“What?” Jack leans back to look at me, eyes roaming all over my face. “What was me?”
“You saved me,” I rasp.
“From the fire? Yeah, the station got a call, and I—” he stops when he sees me shaking my head.
“From the accident.” I watch as confusion turns to understanding. “I remember. You told the paramedics I needed to be okay.”
Jack swallows, squeezing my hand as he continues to hold it in his. “I was on my way back to Milwaukee when I came across your car. It was the first time I used any of my training in months.” He shakes his head. “I saw you, in your nightgown,pregnant and alone, and I made sure you hung on until the ambulance came.”
His voice is thick with emotion, and I feel my eyes water.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “I honestly don’t know.” He lets out a humorless laugh.
My mind drifts back to the night I took care of him when he was sick, when he talked about my eyes. “Is that what you were talking about when you said you found me?”
Confusion spreads across his face. “When?”
“When you were high on a 102 fever,” I tease, and his lips twitch. I know he’s resisting the urge to tell me he wasn’tthatsick, but only one of us remembers him pouring his heart out that night. “You told me that when you found me, you knew you were going to be okay. That you saw it in my eyes.”
“I told you all of that?” he asks, and I don’t have to glance at his neck to know that he’s embarrassed.
“It was cute,” I reassure him, managing to squeeze his hands tighter, and we both laugh.
Shaking his head, his smile softens as his jade eyes meet mine. “I was in such a dark place, Rumi, but it’s true. I saw your eyes, saw your strength, sawyou, and I held on to it. For months following the accident, after turning around and heading back to my grandpa’s cabin like a coward, I thought of you. I thought of you making it through and finding whatever happiness you were on your way to find that night.”
“I found it,” I say, and Jack’s gaze lifts to mine. “I foundyou.”
CHAPTER 44
RUMI
It doesn’t take longfor sleep to take over once again, but this time I fall asleep holding Jack’s hand, feeling him at my bedside, eager to wake up to find him—and Evee who he promised to bring by to see me—again.
The next time I wake up, I feel more awake and less like I’m on borrowed time before my eyes close against my will.
My room is filled with relieved smiles and happy tears of Ava, Emerson, and Jack who’s holding Evee, her arms wrapped around a stuffed animal I’ve never seen before—a bunny in firefighter gear.
Emerson is the first to notice I’m awake. “There she is.”
Ava turns around, coming over to sit on my bed. “You’re awake.”
I look at Jack, and he immediately brings Evee to me.
“Hey, firefighter,” I say, as he sets Evee down gently on my lap, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “And hi, lovebug,” I coo, feeling tears prick my eyes seeing there’s not even a scratch on her, that she’s perfectly okay. She looks up at me, showing off her new toy and babbling “mama”. I hug her close to me until she starts to squirm. “How long have I been out?”
“Four days,” Ava answers, a tear falling down her cheek before she quickly wipes it away. “I’m so sorry, Rue.”
“It wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known what was going to happen.” Holding Evee with one arm, I open my other to her as best I can.
“I should’ve been there,” my best friend whispers as she settles in my embrace.
I let out an exhale. “What were you thinking, Av?” I ask into her hair, the copper strands tickling my nose.
She shakes her head. “I don’t know.” I feel Emerson and Jack watching us carefully but quietly, giving us both this moment “Going to see Jett was stupid and immature, and I only did it because I thought I needed something familiar,” she says, but it all comes out muffled against where her head presses against my shoulder. “I should’ve never talked to you that way though. I think I just knew you’d tell me the things I needed to hear but didn’t want to,” she admits.
I take in her words, knowing exactly how she feels and how hard it must be for her to admit it. And because of that, it’s impossible to not forgive her. “You really like Anderson, huh?” I ask her with a smile, and she lets out a laugh that ends with a sniffle as she lets her tears fall. “It’s okay, Av. I’m okay.”
