Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“Would you like some coffee, James?” my mother asked.
Without looking at her, he replied, “No, thank you, ma’am.”
I looked at my father, who gave me a weak smile as he motioned for my mother to sit. Brystol started pacing again.
“Have you told your parents?” Mom asked James.
“Yes, but they’re in Florida.”
“Oh my gosh, has anyone told Sean, Maddie, or Matt?” I asked.
My father put his hand on my shoulder and gently pushed me into a chair next to James. “I called them,” he said, before sitting next to Mom.
I glanced around the waiting room. “Where are they?”
“On their way back from Albany.”
I screwed up my face. “Why were they in Albany?”
My father shrugged. “I didn’t ask.”
“Shouldn’t we have gotten an update by now?!” Brystol snapped as she stopped and looked at the nurses’ station. “They wouldn’t tell me or Harper anything because we’re not related to them.”
Dad stood. “Brystol, sweetheart, sit down and stop pacing. You’re making me feel queasy.”
Brystol hugged my father, then did as he asked. She sat down next to me.
James whispered something, but I couldn’t hear what it was.
I turned to him. “What did you say?”
“He loves you.”
I looked at my mom. I was positive her concerned expression matched my own. Focusing back on James, I took his hand in mine. “James, did you have someone check you out? Make sure you’re okay?”
He smiled faintly. “I’m okay, Harp. I wasn’t where Gavin and Declan were. I’d just walked a few of the day-camp students down to the first floor and handed them off to a firefighter when the explosion happened. I ran back up and found Gavin trying to pull Declan toward the steps with one hand. There was so much smoke, and it was so hot.”
My mother sniffled.
“I don’t know what happened to Declan, but he was unconscious. There was a little girl in Gavin’s other arm, and he was coughing. I think one of the firefighters took her from Gavin. I knew he was okay because he was walking and coughing, so I focused on Declan. By the time we got outside, he…”
His voice trailed off as he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he turned to me.
“Right before we saw you this afternoon, he told us he loved you. He was going to tell you. Didn’t want to wait any longer.”
I felt tears streaming down my face as I stared at James.
“And he will tell her,” Brystol declared, standing once again. “He’ll tell her because nothing’s going to happen to him.”
James looked up at her, and he swallowed audibly and nodded.
“What happened to Gavin?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I was busy with Declan, and the next thing I heard was a paramedic saying it might be a heart attack.”
Brystol stopped pacing and turned to us. “Gavin?”
“I don’t know. I can’t be sure. I just know they were both taken away in ambulances, and no one would tell me a damn thing until I went and got some oxygen.”
My head was spinning. There was too much information being given to me at once.
“He said he loved me?” I heard myself asking.
James nodded. “Said he thought it might be too soon to tell you, but he didn’t care. And now…well, I wanted you to know. Not because I don’t think he’ll be okay, but…”
I squeezed his hand. “I know.”
We all sat in silence for a bit before I looked at Brystol. “Where’s Cadie and Aurora?”
“They went back to close up the toy store and the floral shop.”
I closed my eyes. I hadn’t even thought about how I just ran and left the shop.
“Thank goodness for friends,” my mother said.
My father stood. “I’m going to see if I can find out some information.”
James followed him. “I’ll go with you.”
The elevator doors opened once again, and Declan’s parents stepped out, along with Sean. Without so much as looking in our direction, the three of them walked over to the nurses’ station.
My mother moved over to the chair James had been in and took my hand. “Maybe now we can get some information.”
All I could do was nod and watch Maddie closely while the nurse spoke with her and James.
I closed my eyes and thought back to this morning. The way Declan had smiled at me when I handed him his coffee. The way his sweatpants hung on his hips, and my fingers had itched to touch his body, but we were both running late.
James’s voice played on repeat in my mind. He loves you.
“Wake up, Declan Gallagher…and tell me that yourself.”
Declan
The beeping of the machines felt like they were inside my head. And coming from a hammer. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around.
I was in a hospital room.
“Fucking hell,” I whispered. I’d spent seventeen years in the Marines and never found myself in a hospital. Sure, I’d gotten hurt over those seventeen years, but I’d somehow managed not to get myself hurt badly enough that I needed to be hooked up to machines.