AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I nod. “As good as I can be,” I say. “This day has been a fucking trip.”
He scoffs. “You could say that again.”
“I can’t believe I forgot about Josie.” I rub my hand up my face, pushing my hair back. “I’m the worst person ever.”
Thomas shakes his head. “No you aren’t. You’re human. You forgot your phone, and the unthinkable happened. It was a perfect storm. The rest of us forgot too. Beau’s the one who realized, and called Marley. Luckily, they were already on their way. I guess Josie called Mar in a panic.”
Guilt eats me alive. “Fuck.”
“We really need to get her number,” Thomas says with a chuckle. “Not to make light of the situation, but if she had our numbers, she might not have waited as long as she did to get ahold of someone.”
Josie reenters the room, her face red and splotchy from the tears shed over the last few hours. God, it feels like weeks ago that she texted me letting me know that she fired Brooklyn, or she quit, whatever happened. Josie walks over, sitting down on the armrest of the couch. She pushes some of my hair back. “You ready?”
I nod, turning to my brothers. “Are you coming?”
They both shake their heads. “We already saw him. We have to go in turns, since it’s the ICU. When you get back, we’ll send Beau, then I think we should get home. It’s getting late.”
A look at the clock says that it’s past one in the morning. Shit.
“Fuck, the dogs,” I curse. “Travis is prob-”
“Already taken care of,” Thomas interrupts. “Gabriel stopped by the house after work and picked them up.”
“Thank god,” I breathe.
“Ready?” Josie asks, squeezing my shoulder.
I nod, standing up. I take her hand in mine, and head out the door, catching Marley’s eye as we head out. I give her a grateful nod, hoping she can sense my appreciation for her in the small gesture.
She nods back, and I take that as my confirmation that she does. Josie leads us down the dimly lit hall, past the nurses station. She waves at one of the nurses sitting there, who gives us a sweet smile.
Outside of the room, my blood runs cold. Josie squeezes my hand three times, and I do the same. “I have to stay out here, but I’ll be right here when you’re ready,” Josie says, and a pang of anxiety hits my chest.
“Right,” I say. I drop her hand, but not before kissing her quickly. I cup her cheek, resting my forehead on hers. “I’m scared.”
She nods. “I know. You can do this. He’s still Gramps, just with a few tubes and cords.”
Josie kisses me one more time, patting my chest over my heart, and sending me on my way. I open the door and step through. The air is stuffy, the only sound is the hushed whispers of my parents talking to each other, and the steady sound of a ventilator and heart monitor.
I feel small as I walk toward them. Like a child, walking down this seemingly endless hall to darkness. The curtain is pulled, so I don’t see him at first. When I reach it, I push the curtain aside, and my heart clenches at the sight of my grandfather, my Gramps, in the bed.
His skin is gaunt and pale. He looks weaker than I’ve ever seen him. His head is wrapped in gauze, and there’s a tube coming out of his throat. A choked noise escapes me, and I clasp the foot of the bed to stabilize me.
My dad stands from his chair in the corner, coming to wrap his arms around me. I fall into the hug, needing this. I begin to cry again for what feels like the hundredth time today. Dad whispers words of reassurance into my ear, reminding me that they’re keeping him sedated as a precaution and that his outlook is good, but I don’t focus on that. I focus on a new emotion I’m feeling.
Anger. Anger at my grandfather, because he was injured, somehow, someway, whether it be a fall, or something else, and he was too damn stubborn to tell us. So stubborn, that it nearly killed him. I break away from the hug, and step to the side of the bed, sitting in the chair there. I clasp Gramps' hand, avoiding the wires and tubing. Anger at the world for being so cruel, for making us feel this type of pain.
I squeeze his hand, and begin to speak, knowing full well that he more than likely cannot hear me. “You’re a stubborn man, Gramps.” I chuckle halfheartedly. Maybe delusion is taking over, who knows. “Fuck, you scared us today. You know that?”
Mom laughs softly from the corner.
“You’re lucky you’re gonna live, or I woulda been even more mad at you then I already am for not telling us you fell.” I suck in a deep breath. “Don’t do that shit. We need you here. At least for a while. You’ve got lots left to see. I’m gonna marry Josie someday, and I want you to be there, sitting in the front row. You’ve got future great-grandkids to see, and all sorts of other stuff to tell Grandma about when you get there, but that’s not now. Not yet.”
I squeeze his hand again, setting it down on the bed. When I turn to face my parents, they’re both tearing up.
“Sorry,” I mutter through my clenched teeth, trying not to cry again. “Just had to get it off my chest.”
Dad pulls me into another hug. “We’re proud of you, son. We’re so happy you’ve found the woman you want to marry.”
