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Maia
The coldness of the hospital floor seeps through my thin pants. The waiting room is only a few feet away, but as I watched Vince walk down the hall, I leaned against the wall and sank down. Now it’s too much effort to move.
I rest my head on my knees where they’re drawn up to my chest.How did we get here?
Footsteps move closer to me, but I don’t bother looking up. They stop, and then I feel the heat of a body sliding to the floor next to me. Opening my eyes, I turn and see Nick. His eyes are red and puffy. We stare at each other for a moment, not saying anything, then I reach over and take his hand. He squeezes mine tightly as he rests his head on my shoulder.
“I said awful things to him yesterday,” Nick says softly.
My eyes flutter closed. “I didn’t have the best conversation with him, either.”
Nick sniffles and I squeeze his hand tighter. If one of us starts crying, the other is going to completely lose it.
“He has to be okay,” Nick mutters, voice cracking with emotion.
I can’t get any words out without crying, so I just squeeze his hand harder.
At the sound of footsteps, we both look up. Vince is coming up the hall, his blue eyes the vibrant aqua they turn when he cries. Without letting go of each other’s hands, Nick and I stand up, looking at him with pleading eyes.
“He’s in surgery,” Vince says before he even comes to a stop. His breath shakes as he exhales. “It’s not good, though. He has some internal injuries and…”
“What?” I ask, stepping forward and taking his hand too.
Vince blinks back tears and looks back and forth between the two of us. “They almost lost him once. And they still don’t know the full extent of his injuries.” Another shaky exhale. “Hank’s pretty sure he was driving drunk.”
“Son of a bitch.” Our eyes all snap to Leigh. As Nick opens an arm for her to give him a hug, I drop both Nick’s and Vince’s hands.
I step back and lean against the wall, the weight of it all becoming too much. I know Braden made his own choices, but I… I made him feel worse. I handled the situation with anger. All the times I said I didn’t want it to be like this between Braden and me, but I didn’t make an effort to look beyond my anger when he needed me to the most.
“Maia.”
I look up into Vince’s eyes and then dive into his arms as sobs take me again. Nick wraps his hand around mine, as he and Leigh lean in closer until the four of us are standing in a heap in a hospital hallway at one in the morning, crying together, not sure if one of the most important people in our lives is going to live or die.
We stay like that until the sound of footsteps draws our attention. Looking up, I see my dad over Leigh’s shoulder, and everything inside of me threatens to shatter again.
When he sees us, he starts jogging toward us. I quickly separate myself from the three of them and half-walk, half-run to my father’s waiting arms, letting him sweep me into the tightest bear hug he’s ever given me.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” I mutter.
“We’re gonna get through it together, that’s what.”
“Agreed.” My mother’s soft voice makes me lift my head from my dad’s shoulder. “Oh, honey.” She wraps one arm around my back and the other around my dad’s as he drapes an arm over her shoulders. It’s moments like these when I’m truly grateful for all the work my parents put in to rebuilding their relationship. That they can stand here, arms wrapped around each other, and support me with nothing flowing between us but the deepest love means everything to me.
Harper’s going to have that. I don’t care what I have to do. I will fight whatever monsters I have to, but we’re going to do it. I just need Braden to fight now. I need him to make it through this sowecan make it through this.
As we finally pull apart, I realize Noah has also arrived. He has a hand on each of the boys’ shoulders. The emotion of the moment between them is palpable. It’s the first time tonight—this morning, whatever—that it’s occurred to me how hard this must be for them. When they step apart, I walk straight to Vince, wrapping my arms tightly around his back.
“Thank you for getting me here. For being here. For dealing with all of this. I know we’re in it together, but I can’t imagine the pain this brings up for you.”
“I love you. I’m not going anywhere. And I promise I want to talk to you about all of it.” He runs his hand from the back of my head all the way down to my lower back, then whispers in a hauntingly broken voice, “But if you don’t stop saying things like that, I will fall apart right here, and I don’t want to do that.”
I nod against his chest, then look up into his eyes. Pressing onto my toes, I give him a soft kiss. “I love you, too.”
Dad, Mom, and Noah guide us back to the waiting room, where we collapse into hard hospital chairs. Waiting is excruciating. There could at least be comfortable chairs. I know hospitals don’t have a lot of money, but it seems like a good use of a fundraiser would be to upgrade the seating in waiting rooms. At least in waiting rooms like this. The kind where bad news is received more than good. I nestle in against Vince in one of the double chairs, pulling my knees against my chest and resting my head on his shoulder. Leigh sits on the other side of me and takes my hand. She gives a little squeeze, her silent reminder that we’re all in this together.
We sit in silence for what feels like hours. Maybe it is. I haven’t bothered to check the time on my phone or look for a clock. There’s no conversation, just silent tension, growing stronger by the minute. Until we hear the sound of footsteps. Looking down the hall, my eyes go wide seeing Hank and Meredith.
