I leaned against the wall as I gazed at my girl; she hadn’t answered the phone because she knew why we were calling. Relief flooded my system that I didn’t have to break the news to her, but it killed me to know that she’d found out when she was alone.
“Hi, Daisy.” Paige’s lips turned up into a smile before she lifted her head. She watched me with red and swollen eyes as she shivered under a bathrobe.
“Hi, babe.” Her voice cracked as she looked at me. “Want some?” She held up a glass of white liquid that looked like milk.
“What’s that?” I came over to the couch and knelt before her, smoothing her hair off her boiling forehead.She hadanotherfucking fever.
“Bailey’s. The only thing I could drink straight and not throw up.” She lifted her hand to her temple and shut her eyes. “I think I have a fever.” I rubbed her back and nodded.
“Yeah, I think so, too. Give me the glass and we’ll go lay down, okay?”
“In a minute, I wanted to show you…” Paige pointed at the album in front of her. “You’re in so many of these pictures. Back then we actually got them developed instead of just hoarding them in our phones. This was our sixteenth birthday. We had a joint party, remember? DJ and everything. Jack didn’t want a girly sweet sixteen but we had a blast. Guess I’ll be celebrating our birthday alone from now on…and look at this one.”
My chest constricted as I realized their birthday was next week. This was the first March eleventh they wouldn’t spend together.
Paige pulled back the clear wrapping and peeled a photo off the page. “That’s you and me. We danced that night.”
I took the photo from her hands and chuckled to myself. I had always been so damn tall, I towered over her. Even at sixteen, Paige was breathtaking. Her long blonde hair cascaded down the back of her off the shoulder black dress as her emerald eyes beamed at the camera. My hand looked huge resting on her tiny waist. I remembered every second of that one slow dance with her all those years ago.
“I think we should frame that. We looked good together, right?” She had a fever, and almost half the bottle of Bailey’s was gone, but she was talking a mile a minute.
“Yes, we should.” I cupped the side of her face and stroked her cheek with my thumb. She leaned into my touch as her jaw trembled. “You were always so beautiful. None of us could take our eyes off you that night. I didn’t even give a shit that we danced to *NSYNC.” Paige closed her eyes and laughed.
“The things you remember. You amaze me.” She sniffled as she took my face in her hands and kissed my forehead.
“No, you amazeme.” I leaned my forehead against hers. Her body was quivering, but I wasn’t sure if it was from the fever or her trying to hold everything inside. I stood from the floor and gently pulled her up and off the couch. “Does your head hurt?” Her pale cheeks were pinkening, almost as if she had sunburn. She gave her head a small shake and looked away. “Your mom is going to come over later. She’s worried about you.” Paige nodded and bit her lip.
“Was he...” Paige took a deep breath and wobbled in my arms. “Was he in pain? Was it quick?”
“In his sleep, Daisy. He was watching TV and drifted away.” She sunk her face into my chest, slowly panting as she clenched the material of my T-shirt with her fists.
“I . . . I should have stayed. I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that today was the day, but I ignored it.”
I pulled away to draw her gaze up to me. “Ellie was laying with him. He wasn’t alone.” She nodded and shivered even more. I was afraid to mix Tylenol with the liquor in her system, but the way her fever was spiking made me nervous. I took my jacket off and led her back to the couch.
“Come sit with me.”
Paige cuddled into my side, her arm wrapped around my stomach. “You really remember that dance?”
I chuckled and kissed her forehead. “Absolutely. Best five minutes of the entire night. You wouldn’t still have that dress by any chance, would you?” Paige peered up at me and smiled.
“Nope, but I bet I could find another dress just like that one if you liked it so much.” She let out a long sigh as she rubbed my chest. “I’m so tired, babe.” Her voice was barely a whisper. I held her closer and kissed the top of her head.
“I know, Daisy. Go to sleep. I’ll wake you when your mom gets here.” Paige huffed at me.
“Like I’d be able to sleep through that. We talked about you today. Jack and I. He said he was happy we’d found each other. That he was relieved. He said you talk about me a lot.” Paige rested her chin on my chest as she gazed up at me. My heart squeezed in my chest as I ran my fingers through her damp hair; I hoped the sweat on her brow meant the fever was breaking. I loved her so fucking much and it gutted me to watch her suffer at all. I nodded slowly.
“I do. When you have the best girl in the world, it’s hard to keep it to yourself. Especially when you’ve waited for her for over a decade. I’m desperately in love with you, in case you haven’t noticed.” I gave her a soft kiss on the lips. She shut her eyes and trembled in my arms.
“I love you, Evan. I love you so much.” Sobs ran through her as she collapsed on my chest, wailing and gasping for breath. I rocked her as I cried with her.
“I love you too, Daisy. Always have. Always will.”
“Could you sing for me?”
I chuckled into her hair. “Of course. What do you want me to sing?”
“Same song.” I sang the first verse ofAll My Loving, and before I knew it she was asleep.
