I removed my black server apron and tossed it on the bench as I slumped onto it.

I hate hospitals. They try to mask the scent of death and mountain high bills with alcohol and lavender cleaning agents. Every time I step into this place, it’s another bill tossed over my head, threatening to pull me under. We’re already neck- deep in drowning; this night would only submerge my entire body.

Caleb came back with my coffee, nothing for him. He sat beside me, and we both got lost in our thoughts. It was one in the morning. The hospital was eerie, and the lights were too bright for my tired eyes.

“I asked Ronnie for a gig at his shop,” Caleb murmured.

“What?!” I chimed, frowning at my brother. Ronnie was our neighbor who owned a car shop in town. Caleb has been pitching the idea of working and helping me with bills instead of going to school. “We talked about this, Caleb.”

“Andi,” he sighed. “The doctors warned us about this. This was the third time this month.” His voice was so calm and raw that it shattered me inside. He’s already worrying about how hard our life is and how he can help when he should be dreaming about his future. College, baseball, having a crush… that’s what I wanted for him. He’s the only baseball player whom I would

cheer for.

“I’ll figure it out. I’ll find another job,” I said. “Don’t worry about this and focus on school.”

Caleb was a bright kid, and I would do everything in my power to get him through school, so he wouldn’t turn up like me.

“You’re already working too much,” he said. “It’s only part–time. I can juggle work and school.”

“No-” Doctor Owen stepped out of the emergency room, cutting off my next words.

Caleb and I stood from our seats. Our backs were as stiff as poles as dread spiralled down my spine. Doctor Owen’s stoic face

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Chapter 3

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doesn’t hide the gravity of Mom’s situation. He’s only in his late twenties, but he’s probably seen a lot worse cases than my mother’s, so it doesn’t affect him anymore.

“How is she?” I asked, masking the tremble in my voice with a shaky smile as I set my coffee down on the bench. I feared the cup would slip from my hand when he whisked the dreaded news in our faces.

Doctor Owen sighed. “She’s stable for now, and you already know what I’m about to say.”

“Her last episode was a wake–up call,” he started. I traced the inside of my cheeks with my tongue. I really need that coffee right now, so I reached for it and took a sip. The bitter taste and warmth slithered down my throat.

“She can’t miss her inhaler again,” he added.

He spoke as if inhalers weren’t cheap. Before I left for work earlier, I asked Mom if she still had inhalers. She said yes. I should’ve known better.

“She’ll be needing steroids if this happens again, and I suggest oxygen therapy,” he murmured.

Oxygen? My knees nearly buckled. We will need oxygen for emergencies now? I could barely keep up with the inhalers, much less a portable oxygen tank.

“How…” I swallowed hard, moistening my parched throat. “How much will that cost?”

Pity blanketed the young doctor’s face. “Without insurance?” His question sounded more like a death sentence.

We could barely afford the four hundred dollars a month for Mom’s inhalers, much less therapy.

“This is overwhelming,” Doctor Owen sighed. “But your mother’s case is curable.”

COPD is not like cancer, sure, but for someone who could barely put food on the table, keep the roof over their heads, send Caleb to school, and without insurance, that’s way worse than cancer. Poverty had been eating us alive since I could walk.

He sighed, wishing he had better news to share. “Your mother is a fighter, and you’re a fighter too, Andi. I know you can figure something out, because she cannot miss her meds again.”

He was too kind to omit that the next attack would kill Mom.

I looked anywhere but at Doctor Owen. I don’t want him to see how this news has rattled me. But when my gaze slid onto Caleb, my facade shattered. His blue terrified eyes were my undoing.

I tipped my chin up and toughened my voice, shoving aside all the fear roiling in my head. “I will figure something out,” I echoed the doctor’s words.

Usually, my words would calm Caleb’s worry, but I think my words had lost their magic. My brother lowered his head, and he hadn’t said a word until we brought Mom home. He forced a smile as we helped Mom out of the cab.

“I can walk,” Mom berated Caleb, swatting his arms. She was skin and bones under her loose sweater and pants. Her cheeks were hollow, the bags around her eyes darkened by sleepless nights.

Our humble trailer abode looked a tad smaller when the three of us were inside. Mom took her spot on the couch, pressing a smile at us as we walked inside.

“See? We don’t need all those hospital dramas. I’m as healthy as a horse,” Mom cajoled.

“Mom,” I sighed. “You should have told me you ran out of meds-”

“I told you I’m fine,” she cut in. “I told Caleb it was nothing. You shouldn’t have brought me to the hospital. They only want

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2:15 pm

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Chapter 3

money from us, so don’t believe anything they say.”

“Mom,” Caleb sighed this time.

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“Don’t you spend another dime on me, Andrea,” she pointed at me. “I know my body, and I know I’m fine. Those pretty faces in scrubs are only making you think I’m sick. They don’t know my body like I do,” her body betrayed her. She started coughing so hard that her back caved. The echo of her illness filled the small space of our trailer home. The thin walls reverberated with my mom’s impending risk if she keeps her stubbornness up.

Caleb helped Mom drink a glass of water, pulling the sheets from the couch as she rested on her back. My little brother threw me a weary glance.

His blue eyes wanted to say a lot of things. Worries that he shouldn’t even be thinking about at his age. I nodded at him, knowing well we can’t talk about Mom’s unhealthy situation in this confined space.

“Get some rest, Mom,” I say. “We’ll figure something out.”

I don’t know how many times I will repeat those words again. But the more I say it, the more I feel that I am the one who needs convincing that I can figure something out.

Mom shook her head, as if she could hear the doubts swirling in my head. She turned to her side, dismissing my concern. One wrong move and she’d fall on the floor. She insisted on sleeping on the couch, complaining that the mattress was too soft; it hurt her back.

I sighed and took this as a cue to pause the conversation for now. We were all tired and in dire need of sleep. Caleb has school tomorrow, and I’ve got houses to clean.

Caleb and I were deep in our thoughts as we went to the only room in the trailer. Caleb immediately slipped under his blanket on the bottom bunk. Three more years and he won’t fit in in that bed.

I turned the lights off and climbed into the upper bunk, digging for my phone in my pocket to set the alarm when my fingers touched on the card Tessa gave me.

Siobhan Montgomery. I traced her name printed in silver fonts, seeing bills, debt, insurance, and medical care for Mom being solved.

Six grand, clean. I can imagine how far that money would go. It’s enough for Mom’s medication, Caleb’s books, and food in the fridge and pantry, but that work comes with alarming whispers. No one lasted two weeks. What could it be? Was the employer abusive? Sure, I can take all the physical pain. I experienced that growing up in my own father’s hands, but was 1 willing to risk my life? If anything happens to me, Caleb and Mom… I can’t even think about it.

I turned to my side, the calling card and phone clutched in my hand.

Tomorrow, I’ll make a decision.

Then Caleb moved onto the bunk beneath me. The entire frame shook, and Mom’s stomach–wrenching cough echoed from outside the room.

I turned my back and started typing a message to Siobhan Montgomery

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