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“This is my cherry poppin’ so it’s a huge deal to me,” I say.
He blinks and then shakes off what I’m guessing was the temptation to make a joke at what I just said. “Coffee, cold drink?” he asks.
“Yes, coffee please,” I nod enthusiastically and put all my convention booty on the table and reach into my bag to check my phone.
Two missed calls from my mother and a text from her.
“Call my cell ASAP. Urgent.”
34
AIDEN
I grab drinks for us and move back to the table and she’s sitting there, staring at her phone, looking like she’s seen a ghost.
“Carly?”
“My D-dad. My Dad collapsed at work. He’s in the hospital. They think it was a heart attack.”
“Oh shit.”
“It’s because my sister g-got hit by a car. My Mom is at the hospital with both of them. With both of them! They got the call about Caitlin and Dad collapsed. And now she’s there with them both.”
I put the drinks down and put my hand on her shoulder. “Hey.” She looks up at me. She’s got tears in her eyes.
“What can I do?” I ask.
“Can you get me to the airport? I have to… I have to go home.”
“Let’s go.” I’m helping her up. She’s shaky. I grab her tote bag and loop it over my shoulder, grab our drinks tray in one hand and put my free arm around her and lead her to the closest exit. When we get out there, I pass her a drink, take mine and dump the tray into a recycling bin. I call Joshua to get here and get us to the airport. He tells me he’ll be here in ten minutes. We stand outside while I call Alice and ask her to get us flights as fast as possible to Buffalo.
Carly’s staring off into space, holding herself, leaning against the wall.
“Hey. We’re gonna get you home as quick as we can, okay?”
She nods, and her chin starts trembling.
“Hey?” I open my arms. “Need a hug?”
She falls into me and starts crying into my shirt.
Hm. Shoulda tried this move days ago.
I’m careful not to spill coffee on her. She’s holding hers behind my back.
I swallow past a weird lump and hold her, feeling bad that she’s going through this and thinking that no other woman has ever felt so right in my arms.
Her head tucks under my chin; she molds to me. And though she’s drenching my shirt with tears, holding my leather jacket in her fists, she’s warm and soft against me.
And fuck me, but I don’t want her to let go.
***
She protested against me going with her. But for some reason, I insisted and now I’m here, in Buffalo. We took a cab from the airport to the hospital.
For some reason, I had to get her here myself. I also held her hand for the last hour of the plane ride. She was quiet, but she didn’t pull away. I’ve never been a hand-holder.
Now, we’re at the hospital and Carly’s father is gonna be okay. It was a mild heart attack. Her sister, however, is in bad shape. Broken leg, broken nose. Broken ribs. But, Carly’s sister’s problems don’t truly stem from getting hit by a car. When it happened, she was in the middle of a drug-induced flip out, running through the streets screaming, according to witnesses.
