Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 83586 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83586 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
There was a whole lotta waiting when someone was in the hospital. We’d been so wild with worry, I’d gotten dressed and we’d headed right out, only to learn partway there that Carrie wasn’t even in Charlotte yet. That had to be a good sign, right? If she was in too bad a shape, they would have rushed this.
We found a twenty-four-hour breakfast place not far from the hospital. We drank our weight in coffee, and ate just as many pancakes. Jasp was a little broader than I was, had a little bit more weight on his bones. He was still in shape, had to be with how active he was, but I’d always been a little smaller, my muscles leaner, and like tonight, he’d always been able to eat more than me. This time, some of it was likely nerves.
It was morning now, the sun already up, and people were flooding the diner. Jasper was in the booth seat across from me, feet beside me, his head leaning against the window, teetering between awake and taking a nap. “Sorry…for jumpin’ the gun and gettin’ you out of bed. I wasn’t thinkin’ it would take this long, and then…hell, she ain’t even your aunt. You don’t gotta be here.”
Didn’t I, though? Wasn’t I always? “You know I love your family like my own. Plus, it’s not you if you’re not makin’ some boneheaded decision about somethin’.”
Jasper chuckled softly, nudged my thigh with his foot. “You okay? I didn’t think…cuz your family and the car stuff, that this might be hard for ya.”
Oh, shit. I hadn’t even thought of that, not really. All I’d considered was Jasper and how hard this would be on the Finches and Sammy if something happened to Carrie. “Nah, I’m good. It’s been a lotta years.”
“Yeah, but you’ve been havin’ a hard time lately.”
Not because of that. “I’m good, Jasper.”
His mama messaged to let us know they were at the hospital in Charlotte. It would still be a bit before Carrie’s surgery. I wasn’t sure of all the details, just that her body was beaten up some and needed to be patched up. Jasper went to the bathroom, and I ordered him another coffee to go and paid.
“Thank you. Don’t know what I’d do without ya,” he said when we were back in my truck.
I don’t know what I’d do without you either. “It’d be a mess, I can tell ya that.”
We laughed.
Sammy and Sherry were inside with Carrie when we arrived. Bob was quiet, gruff, the way he always was. While I was familiar with a man of few words, having grown up with Uncle Brian, it was different with Bob. Uncle Brian just seemed sad, not frustrated the way Bob sometimes was, like he expected the world to fall into place with whatever was easy for him.
“Where’s Molly?” Jasper asked him.
“She’s still in Ryland,” Bob replied.
Was it strange that I was there with Jasper but Molly wasn’t with Sammy? As if he had the same question as me, Jasper’s gaze caught mine, then quickly shot away.
“Oh, you boys are here,” Sherry said when she came back into the waiting room. She hugged Jasper, then me, before fingering my hair and saying, “You need a haircut.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied, loving that she treated me like a son, that she reminded me what it was like to have a mom.
“Hey, Sammy. How you doin’? I’m really sorry about your mama.” Jasper hugged his cousin, who returned it.
“Me too,” I told him.
“Thanks for bein’ here,” Sammy replied, his focus not on any of us, worry clearly weighing him down and making him anxious.
“She’ll be okay,” I said.
Sammy nodded. “I’m gonna… I need to sit down for a minute.”
Eventually, they let Sammy know she was going in for surgery, and he was a nervous wreck, going back and forth between pacing and sitting down, his knee bouncing like crazy.
Jasper whispered to me, “Mama said she’d had a lot to drink…stumbled into the road. Poor Sammy. He’s spent his whole life takin’ care of her. Wish I knew how to ease it for him.” He was like that—big-hearted. If he could fix it for Sammy, Jasper would, quietly, without letting anyone know, and they’d never suspect it was him. It was one of my favorite things about him.
“I know you would.” I reached over and squeezed his knee in support, then pulled my hand back. What would he do if I left it there? How would it feel to twine our fingers together? To brush my thumb against his palm to reassure him I was there? To run my fingers through his blond hair and tell him he’d never have to deal with anything on his own…
I cleared my throat as Sammy sat on the other side of Jasper.
“Thanks for bein’ here. Shit, I think I already said that. Can’t even remember.”