“But we got through. We kept trying, taking it one day, one hour at a time. We took it moment by moment.” He looks at me. “That’s what you need to do now.”
I swallow hard before saying the thing that’s really bothering me. “I’m worried Fletcher will get tired of it.”
His brows pinch together. “I thought he was being supportive?”
“He is.” I didn’t realize how badly I needed to talk about this. The pent-up anxiety is humming loudly under my skin, making me want to punch something. “But he didn’t know what he was signing up for, Ace. Hell, even I didn’t.”
My throat tightens. Saying it out loud makes the fear that much more real. What if he leaves me when it becomes too much?
“How can I prepare him for what’s coming when I don’t even know myself?”
My friend grips my arm, forcing me to stop. Bones pauses obediently at my side.
Ace is quiet for a long time, expression serious but soft at the same time, eye hidden under the black patch. “Answer me with a yes or no. Did heaskyou to be anything other than who you are right now?”
“No.”
“Did heaskfor guarantees?”
I shake my head again.
Ace tilts his head. “Exactly. He met you at your worst, Stone. He already knows the cost.”
“Not really. It’s going to get worse.”
He shakes his head. “He doesn’t know that any more than you do,” he says simply. “You said it yourself—everything is up in the air. So you need to trust him when he says he wants to be with you with whatever comes.”
I look away. I don’t know how to do that.
“You’re looking too far ahead anyway, trying to solve all the problems after one appointment. That’s impossible.”
I let out a humorless laugh. “That’s easy to say when your body isn’t the variable. This illness could make our life together very difficult. He might not want it.”
“See? You’re doing it again. You’re living ten steps ahead, trying to protect Fletcher from something that hasn’t even happened yet. You want to keep him from seeing you in pain.”
“Of course I do. He shouldn’t have to deal with any of this.”
He shakes his head. “That’s not your choice to make, though. It’s his.”
I huff. “Fletcher has a whole, rich life, Ace. He has a kid and a business, and everything. I don’t want to be the reason his life gets smaller.”
Ace’s voice softens. “You’renot.”
I glare at him.
“You’ve always thought this about yourself. But you’re not a burden for existing. Fuck your parents for making you believe that. You are never a burden to people who care about you. You hear me?”
“I will be! When this gets worse? When I can’t walk?”
“No. You won’t,” Ace says firmly, stepping closer. “Love doesn’t pick and choose, man. I promise you, Fletcher sees the whole picture, and he’s probably wishing he could take it away, just like I do. But he’s going to be there, just like I am. Because we care about you. We’re in this, Stoney. Not only for the easy parts.”
Not only for the easy parts.
Hadn’t Fletcher said something similar at the cabin? About not needing things to be easy?
Bones presses into my leg, brown eyes peering up at me, like he can feel my heart racing. I rest my hand on his head, fingers curling into his fur.
Ace lifts his prosthetic leg. “Do you remember what you said when I was being fitted for this?”
