“I was just going to check on Jace.Stay.”He pulls away from me with his head bent, he clears his throat and walks past Ava.
“Is he okay?”
I look at her sitting next to me and quietly compose myself from the inside out.“Yeah.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yep.What’s up with you?”
“Nothing.You don’t want to listen to my trivial drama.What you have going on makes me feel a little guilty about the things I call problems.”
I wrap my hands around her wrist and pull her to me.“Tell me your problems.I need to take my mind off mine for a while.You’ll be helping me.”She lets out an overly exaggerated sigh and tells me what Chris said in the hall.
“Did something happen between you?”
“When you were out of it, we hung out in the hospital a lot.Once, out of nowhere, I broke down, I thought I was going to lose my best friend.I’m lying, I was crying all over the place from the moment Gage told me you were in the hospital.I was over the moon ecstatic when you woke up.Every time I saw Jace I was crying, thinking what if he never gets to know how great his mother is.I was full-on Tammy Faye scaring the kid.Thank goodness Chris was there to lead me away and tell me you were going to wake up, because there was no way you were going to leave him alone with your dumbass family.”She takes a deep breath, looks up, and fans her hands in front of her face.
Ava hardly ever cries.“I’m here.It feels good to know I’d be missed.”
“You would be more than missed.”
She surprises me and throws her arms around me, crushing my body to hers.I smile and pat her back.“Tell me, did you kiss?”
“Yes, but it was different this time.”
“How?”
“We were sitting in his car, looking up at the sky.He leaned in and kissed me, and I just let it happen.No buildup, no me manipulating the situation.It was me and him, and it was…it was, different.It was good.”
“Nothing else happened?”
“No.I said goodnight, gave him a very polite kiss on the cheek, and went inside.”
“That’s great.”
“Yeah, it was.I think I blew it in the hallway.It’s all shot to hell now.”
“No, it’s not.Watch and see.Let it play out, let him see the side of you I see all the time, the side you’ve been showing him.Not just the balls to the wall, take no shit side.He won’t be able to help but to fall for you.All Spice who?”She throws her head back and laughs, high-fiving me.
“No, it’s Old Spice.All spice is her little sister and Sazon is her cousin, okaaay?”
I’m laughing so hard I feel lightheaded.Ava, Ava, Ava.How can you not love her?
A week later the doctorshave run all the tests on me they need to.I’m released from the hospital, but Jace has to stay another week.I was not happy about that, neither was Nick.I tried not to lose it and scream at everyone in there.Knowing I was on the edge, Nick tried to calm me down by not making a big deal out of it, reassuring me he was in good hands.We put my stuff in the car and sat in silence for thirty minutes until I couldn’t take it anymore.
“This doesn’t feel right.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
“Nick, I’m not leaving him alone in here.”
“What do you want to do?”
“We are going to go back in there, and you’re going to make them let us stay by any means necessary.Use your connections, do what you do.We are not leaving this hospital without one of us being with him.Whatever it takes.”
“You are more like me than you know,” he says, sounding amused.
“Then we’re a perfect match.Let’s go see our son.”
