Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
I suck in a gasp. “What happened? Is he okay?”
He shakes his head side to side. “No honey, he’s not. There was an ambush, and his Humvee ran over an IED.”
I put my hand to my mouth. “A bomb?”
He nods softly.
“What hospital are they bringing him to? Where do we need to go?”
He walks toward me. “He didn’t make it, baby.”
I gasp and then shake my head quickly. “No. No, that’s not true. We just talked to him, Gabe. We just talked to him on the phone and—”
I stop and just stare at Gabe. He’s hurting, and it takes me a minute, but then it sinks in. Gabe waits patiently for me to process it all, and when he opens his arms, I dive against his chest. He holds me to him, and I let the tears fall. His arms go around my shoulders, then around my waist and then one at my shoulder and one at my waist. It’s like he doesn’t know how to hold me close enough. I cry into his chest, soaking his shirt with my tears. He’s whispering to me, “I know, baby. I know it hurts. I’m so sorry.”
I lean back and look up into his face. He’s hurting too, and it’s not right that he has to comfort me. I reach up and put my hands on each side of his face. His hair is out of its ponytail and wild around his face. He hasn’t shaved in a day or two, and he’s got a short beard on his chin. “I’m sorry, too, Gabe.”
A tear escapes and starts to roll down his cheek. I pull him down, kissing his tear-stained cheek and then lean my face next to his. My lips are touching his ear as I whisper, “I’m so sorry, Gabe.”
We stand here for I don’t know how long. We’re holding on to each other, breathing in unison, relying on each other to get us through this.
Gabe voice is soft. “I talked to your director and told her what’s happened. She has someone covering your shift. Bethany said she would do it if they couldn’t get someone else. We’re all meeting at King’s house.”
“Okay. Good. That’s good.”
He pulls back to look at me. “You need to grab your bag?”
I nod, looking back at the door I just came from and then back at Gabe. “Will you go with me?”
He grabs my hand. “Yeah, honey. I’ll go with you.”
We walk toward the stairwell, the two flights up and down the hall. We walk into the lounge room ,and luckily there are only a few other nurses in there. I nod at them, and they must have already heard from Bethany because they all give us some space. I walk straight to my locker and open the door. Gabe reaches in and grabs my pink bag, putting it over his shoulder. “You need anything else?”
I shake my head side to side.
He shuts the door, and on our way out, one of my friends calls out, “Call if you need anything, Chrissy.”
I smile and wave at her and then walk out of the lounge. The whole way through the hospital and into the parking lot, Gabe is holding my hand. It’s not until he’s leading me to his truck that I remember my car is here. “My car is over in the employee parking.”
He opens his truck door, picks me up, and sets me in the seat. “I’ll take care of your car.”
“But—” I start, and he doesn’t let me get it all out.
“Chrissy, please, let me do this for you, okay? This is what I need… please?”
I nod, and he puts the seat belt around me and buckles it, shuts my door, and then walks around to his side of the truck.
We ride in silence into Whiskey Run. It’s a thirty-minute ride from the hospital, and it gives me way too much time to think. I’m overwhelmed, thinking of all of it. It’s not until we get to King’s house and are about to pull into the driveway that I tell Gabe what has been on my mind. “Thank you for not listening to me last night.”
He slowly pulls into the driveway and parks toward the end of the driveway. It looks like all my brothers are already here. “When I told you I thought we should take a break. I couldn’t handle this without you.”
Gabe turns off his truck and twists in his seat to look at me. “Honey, there’s not going to be a break for us. And we’re going to handle this together, okay?”
I sniff, trying to hold back the tears. “Okay.”
He gets out of the truck and comes around to help me out. He holds my hand the whole way inside, and as soon as we get through the door, King, Holden, and Dom are coming toward us. They each hug us, and I’m trying to hold back the tears, but no matter what, I can’t do it. They start to fall freely, and I’m back in Gabe’s arms.