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ChapterOne
JAKE
Ipaced helplessly in the waiting room, like I had for nearly two days. The bleak walls closed in around me, and my thoughts spiraled through terrifying scenarios where Monica didn’t pull through.
The news played at a low volume from a little TV in the corner near the ceiling. My best friend, Bryce, spoke from across the small room, sitting on a navy-blue chair next to Krystal. “You don’t have to stay, man. I really appreciate you being here, but it’s okay. We’ll be okay.”
My eyes fell to his hand, clasped with Krystal’s, resting on his leg.
I shook my head at his comment, though I offered no counter argument. I had to stay. I needed to see that Monica was okay.
And I couldn’t explain to anyone why I couldn’t leave. Bryce thought I was staying for him. My best friend, and Monica’s brother, Bryce’s eyes held the same dark shadows as mine. He had no idea that waiting for his sister—the woman I loved more than life itself—to wake up meant I had no other option than to stay right here in this waiting room.
With my response, Bryce glanced back at Krystal. At least things had worked out there. Krystal had come back to Minden a couple of months ago. If she hadn’t, Bryce probably wouldn’t have been too preoccupied to realize that there was something going on between Monica and me. As it was, Bryce’s future was finally falling into place, and mine was unconscious in a hospital bed down the hall.
Bryce placed a hand on Krystal’s shoulder. “You should go back, too, Krys. You’ve got to go back to Snow Hill.”
She shook her head. “I can’t leave. Not with Monica like this. They’ll just have to wait. Or find someone else.”
I admired her stubbornness and her willingness to sacrifice for Bryce. Perhaps I’d been a little too quick to judge her. Monica and I had placed a friendly bet on the outcome of their little fake relationship. My money had been on Krystal heading back to California, but over the last four months, I’d uncovered Monica’s mile-wide romantic streak. She’d been convinced that this was finally when Bryce and Krystal would make it work.
She’d been right, and her happy grin at the auction had as much to do with knowing that Krystal was back in town as it was about our own plan.
I rubbed at my chest to ease the ache centered there.
“She’s awake!”
I jerked my head to the hallway where Bryce’s mom was rushing toward the waiting area, her sweater flapping behind her.
Bryce and Krystal stood up, and the three of us met his mom in the middle of the room.
“She woke up. She asked for water,” Bryce’s mom nearly sobbed the news.
“Oh, thank the Lord,” I breathed. I’m not sure I had ever prayed as hard as I had in the last forty-eight hours. Monica was the praying one.
Bryce’s mom continued. “The doctor is on his way now, but she talked to the nurses. All kinds of words I didn’t understand. She’s a little confused, and she doesn’t remember the accident or the auction, but it doesn’t seem too bad.”
I smiled at the inference. If Monica was already talking medicalese, it had to be a good sign.
“When can we see her?” I blurted the question, desperate to know when I would get to hold her hand.
My eagerness was undisguised, and Bryce gave me a funny look, which I ignored. I was ready for the world to know that we were together. Before the accident, Monica had been planning to bid on me at the Spring Sparks Auction, our announcement to the world that we were more than casual friends. It felt strange to announce that when she was fighting for her life, so I’d let it stay a secret. We’d been hiding it for nearly four months. What was another couple of days?
“You all can go in, but they said just two at a time.”
Krystal’s phone rang, and she checked it before turning to Bryce. “It’s Ronny. Why don’t you and Jake go in, and I’ll talk to him about my plans?”
I tipped my head back slightly in thanks to God for the timing of that phone call. I knew I wouldn’t have been able to go in first otherwise.
Bryce and I walked down the hallway.
“Got something to tell me?” His eyebrows rose, the questions written all over his face.
I shook my head and clenched my jaw. “Not yet,” I said simply. Soon. It had to be soon.
While Bryce and his parents had been in to sit with Monica while she was unconscious, I wasn’t family and hadn’t been allowed. So, her bruises and bandages and all the wires and monitors caught me off guard. Hearing that she was in rough shape was different than seeing it firsthand.
She saw Bryce first and her smile widened. “Brycie, you’re here!”
