“Fine, Lisa,” he said. “Whatever you say. As long as he doesn’t see us, I guess it’ll be fine. Let’s take the stairs, though. We don’t want to somehow get stuck in the elevator with him.”
They were out of breath by the time they arrived outside the intensive care unit, just as Graham vanished through the doors. Unlike the unit where Josh’s mother was staying, the entrance was locked.
“Now what?” said Lisa.
“I don’t think they’ll let us in unless we’re here to visit someone,” said Josh. “We’re wasting our time, Lisa. Look, even if Graham is up to no good, he couldn’t exactly kill him without being noticed. Alarms would start going off all over the place. I’m sure the patients in there are hooked up to all sorts of monitoring equipment.”
Lisa waited until the doors opened again. She caught a glimpse of Graham, huddled in the room beyond the nurses’ station. He appeared to be in an attitude of prayer, kneeling beside the bed with hunched shoulders and clasped hands.
“What is he doing?” said Lisa.
“It looks like he’s crying,” said Josh. “Maybe he feels bad about the whole thing. You saw how miserable he was at the park.”
“Molly told me he was terribly upset,” said Lisa. Now that the initial shock of seeing Graham had worn off, she felt exhausted. “I was wrong about him. He’s not here to cause any trouble. Let’s go. Your family is probably wondering where we are.”
They found the cafeteria without too much trouble, and Josh’s father took them back to the apartment. Josh drove Lisa to her house. They sat on the porch for a long time, talking about their day and listening to the roar of the waves. Finally, Lisa couldn’t delay their farewell any longer. She leaned over and kissed him.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said
“I like the sound of that,” said Josh. “Good night.”
Lisa went into the house, wondering how she had gotten so lucky.
Chapter 16
After Josh drove away, Lisa closed the door and turned around. She found her parents waiting for her. They were sitting near the fireplace, and her father had an envelope in his hand. Lisa immediately felt guilty, even though she hadn’t done anything wrong. She couldn’t imagine why her mother had allowed her father into the house, and she tried to prepare herself for the worst.
“I didn’t know you were here,” she said.
“I needed to pick up a few things,” he said. “I parked down the street.”
Lisa suspected he was avoiding the curious eyes of Graham. She felt herself sweating and squeezed her hands into fists in a futile attempt to stop herself from trembling.
“Where have you been?” said her father.
“Josh invited me to go with him to visit his mother,” said Lisa.
“How is she?” said her father.
Lisa hesitated. Technically, it was none of his business, but she couldn’t ignore his question without antagonizing him.
“She’s fine,” she said. “Can I go upstairs?”
“Not yet,” he said, raising his voice. “It’s almost eight o’clock, and you have school tomorrow. Do you really think it’s appropriate for you to be going out when you’re doing so poorly in your classes?”
“But I’m not,” said Lisa.
“Your midterm report card came today,” said her father. “I don’t want to upset you, but your future is at stake here, and I’m not going to let you mess it up. College admissions committees don’t pay attention to mediocre students.”
Lisa hated hearing the disappointment in his voice.
“I had some trouble focusing for a few weeks, but I’m back on track now,” she said. “It’s not that bad.”
“Well, this says otherwise,” he said, waving the envelope in her face. “The numbers don’t lie, Lisa. From now on, if you’re not in school, I want you to be in your room studying.”
“But then I won’t get to see Josh,” said Lisa. She regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth, but frustration made her reckless. She couldn’t bear the thought of being separated from him. “Why is this happening to me? I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I’m not trying to punish you,” he said. “I’m trying to protect you. Believe it or not, you’re precious to me, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Josh wouldn’t hurt me,” said Lisa.
“Not on purpose, maybe, but this whole thing with the two of you needs to stop right now,” he said. “It’s not going to last. The sooner you realize that, the less upset you’ll be when it ends. Things are already complicated enough. You need to get your priorities straight and focus on your grades.”
Lisa could barely speak.
“You’re wrong,” she said. “My grades are fine. Josh makes me happy, and Mom said it was okay for me to go out with him. I don’t need your permission. You lost the privilege of bossing me around when I begged you not to leave and you shoved me away so hard that I fell on the ground.”
“I didn’t mean to do that,” he said.
“My arm was all scraped up,” said Lisa.
“What is she talking about?” said her mother.
“It was just a misunderstanding,” he said. “It wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t made a scene at the wedding, but that’s not important right now. This is about Lisa, not us. Until her grades improve, I don’t want her going on any more dates, wandering around on the beach, or wasting time talking to your delusional friend.”
“Andrew, she’s a teenage girl,” said Lisa’s mother. “Those are perfectly healthy things for her to be doing, and I’m not going to penalize her for struggling in school, especially after you abandoned her without any explanation.”
Lisa felt like she was back at the wedding. Even though her parents didn’t sound particularly upset, she wanted to scream at them to stop, but she couldn’t speak.
“Nora, you’re the one who threw me out,” said her father.
“You gave me no choice,” she said, getting to her feet. “Let’s not discuss this subject in front of Lisa. I thought it would
