I'd beenthis closeto confessing a thought that hadn't even fully solidified in my brain. I wasn't even sure what the thought was. “I don't want to leave you?” “I can't imagine leaving you behind?” “There's something about you that I find addictively irresistible?” There was no point in confusing her—Wells had saved me from making an utter ass of myself.
I pulled away from Evie, giving her an apologetic glance and taking my phone out of my back pocket. "Hey, Wells."
"Hey," he replied. His voice was a little rougher than usual. "I, uh," he paused, and I heard him swallow. "Margot took a turn last night."
My heart sank to the floorboards. "How bad?" Evie was watching me with undisguised worry and curiosity. I gave her a reassuring smile. There was something reserved about her, like she was going through something and didn't want to tell me what it was. I didn't want her eyes to turn down at the corners like they had been since last night.
Wells released a harsh breath. "Bad. Her respiratory function declined. She’s barely maintaining oxygen saturation at rest, and she’s refusing the BiPAP." His voice caught, and my handclenched at my side as he struggled to continue. "She’s tired, Frost. She’s lucid, but she’s… done. I thought we had more time. I kept telling myself she’d plateau again, but it’s not happening."
I'd known this was coming, maybe in a year from now, but this was sudden. The irony of fate making a choice for me didn't miss me. "I'll be there in an hour." I hung up, already dreading what I had to say to Evie. Her eyebrows were tilted up in concern, and she stared at me expectantly, like she knew I had bad news to share. I slid the phone into my back pocket and approached her slowly. “That was Dr. Wells. Margot isn’t doing well."
"Oh no," she murmured, reaching for me.
I let her, unable to stop myself from touching her despite my best attempts this morning. I rubbed her arms reassuringly. "I think he needs someone there. His parents live in the UK, and I’m sure they’ll be there at some point, but I think he needs a friend right now.”
Evie looked stricken. She was friends with Dr. Wells, so this would be an unwelcome revelation for her too. She had a grip on either side of my shirt, and she swallowed, looking at my chest. “Of course. You should go to him."
I wasn’t convinced that Ghost knew what he was doing with this reckless plan of his, but I didn’t know how to split myself into two places at once. Maybe this was fate. Maybe this was the way things were supposed to be. Maybe my time with Evie was supposed to be fleeting, something short to cherish and look back on. But even as I thought that, I knew it didn’t feel right. I was at a loss as to how to reconcile the idea that Ishouldgo with the fact that Ididn’t wantto.
I nodded, my thumbs rubbing circles over her silky skin. “I’ll try to return as soon as I can. I don’t know how long Margot has, but I’ll try to be here tomorrow.”
Evie shook her head, clamming up and taking a step away from me. She smiled tightly, folding her arms like she was trying to guard herself against something. “No, you should go. I mean you should stay with him. You’ve been here far longer than you needed to, and—” She paused, catching herself. “I mean, Iwantyou here…” She paused again, looking up at the ceiling like she was searching for something, clearly annoyed with herself. “What I mean is… thank you," she finished softly, her eyes finding mine.
Breathing hurt. It was so like Evelyn to guard her emotions while also being indescribably raw and unguarded at the same time. “I’m not going to disappear. I’ll let you know how Margot is, and I’ll call you tomorrow. I’m still worried about this operation Ghost has planned.”
Evie gave a shrug of one shoulder, like that didn’t concern her nearly as much as it probably should. "You have people who need you, Benjamin. I'm in good hands here."
Good hands, maybe. But not my hands. I forced myself to take another breath and put up a wall so this wasn't any harder than it already felt. "I'll pack my things, then." I started to turn, and then paused, adding, "Please call me if you need me."
She did a good job looking at ease despite the tension in her shoulders. "Of course."
I knew Evelyn Hathaway well enough to hear what that actually meant:Not a chance.
The hospital room was dark despite the late morning sun beyond the closed blinds. When I entered quietly, the first thing that hit me was the stillness. There was no silence; machines hummed and hissed, keeping cadence in a steady rhythm. But it was sostill, so loudly devoid of movement that my eyes automatically went to the once vibrant girl who hadn't been able to stop moving a year ago. Margot lay motionless on the bed, her thin limbs a shadow of who she'd once been. Her chest rose and fell in a shallow rhythm, assisted by the BiPAP mask fitted snugly over her face, pushing air into lungs that had forgotten how to pull it in on their own.
Wells sat up from where he was sitting against the wall in one of the two padded armchairs set up for visitors. He looked rumpled, his long, light brown hair unkempt and his glasses slightly askew on his face. He fixed the thick rims, standing silently and coming to meet me at the door. "Hey," he rasped out.
I didn't dance around the situation. I reached out and pulled him into a gruff hug, which he returned immediately. I patted his back, then pulled away and slid my hands into my pockets. "Tell me how she is."
Wells shook his head, rubbing one eye under his glasses. "Declining. FVC dropped by half. I can show you the chart but?—"
I clapped him on the shoulder, rubbing briefly before letting go so he didn't have to finish that. "I hear you." She wasn't going to pull through.
Margot's eyes fluttered open halfway, and although they found us standing by the door, she didn't seem to fully see us. My throat tightened painfully. "Has she been able to communicate?"
"A little, last night," Wells said, looking down. "Some nonsense about her UPS driver."
My eyebrows quirked up in surprise. "Odd thing to mention."
He back swiped that away. "A friend she wants me to keep an eye on. The driver has been bringing her packages here to the hospital for her. She seems to care about her."
I felt my face crumple. Margot knew this was the end, and she was giving last messages, last instructions. "I'm so sorry," I said gruffly.
Wells nodded, his hands still in his pockets and his gaze on his sister. Margot closed her eyes again, turning her face away. I walked over to one of the chairs and sat down. "You'll never believe what's been happening with your bee girl."
Wells followed, sitting and seeming to relax a fraction at the mention of Evie. "Tell me."
Chapter Twenty-Four
