Something lit up at the surface; endless darkness was on the horizon, but the ground was illuminated by blinding white light. The trail of parted sand left by my hand was there.
Then I felt it, something covered my mouth.A mask, maybe?
Ten,I thought.Nine. Eight...
Charlotte in the kitchen, flour on her nose, laughing at something I'd said.
Seven... Six...
Charlotte on the bleachers, seventeen and glowing, telling me she thought I might be worth the trouble.
Five...
Charlotte this morning, hair flying, cheeks flushed, racing me toward a future we'd never reach.
Four...
I love you too. I should have said it sooner. I should have said it every day for fifteen years.
Three...
The light was fading again.
Two...
“Scalpel, get the suction cup ready.”
One.
13.Charlotte
Icounted the floor tiles eleven times before I realized what I was doing.
Forty-seven tiles from the door to the vending machine. Forty-seven from the vending machine to the window. Ninety-four tiles of beige speckled linoleum between me and knowing whether Miles was alive or dead.
"Ms. Huston?"
My head snapped up. A doctor stood in the doorway, still in surgical scrubs. There were rust-colored stains on the fabric, faded, almost washed out, but unmistakable. Blood. Miles's blood.
"Yes." I was on my feet before I consciously decided to stand. "I'm Charlotte Huston. I'm—" The word caught in my throat.What was I? His girlfriend? His emergency contact? The woman who'd been falling in love with him for the past month, or maybe for the past fifteen years?"I'm family."
The doctor nodded, gesturing to the chairs. "Please, sit. I'm Dr. Okonkwo. I performed Miles's surgery."
I sat. The vinyl cushion sighed beneath me.
"Can you tell me what happened?" He pulled out a small notepad. "In your own words."
"Pedestrian versus vehicle." My voice came out flat, clinical. The nurse in me took over because Charlotte couldn't handle this. "River path at Maple Street. The driver ran the stop sign. He was…"Smiling. He was turning back to smile at me."He was struck on his right side. Lost consciousness immediately. GCS around seven at the scene, maybe lower by the time EMS arrived."
"You were with him?"
"I'm an ER nurse at Riverside General." I swallowed hard. "I stabilized his head and neck. Kept pressure on the…" My voice cracked. I cleared my throat and forced myself to continue. "On the bleeding. Until the paramedics took over."
Dr. Okonkwo made a note, then looked up. "Ms. Huston, Miles survived the surgery."
I paused, couldn’t speak. My hand flew to my mouth, catching the sob that escaped.Survived. He survived.
"He's alive?" My voice came out strangled.
