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My friend shrugs. “You’re undergoing surgery, so…I reckon right now wouldnotbe the best time.”
I scrub my palms down my face, my stomach suddenly flip-flopping as realization strikes.
“Will I live? Through the surgery, I mean.”
Renzo flattens his lips, his eyes boring into mine. “That’s up to you. Do youwantto live?”
“Yes, I want to live. Ineedto live. I can’t leave…not now.”
I pace back and forth, willing myself to awareness.
Wake up, Burton. Wake the fuck up. Wake upnow.
Then I pinch myself. Slap my cheeks. Blink rapidly, but I’m still faced with the sugar maples twitching gently in the breeze.
I spin around, finding Lorenzo’s eyes on my movements, his arms crossed over his chest.
“So, you want to livenowafter spending the last twenty years barely surviving, is that it? Because it’s a fucking insult that you’vechosento float through life when there are others…” He trails off, clearing his throat pointedly as he jams his thumb to his chest. “Others who would have lived to the fullest if they’d been given half the chance.”
“I’m sorry—”
“For what? Wasting the last twenty years?”
I expel a heavy sigh as he cocks his head to one side. “Or could it be for banging my daughter?”
His eyes are accusatory, and despite the fact that his wordsshouldmake me feel guilty, all I can feel is a rising anger of my own.
“I’m not at all sorry for falling for Wren.” I stand taller, utterly unapologetic for my actions. “I’llneverbe sorry for taking her for myself.”
Then I step closer, reaching out to clench the material of Lorenzo’s white shirt in my fist.
“And I won’t give her up. She’s theonegood thing in my life, and I’d have continued to waste decades waiting for her to come into my world because she’s worth waiting for. She’severything.”
“And don’t you ever forget it.” My friend’s eyes gleam with approval. “Live for both of us, my friend. No regrets. Remember: you only get one chance at life.”
Then he rears back, his fist driving forward to connect with my jaw, and everything goes black.
* * *
“They said he should wake any time now, Mom, so I’mnotgoing anywhere.”
The determined voice of the inimitable Wren Caputo pulls me from the darkness, and my eyelids flicker as the natural light streaming into the room makes opening them harder than it should be.
“I’m not saying you need to leave the floor, my love. Just stretch your legs. It’s not good to be in the same position for too long.”
Sara’s soft voice is pleading, filled with the need to ensure her daughter’s well-being, and Wren surely hears it too.
“I’ll grab a water from the vending machine, and then I’ll be right back. Take it or leave it.”
“I’ll take it. Grab me one, too, please.”
Wren sighs heavily, and I can feel her unfurl her lithe body from where she’s been pressed against my side. My body immediately feels the loss as she pads toward the doorway.
The door of the room closes with a softsnick, and it’s Sara’s turn to sigh.
“She’s a lot more headstrong than she was before meeting you. That’s for damn sure.”
My left eye opens a crack, observing Sara as she folds her arms. “I presume that’syourinfluence.”
