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A huge coughing fit can be heard and my heart plummets to my stomach.
“Trina, are you okay?”
More coughing. “F-f-found some…” She retches and I swear it’s as though she’s hacking up a lung.
Gooseflesh appears all down my arms and a shiver races down my spine.
“You said the cough was nothing!” I respond angrily. “Have you been to the doctor? The hospital?”
“Sweetie, I got the virus. It’s taking its course but I’m working through.” She hacks for another solid minute.
My heart pounds and sweat prickles against my brow. I hold a shaking hand hard to my ear as I listen to the woman who has been the closest thing to a mother I’ve had, since losing mine at fourteen, sound worse every second that passes.
“Evan, listen to me. I found Mindy,” she claims through a rasp I can barely hear.
“What do you mean you found her? I got her name and phone number from Levi tonight. What did you find?”
Another coughing fit.
Fuck. I pace the room and watch as Sadie turns all the burners to low. She crosses her arms over her chest and rubs her biceps up and down. Her gaze radiates pure love and compassion as I freak the fuck out.
“Got a copy of an approved ch-cheer application t-today. Fr-from Coach Bates.” Who is the football coach, my coach, and not the head of the cheerleading division. “For M-mindy Goode. Set to st-start this sp-sp-spring. B-big pay and n-not through t-the normal ch-cha-channels.” She sputters and wheezes deeply.
“What? Why the heck would Coach send over a cheerleading app? And why would he be the one approving it unless…fuck!” I’m seething as the pieces of the puzzle start to come together.
“S-sent you a c-opy, boy,” Trina rasps and then goes silent.
“Trina?” I say but get no response. “Trina!” I scream into my cell but get nothing in return. “Trina, please, please, honey, pick up the phone!!” I yell.
After twenty seconds of listening to dead air and my heartbeat, I hear Tom’s voice as if far away. “Trin sweetheart, Trinny, wake up. Wake up! Oh my God, no! Help, I need help!” he cries, and my heart is ready to burst.
Eventually he picks up the phone. “Hello, hello?”
“Tom! What’s happening? It’s Evan.” I pace into the living room.
“She’s passed out. She’s not breathing. She’s been so sick, oh my God. I gotta call for help,” he says and then hangs up on me.
Dead air.
I stand there with Sadie at my back, both her hands pressed to my shoulder blades. “Evan…” she whispers, her tone filled to the brim with sadness.
The reality of what I just experienced spears into my heart and rips it into tiny little pieces. I drop to my knees right there in the center of the living room. Tears fill my eyes and pour over my cheeks. I slump as the pain of what I heard invades my form. Trina. My beloved adopted mom. The only woman who has cared about me since my own mother.
Visions of her swim across my mind.
Her barely able to speak. Trying to help me.
Endless coughing.
The silence over the line as I waited to hear anything.
Tom’s cry, as I imagine her lying there lifeless and not breathing.
“Please, God. No, don’t take Trina. Let her be okay. Please God, let her be okay.” I press my fists to my eye sockets and let the waves of sorrow take their course.
Sadie’s arms cover my waist as her body brackets me from behind. “Let it out. Let it all out. I’m right here. I’ll take care of you.”
I hold her arms and bring her hands up to my lips and kiss each of her fingers. “Don’t leave me, Sadie. Promise you’ll never leave me.”
Her head rests against my neck as I feel her tears sliding down my neck. My sadness is hers. And hers is mine.
“I won’t ever leave you. I promise. We’re in this together.”CHAPTER 17
QUARANTINE: DAY 17
EVANWARMTH. THAT’S ALL I FEEL when I blink open my scratchy, tired eyes and come face-to-face with a sleeping angel. Sadie’s golden hair is all over her face and neck, but I swear she’s never been more beautiful. Her arms are wrapped around me, as mine are around her. Our legs are intertwined comfortably.
Flashes of last night come back. Her letting me cry a river like a lame ass. I simply broke the fuck down. Hearing about Trina. Finding out about Mindy. Coach. It all hit me at once and I cracked. Shattered into a million shards all over the living room. But my girl was there.
Sadie held me until I couldn’t cry anymore. Wiped my tears, cleaned my face, and cuddled up with me on the couch until my stomach rumbled loudly. Without a word, she brought me three fingers of whiskey neat just as I like it and finished up dinner while I stared out at the empty night.
