I nod in understanding, making a mental note to fill the house with flowers for her when she can come home.
“Can she hear me?”
Claire leans in, pressing a light kiss to Madison’sforehead, her eyes tender. “We don’t know for sure,” she says. “But I believe she can. I believe it’s worth talking to her.”
Okay. Talking. I can do that. I’ll talk her ear off so much, she’ll want to wake up just to tell me to shut up.
“Will you be okay here alone?” Claire asks as she steps back from the bed. “I have a few patients of my own I have to go see.”
“You’re still working?”
She shrugs. “I like staying busy. Helps with the worry. The nurses here will page me if I’m needed.”
The door clicks shut behind her.
“Okay, baby girl,” I whisper. “It’s just you and me now.” I take a shuddering breath, my fingers tightening around hers. “I’m going to need you to wake up. Please. Can you do that for me, for all of us? Please wake up.”
Nothing.
The soft hiss of oxygen.
That steady beep.
The slow rise and fall of her chest.
“I’m sitting here watching you sleep.” I pause, rolling my lips. “Fuck. That sounds kind of creepy, doesn’t it?”
Seconds stretch.
“Madi, I’m so, so sorry.” My voice cracks. “I should have reached for you a second sooner. Maybe I could have grabbed your hand and pulled you back in time if I had.”
My forehead drops to the edge of the bed. I breathe in, then out, again and again, trying to control the storm tearing through my chest.
“I promise…” I swallow hard, the lump in my throat burning. “When you wake up, I’m going to make things right. No more wasting time. No more holding onto the past.”
My hand squeezes hers gently.
“This was always my plan, baby girl. I had those letters stuffed in my bag that morning. I was ready to jump with you. I was going to say it all after you—rightfully—handed my ass to me. I was going to tell you I agreed. That I was there to catch you. To prove it.”
I shake my head.
“I was going to give Halle her letters right after. Then the dirt shifted. The cliff fucking moved, and my whole future flashed in front of me.”
Leaning in, my fingers trail over her cheek.
“I don’t have a future without you in it. I’m going to spend the rest of my life proving that. Proving you’re my world. My life. If you forgive me… we’re going to build something epic together. I promise you.”
A thud breaks the silence.
My head snaps up.
Halle stands in the doorway, a bag dropped at her feet, Asher behind her, his glare locked on me.
“What letters?”
28
THIS WAS GOODBYE
