Forever (This #5) (27 page)

The rest of the car ride was spent in silence. Unlike my sister, silence doesn’t bother me. But it did today. Joe’s never been so hateful to me, and I hope it’s just because he’s worried about his brother, but my gut instincts about people are usually spot-on. I can’t get the overwhelming feeling he’s pulling away from me out of my head. He parks, cuts the ignition, and I open the door to let myself out. We walk in the lobby. I’ve let my hand dangle as closely to his as possible, occasionally even brushing his, in hopes he’ll reach out and grab mine—a sign that we’re okay—but he doesn’t. We board the elevator and exit before heading to the waiting room of the ICU.

When we enter, Rebecca is pacing the floor, her fingers squeezing her lips. Her face is splotchy. Mascara has stained her cheeks, and her lips are red, but not from lipstick. She’s no Barbie now. I can’t help but feel bad for the way I treated her. She sees Joe and rushes into his arms. I take back feeling bad for her. Okay. She’s hurting. But so am I. I want to be in his arm.

“Oh, Joe,” she sobs.

“Hey, hey, hey.” He wraps his arms around her. “What happened? They didn’t tell me when they called.”

She eyes me. “Hey, Sam.” She buries her head in Joe’s shirt, which muffles her sobs. “It was horrible. We hit a deer at dusk. He stopped to move it out of the way, check on the damage to the Land Cruiser.”

“Uh huh,” Joe says, rubbing her back. Are you freakin’ kidding me?

“He must not have put the gear all the way in park because after he got out, the SUV started to roll. He was close to the passenger side when it happened, leaning over. Her sobs intensify. “The Land Cruiser rolled over his legs and the lower part of his back. I couldn’t think fast enough to pull the emergency break. When I did, luckily the wheel had already gone over him, or he would have been pinned under the vehicle until help arrived.”

I cover my mouth, hoping to hold back the bile that’s creeping up the back of my throat. Tears spill down my cheeks. I can’t see Joe or his reaction, but surely he’s thinking the same thing I am. Ryan will be lucky to ever walk again. This isn’t my hospital, though, and I have no credentials here to be able to view his chart. And up until today, I could have pulled the girlfriend card, but that feels really wrong right now. “Have they said the extent of his injuries?”

“He’s got a few broken ribs. One punctured his lung. His liver is lacerated, which caused internal bleeding. He apparently has a rare blood type, so they are asking for donors. Both his legs are broken.”

“What about his spine?” I ask.

Joe’s eyes squeeze shut.

Rebecca nods. “They said his spine is fine. They described that as a miracle.”

“Thank God.” I cover my chest with my hand and exhale for what feels like the first time since being in this room. “That’s very good news. This liver laceration, did they say how bad it was?”

“Just that there was internal bleeding. They gave him some blood, but they think he may need more. They asked that family and friends donate.”

I look at Joe. “You should let them know you’re here.”

He nods. “I’m on it.” He releases Rebecca, and I open my arms to embrace her.

My eyes close as she towers over me in a hug, trying to envision what it must have been like to be her. She must have been terrified. “I’m so sorry you had to experience that.”

“I just hope he’s okay.”

“Yeah.” They say to never leave angry, and we did. He was so angry with both of us, me and Joe. I hope for both of our sakes we don’t have to live with that for the rest of our lives. “Rebecca?”

She releases me. “Uh huh?” She sniffs, then reaches for a tissue from one of the tables.

I squint. “How angry was he?”

“He was angry, but the deer was unavoidable. It came out of nowhere, and there was a car coming in the other direction and an embankment on the other side. If he’d done anything other than what he did, this situation would have been much worse.”

“Sounds like it.” Ryan’s a doctor. He chose to put others’ lives before his own. I’m not surprised by his instinct to protect the other vehicle before his own. “I’m glad you weren’t hurt.”

“I suppose we owe the Land Cruiser for that.”

“True.”

Gabby and Bradley walk in. “Sam,” Gabby says. Bradley nods. “Any news? Is Joe with him?”

“They need blood. His type is rare, but I don’t know which one it is. Rebecca, do you?”

“Everything’s a giant blur.” She massages her head with her hand. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember. You don’t happen to have anything for a headache, do you?”

I shake my head, then look at Gabby. “Do you?”

“Yeah. Here’s some ibuprofen.” She hands her a bottle.

