She groans. “Oh, come on! Tell me something — anything!”
“Nope,” I grin, popping the P. “Stop meddling in other people’s business and focus on your own. Anyway, don’t you have a game soon?”
“Stop trying to switch the topic,” she grumbles, taking her hand out of mine, and folding her arms in front of her chest. “But, yes. Next weekend.”
“Good. You need to be doing things kids your age do. You need at least some semblance of normalcy.”
Aria sighs, running her fingers through her hair. “Yeah. I’ve never really had that, have I? I’m turning eighteen soon, and then I’ll be done with high school.”
“And you’ll go to university.”
“Do I really have to?” she questions.
I shrug. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. But you should look into your options. Money wise, you’re set for life. But maybe you’ll find something you’re passionate about, and that’s worth exploring.”
“I’ll do that. Maybe I’ll go to med school or something.”
“You?” I lift a brow. “Sure. That’ll be fun to watch.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re Hudson 2.0. You have no patience. You’re trying to tell me you’ll go through years and years of school, then residency, then if you pick your own specialization? Please, I know you better than that. You’ll drop out before the first semester ends, and that’s if you even get in.”
“Hater,” she grumbles under her breath. “Fine, maybe not med school. But I could go for economics.”
“Do whatever you want, Squirt. You know you’ll always have my full support.”
She smiles. “Thank you. It means the world to me to know that I have you in my corner.”
“You’ll always have me in your corner, Aria. Don’t you ever doubt that.”
“Okay,” she smiles. “Thank you.”
I turn to look at Mom, leaning in and placing a kiss on her forehead. Noelle Campbell is one hell of a woman. If anyone can pull through this, it’s her. If not for herself, I know she’d never leave Dad or us. Call me selfish, but if I need to try and guilt-trip her into waking up, I’ll do that. Anything just to see her open her eyes again. Losing her has never been a part of the equation, and it never will be. She’s too young to die, and we’re too fucking useless without her. She’s the glue keeping us all together, and she has to wake up.
For her own sake, too.
“I love you, Mom,” I mutter, kissing her forehead again. “We’ll all be here when you’re ready to wake up. Take all the time you need, and we’ll all be waiting. Just come back to us, please.”
“There are so many things you’ve missed,” Aria says. “And I don’t want you to miss my graduation. I need you there. So, please, wake up.”
The silence in the room is eerie. Nothing but the sound of Mom’s heart monitor can be heard, and that’s okay. Somehow, I know our words have reached her. It might be wishful thinking, but it’s what keeps me going at the moment, so I choose to believe in it. Mom will wake up, and she’ll recover from this. Sometime very soon, this will be all a memory that we can look back on together.
“Let’s go, Squirt,” I say, voice soft. “The doctor should get here soon. I want to speak to him.”
Aria’s reluctant to let go of Mom’s hand, her eyes glued to her sleeping face. “You go. I want to stay a little longer. Call me when it’s time to go.”
I nod. “It’s going to be soon, since we have to go visit Dad, too.”
“Okay.”
I stand from the chair, stretching my arms above my head. With one, last glance at Aria and Mom, I head out of the room, in search of the doctor. All of this has taken a massive toll on our family, and the only way we’ll be able to recover from it is to have her back.
And we will because Mom has never been a quitter. She won’t become one now.
FOUR
“Are you sure this is where we’re supposed to be?”
