“Hey! Where’d you go just now?” Liam asked, squeezing my arm and jolting me back to the here and now.
“Nowhere,” I murmured, wiping the tears from my eyes.
“Hey hey, hey! You can still change your mind, you know. There’s still time. No one’s going to think any less of you.”
“I’m fine,” I lied.
I hated myself right now. I was lying to everyone I loved but what was even harder to swallow was the fact I was lying to myself.
“Charlotte, you know we love you and we’re here for you every step of the way, but Luke, he’d want to know. You know he’d want to know,” Liam reminded me as if I could ever forget.
“I can’t Liam. I just … you should’ve seen him this morning. He was all over the place. He put his shoes on the wrong feet for God’s sake. No. He’s got enough going on today. He needs to be there for Isla. No. I can do this. I’m going to do this. It’ll be fine,” I declared fiercely.
“Charlotte.” Liam’s voice was low and full of emotion. He might not agree with my decision, but he’d accept it. He wasn’t the type of guy who’d leave me to face this alone and for that, I owed him.
“Let’s do it!”
It was a strange feeling. Having a cap pulled over my head and wheeled through the corridors. I’d been on the other side of this process more times than I could count, but seeing it this way, experiencing it firsthand was something else. I knew what was going to happen. I knew the process and what I was up against. I understood the risks I was taking, and I’d signed all their waivers.
Years ago, not long after I’d gotten to the hospital I’d had a patient, a kid in the same situation as Isla. He was a fighter. He was so brave and so strong and he’d fought for so long, but he wasn’t winning. He’d needed a donor. Everyone in his family, every family friend, neighbor, even his school teacher had rushed to get tested but none were a match. We’d tried the donor registry and even then, we were clutching at straws. It was looking hopeless. We’d exhausted every option and each day we watched Carl clinging to what was left of his life while we hoped and prayed someone would come forward. That was the day I got tested. That was the day I registered to become a donor. I wasn’t a match for Carl, I knew that was a long shot before I even sat in the chair and had the bloods drawn, but maybe someday I’d be a match for someone who needed me. I never would’ve imagined the person who needed me, the little girl whose life depended on my donation, was the same girl I’d come to love as if she was my own.
“This is as far as I go.” Liam interrupted my private thoughts as the rolling bed came to a halt outside the theatre. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”
“I’ll be fine. People do this all the time.”
“People do. My friends, don’t.”
“You know, Liam, you sound more worried about this than me,” I teased.
Bending over the bed, Liam pressed a kiss to my temple. “I’ll be right here when you get back.”
“Liam … you don’t have to …”
“I know I don’t have to, but I’m going to. So, save your breath, sweetheart.”
“You’re a good guy, Liam.”
“You know it. Now, go save Isla and then if you’re really lucky, I’ll take you home and play nurse. I might even give you a sponge bath,” Liam teased with a wink and I’d never been more grateful for his ability to make me laugh. “And don’t even worry about telling me not to. Hannah and I have this sorted.”
“I don’t even want to know.” I smiled up at Liam before nodding at the nurse who pressed their pass against the sensor and the doors opened.
It was time.
They weren’t going to let me go home. I had to beg and steal and promise I was going to be in the best possible care before Doctor Williams agreed to discharge me with very strict instructions that I was to go home and rest. It killed me to not be able to stop in and check on Isla before I left, but there’s no way I could let Liam wheel me in there so I could see for myself that she was okay. Instead, I was forced to rely on Liam’s sleuthing skills before he snuck me out the side entrance and took me home.
Luke had texted on and off through the day, but it wasn’t until I was propped up on the couch, feet resting on a pile of pillows hugging a hot water bottle that he started calling. Sending it straight to voicemail, I picked up the water bottle and started peeling the label off.
“You know you’re going to have to talk to him sometime,” Liam reminded me as he tossed a peanut up in the air before catching it in his mouth.
“I don’t know what to say to him,” I admitted.
“You could always start by telling him the truth, Charlotte.”
I picked up my phone and stared at it like it was a snake getting ready to bite me.
“You have to dial the number if you want him to answer,” Liam added after five minutes when I still had made no attempt to call.
“I … I …” A knock on the door saved me from myself. “Saved by the bell. Or the door. Do you mind?”
