“Someone called 911 and they found you unresponsive on the scene. You nearly crashed on the way to the hospital, but the EMT brought you back.”
Casey’s voice cracks at that last part, and he drops his head into his hands and rubs his face.
“Fuck, Sage. I thought I’d lost you. I was so fucking scared.”
I hadn’t realized how close I’d come to dying, either. I think about all the people I would miss—Jane, Charlotte, Frankie… Casey. Oh, how I would miss Casey after we’d finally found each other.
But I would have seen my parents again. A tear falls down my cheek at the thought. I imagine my mother wrapping her arms around me like she did when I was small and my father picking me up and twirling me around. The tears fall furiously and Casey is there wiping them away.
“Don’t cry, baby. You’re here with me now.”
His beautiful face blurs through the tears, and despite my heart aching to see my parents again, I know I’m not ready to leave him. I don’t want to leave. I want to build a life here with Casey. I’ve felt so lonely for so long, but now I’m not alone. I have a future with Casey. As unexpected as that is, I see it clearly. It seemed so unlikely a few weeks ago, but now it’s all I can see. I open my mouth to tell him and catch a glimpse of the television in the hallway.
It’s the World Series. It’s still on, and the Jets are playing. Only Casey isn’t there. He’s here with me.
“What are you doing here? Why aren’t you playing in the World Series?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t care about that. This is where I need to be.”
Panic sets in my chest and I have a hard time breathing. “You can’t miss this because of me. You can’t. I won’t ever forgive myself.”
“It’s not because of you, Sage. I choose to be here. You’re not making me stay.”
“Maybe not, but I’m going to make you leave.”
“What?”
“Casey, I won’t ever forgive myself if you miss the World Series because of me. Ever. So, please, you must go back.”
“Sage, it’s not important.”
“It is important. I know how hard you’ve worked to get there. You went to hell and back. You clawed your way through injury both physically and mentally. I won’t let you miss this. I won’t.”
“Okay, okay,” he says, and I can feel my heart beating like a drum in my chest and the monitor beeping rapidly. “Don’t get riled up or that nurse will kick me out for real this time.”
He smiles, but I’m not letting him change the subject. “Promise me you’ll go.”
He looks away. “I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because I choose you, okay?”
I shake my head. “I don’t understand.”
“On my way here, I made a promise to myself. I said that if you made it, I would put you first. You would always come first, Sage. Not baseball, not anything. I intend to keep that promise.”
I look down at the hospital bed for the first time. I wiggle my toes and fingers. While I can move my extremities, my arm is in a sling. I feel battered and bruised but I can move. “I’m fine.”
“You seem to be healing from your internal injuries, but you fractured your shoulder and suffered a mild concussion that will take a little longer to heal.”
I nod. “So, I’ll live.”
He smiles. “Yes, you’ll live.”
“Good. Now go.”
“Sage!” He laughs and shakes his head at the same time.
