“Why are you here, Noah?” Ember squints up at me.
Her ability to pierce me with her eyes is still the same as it was the day we met.
“To catch you if you fall.”
“I won’t be falling, Noah, because my mom is going to be fine.” Her fists ball at her sides and her lower lip quakes. “I don’t know what romantic notion Dayton put into your head, but I don’t need you to catch me.” Her eyes flash, filled with thunder and lightning. “Besides, you’ve met Matt. What is he going to think about you showing up here?”
“Probably nothing.” I lower my voice. “You reduced us to friends from high school.”
Ember crosses her arms. “I told him after you left.”
“Everything?”
She glares at me. “Enough.”
“What does that mean?”
She takes a step back and rolls her eyes. I hate that she’s keeping distance between us, and I don’t want it there anymore. I want to press her body against mine, hold her, and whisper to her that I’ll be here for her, no matter what happens. I can’t do any of that, because I need fucking help fucking standing. Like a goddamned toddler.
“Ladies?”
We all turn to the door. A nurse in purple scrubs looks from Sky to Ember. “Your mother’s doctor will be here soon.”
“Okay,” Ember whispers, and the nurse walks away. At once, the fire in her has been snuffed out. Her shoulders droop with the weight of it all. She stands rooted in her spot and presses two fists to her eyes.
“Ember?”
We all turn to the confused voice. Red colors the surface of Ember’s cheeks. Sky looks like she doesn’t give a shit about anything that’s happening right now. I don’t know what I look like, but I’m guessing if my expression reflects what I’m feeling, I want to punch Ember’s prick of a boyfriend for not staying the night with her when she needed him the most. If she was mine I never would’ve let her go last night, and I would have come here with her this morning.
Matt and Dayton stand beside one another. Matt stares at me. Dayton stares at me.
I don’t do a damn thing. My chinmightbe raised a fraction. Imightbe thinking about the nearest exit I can point Matt to.
He strides in, Dayton behind him, and pulls Ember into his arms. I look away. They exchange a few hushed words and he leads her over to a chair a few seats away from me.
Dayton sits down beside me. “What happened to flying in this morning?”
“Wasn’t soon enough.”
His head tilts as he watches me. “What did arriving in the middle of the night do for you?”
“It put me here first.”
Dayton crosses an ankle over the opposite knee and leans back. “I’m glad you’re here,” he says under his breath. “Matt proposed.”
28
Ember
Matt’s gripon my hand is starting to hurt. Instinctively, I pull it away, but he only pulls me back. Why the hell is he holding me so tightly? My eyes find his, but the question stays stuck in my head.
The lights in the waiting room are bright, the sharp smell of astringent fills my nose. I wish I could close my eyes and make this all go away.
My mom. In the ICU. How can this be?
A morning ride on a friend’s motorcycle, she’d told me two nights ago when I called her. Not a normal mom thing to do, but when was my mom ever normal? So I told her to have fun, and wear her helmet.
When I woke up yesterday morning, before I knew what had happened to my mom, I felt sorry for myself. Thoughts of Noah filled me. Was he okay? Did he have surgery? Would he crash my wedding, confess his love, and refuse to allow me to marry anybody but him?