“Thanks.”

“You didn’t hit your head, did you?” I ask Rebecca.

“No. It’s just a tension headache.”

“Okay.”

Bradley inspects the room. “I hate this place.”

It wasn’t even a year ago they were in this exact place. Gabby had the discussion with Gabe about him beating her. After she left, he got mugged and ended up here. Karma’s a bitch. After that, she forgave him for everything. Again, easy for her. She doesn’t remember any of it. She begged me to come here to visit, but I couldn’t. I was struggling too much with the fact my body reacted to hearing he had been injured and was fighting for his life after I’d said multiple times he was already dead to me.

Gabby shrugs.

“If they need blood, I’ll donate. Where do we go?” Bradley says.

“I didn’t want to leave Rebecca by herself, so I sent Joe alone.” Which was pretty stupid. Ryan’s needs should have come before hers. “Gabby, do you wanna donate too?”

She nods. “Why don’t you two go, and I’ll go when Joe comes back. That way someone’s with Rebecca.”

Bradley nods, puts his arm on the small of Gabby’s back, and leads them out of the waiting area to the nurses’ station.

Rebecca gazes at me. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

“Guilt and shame are a powerful combination.” I look down and play with my fingers. “Throw in a little pity for what you had to endure, and you’ve got quite the concoction.”

“Everything happens for a reason, Sam.”

I swallow. “That’s what they say.”

“It’s true.”

“Joe’s been really weird with me since we got the call about Ryan.”

“Guys don’t deal with stress like we do. It’ll be fine.”

“I hope you’re right.” Tears prick the backs of my eyes, and my lip quivers. “I love them too much to lose them both.”

“How long have you been in love with Joe?”

“I didn’t think I was in love with him up until this trip this weekend. He gave me this stupid ultimatum back the night of the ghost tour. I chose Ryan.”

“Oh. And seeing him with me…”

“Made me insanely jealous. But more than that, before I ever met you, I started questioning this thing with me and Ryan.”

“Like what?”

“Did you know he doesn’t want kids?”

She nods.

“Oh.” He told her, but he couldn’t tell me? “That just reaffirms my decision. That’s a deal-breaker for me. So, when we were in the limo and you were talking about that guy in college…”

“Ryan.”

See. My gut is rarely wrong. “Are you really a dominatrix?”

She bursts out laughing. “God, no.”

I breathe a sigh of relief. “Maybe we can be friends after all, Barbie?” Oh shit. “I mean Rebecca.”

She bursts out laughing. “Do I even wanna know why you just called me Barbie?”

I smile. “Probably not.” I nudge her with my shoulder. “It’s good to hear your laughter, though.”

“It’s good
to
laugh.”

I’m unsure of how much time has passed. Joe walks back into the waiting room. “What’s so funny in here?” Rebecca and I both look at each other, our eyes wide. We shake our heads from side to side. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”

He smirks. “I don’t think I even wanna know.”

“No. You don’t,” Rebecca says. “Girl talk.”

“The nurse said you donated some blood, Rebecca. Thank you.” His attention turns to me. “Were you gonna?”

“Yeah. I was waiting on you to get back so Rebecca didn’t have to be alone.” He nods. “Did you see Gabby and Bradley? They went to donate a few minutes ago.”

“Yeah. I saw them. I’m glad you called them. The more the merrier.”

That’s the nicest thing he’s said to me since we got the news of the accident. I point to the door. “I’m gonna go now.”

“Thanks.” He takes a seat across from Rebecca. I don’t even want to think about them being alone together, but after talking to her, I do like her better than I did. Of course, that didn’t take much.

When I’ve finished giving blood, I head back into the waiting room. Bradley stands when he sees me and helps Gabby up. She passed out after she gave blood, and I can see the concern in his eyes for her. “Y’all leaving as soon as I walk back in the room may be enough to give a girl a complex,” I say.

“We’re not leaving for the night.” Bradley smiles. “We thought we’d go get dinner for everyone. We were waiting on you to come back to get your order. What would you like?”

My stomach rumbles despite the cookies and juice they gave me after giving blood. I place my hand over my tummy. “I didn’t realize I was starving.”

“We all just gave blood. We’re entitled to some steak. Does that sound good?”

I grin at Gabby. “That. Sounds. Delish.”