“This is bad, isn’t it, Guy-Guy?”
“It’ll be okay, sweetie. I’ll get us out of here.” I don’t know how I was holding it together. I knew I needed to check her for a concussion. I knew we needed to make sure that truck driver was okay. I needed to call 911. We needed to get out of the car. I was overwhelmed.
Luckily, a man appeared at Kitty’s window. It was the truck driver. He kept apologizing when we all knew it was just shit road conditions. He said help was on the way. He helped Kitty out of the car, and I climbed out after her. Snow swirled around us. Kitty was having trouble standing, so I held her close.
Other people were stopped since the road was blocked and got out to help us. Another car had wrecked, too. A different truck driver had us wait in his cab where it was warm. I carried Kitty there, her legs too weak. I held my shirt on Kitty’s head that whole time, afraid if I let go, I’d lose her somehow. Heads bleed a lot, even with not that serious of cuts, and I knew that. Still, this was my Kitty. She was too precious to lose even one drop of blood on my watch.
When the ambulance came, I hesitated to let her off my lap. If she was in my arms, I could feel that she was still warm, still breathing, still alive. It could have been so much worse, and that thought terrified me. What would I have left if I lost Kitty?
They loaded Kitty into the ambulance and had me get our essentials out of the car. I just grabbed whatever I could stuff in my backpack, a change of clothes for each of us, and our toiletries. Then I got in the ambulance with Kitty. While the paramedics finished up outside, I started crying. We were safe and with real help, but I was haunted by what almost happened.
“It’s okay, Guy-Guy,” Kitty said, looking pale. I’d been the one reassuring her all along, but now it was her turn.
“What if I had lost you, baby?” I sobbed. “I can’t lose you.”
Her lower lip wobbled. “I can’t lose you either.”
“I love you, Kitty Bird,” I said, gasping through my tears. “Like, really love you.”
Her eyes flooded as her hand found mine. She nodded and her face crumpled into tears. I kissed her forehead, then tenderly held her uninjured cheek and kissed her lips. Her big brown eyes found mine when I pulled back. She pulled at my nose to wipe it, and I laughed a little. “I don’t want to fight with you, Guy.”
“Me either.” I drew in a breath. It was time to pitch. “I know I’ve screwed a lot of things up with you. You have no reason to give me another chance. But I meant what I said. I think all this time, I’ve just been waiting for you. I’m ready to try with you. I don’t want to see you with other guys anymore. I want to love you out loud. No hiding. I want to give us a try.”
“I want that, too,” she whispered. “Let’s try.”
I kissed her hand and watched over her as she closed her eyes and rested.
* * *
We got out of the hospital later that night. I called Mark and Heather to fill them in, who were not at all mad, just worried. Kitty got 20 stitches at her temple and into her hairline, but she didn’t have a concussion that they could tell. A social worker got us a ride to a hotel room. We were apparently in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
We were both exhausted by the time we got to the hotel, and we didn’t have much of our stuff. We stripped down to our underwear and flopped into the single king bed. I held Kitty all night, careful to keep her freshly stitched-up head comfortable. Hearing her breathing in her sleep was the ultimate comfort, knowing that my girl was safe and mostly well.
I woke up to her watching me with sleepy eyes. “Happy Thanksgiving, Guy.”
“Happy Thanksgiving, Kitty Bird.” I rolled to my side to faceher. “How are you feeling?”
“Sore, but okay. How about you?”
I stretched, testing my muscles. “Sore, too, but I think I’ll be okay.”
We lay there, looking into each other’s eyes in the morning light for a minute. “I meant what I said yesterday,” I told her. “I want to be with you.”
“I meant it, too,” she said. “What do we do now?”
I propped my head into my hand, raising up on my elbow. “I think,” I said, tracing shapes over her collarbone, “I finally make love to you.”
Kitty laughed, and it was the first time I’d heard her laugh in days. “Now?”
“If you’re up to it,” I said, kissing her shoulder.
“I’m gross,” she groaned. “I feel like I should shower.”
“Can I help?” I asked with a wolfish grin.
Kitty bit her lip with a smile. “Sure.”
She got up first, taking turns using the bathroom and brushing our teeth. Nerves fluttered in my stomach. This was really going to happen. I was going to have sex with my best friend. I was rarely nervous with sex, and it’s not like we’d never doneanythingbefore. I knew just how sexy she sounded when she came, what she tasted like. Still, this was Kitty we were talking about. Would she like the way I fucked? Neither of us were virgins, but the anticipation was like it was the first time.
