Conversation flowed around her, naturally transitioning into tales of when their daddy was young and had to be guided back onto the right path. By the end of the stories, they’d managed to find some laughter, but a few tears had fallen—though Mac had kept most of hers locked down tight.
Rory’s arms were flying as she entertained everyone with an animated story of Ella attempting to make pancakes—unsupervised—one morning, when Mac caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She glanced over in time to see Nash poking Nat in the leg, then lifting his chin to something down the corridor. Mac twisted around to find a tall, male figure striding toward them, and she turned back just as Nat stood without another word.
Her sister practically ran down the hall and straight into the man’s waiting arms. Asher, Mac realized, when she could make out his distinguishing features. His dark hair, longer on top, was unkempt—his jaw, too, the scruff on it about thirty-six hours past a five-o’clock shadow—as if he hadn’t had time to even glance in a mirror before he left.
Asher held Nat while she clung to him, her hands bunched into his coat as he leaned down so their cheeks were pressed together. He must’ve whispered something in her ear, because she nodded, and then he turned them down a side hallway and out of sight.
A gasp had Mac’s attention drawn to the nurses station where Patty—one of the nurses who’d been keeping them updated—sat, her mouth agape.
“Do you know who that was?” Patty said to the woman sitting next to her behind the nurses station. “That wasAsher Mc—”
Mac stopped listening and rolled her eyes as she twisted back around. She hadn’t ever really gotten used to the whole Asher being semifamous—at least in their pocket of the South—thing. It was weird trying to reconcile the boy she’d known his whole life with how his fans saw him now.
“That your doin’?” Mac asked Nash with raised eyebrows.
He inclined his head, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“That was real sweet of you,” Rory said and kissed him softly before muffled squealing in the direction of the nurses station snagged everyone’s attention again.
Rory huffed and pursed her lips as the nurses continued going on and on—Asherthis andAsherthat.
“They’re bein’ a little ridiculous, don’t you think?” she asked, her voice low. “It’s Asher for heaven’s sake, and they’re actin’ like he’s God’s gift to women.” She scoffed and rolled her eyes, settling back in her chair with her arms crossed over her chest. “Please…I used to change that boy’s diapers.”
A hush fell over everyone sitting around, and then Nash simply lifted an eyebrow in Rory’s direction.
It took her a minute, but when she understood what she’d just done—comparing her same-age boyfriend to the boy whose diapers she used to change—her face went bright red, and she sputtered. “Well—I… I didn’t—”
Mac couldn’t hold in her laughter anymore—especially not when she could feel Hudson’s body vibrating next to her. Once she let loose her first peal of giggles, it was a domino effect in the waiting room, until everyone—even Rory—was cracking up, tears streaming down their faces thanks to something other than concern and fear.
“Y’all better not be laughin’ at my expense,” Nat said from over Mac’s shoulder.
Mac glanced back at her and swallowed down her first inclination todosomething, because her sister’s eyes were red-rimmed and puffy, color high on her cheeks. But she had her arm linked in Asher’s, her hand clutching his forearm as if she were pulling all the strength she needed from his body right into hers.
And Mac knew calling Nat out wouldn’t help anyone—her sister needed to act like this was no big deal. Since Mac had been failing left and right, letting down the people she loved, she sure as hell wasn’t going to fail this. Giving her sister the veil of strength she obviously needed was something she could do.
Mac waved her off. “Nah, we’re laughin’ at Rory.”
“Oh. Well.” Nat’s lips twitched as she glanced at their eldest sister. “Carry on, then…”
That only made everyone laugh harder, and soon they were all trying to catch their breaths between guffaws.
The weight that’d settled in Mac’s stomach since the phone call this morning receded, and she hoped it was doing the same for everyone else. They’d needed that levity. Desperately. Even though—especially because—their daddy was still in surgery.
“Y’all are gonna have to quiet down.” A nurse—one Mac hadn’t seen before—stood with her hands on her hips, her eyes narrowed at them. “This is theICUwaiting room, and y’all are carryin’ on like you’re at a honky-tonk. You’re disturbin’ others.”
Mac glanced around and noticed it was just their family, a lady wearing headphones while knitting up a storm, and an older gentleman in the back corner, his snores heard all the way across the room.
“Who, exactly, are we disturbin’?” Nat asked, pointedly looking around to the people sharing the space with them who very obviously didn’t give a shit.
The nurse sniffed and lifted her chin higher. “Others. Now, quiet down, or I’m gonna have to ask you to leave.”
Rory stood so fast, Nash had to reach back and steady her chair so it didn’t fall to the floor. “I beg your pardon, Miss—” Rory glanced down at the nurse’s ID card “—Beth, but we’re not goin’anywhereuntil we know our daddy’s okay. Then andonly thenwill we consider gettin’ out of your hair. And until that time comes, my family and I are gonna enjoy one another’s company as best we can while my father is in life-saving surgery!” Her voice rose with every word until she was nearly shouting.
She seemed to realize that and straightened, clearing her throat. Lifting her hand, she fluttered it toward the nurse in a shooing motion. “So, buh-bye. Run along now.”
Rory crossed her arms and glared at Beth until she finally relented with a huff and headed back to the nurses station.
A hush fell over their group until Nat spoke up, laughter in her voice. “Holyshit, I can’t believe that just happened. Who evenareyou?”
