She opens her mouth to say something but seems to change her mind.
I reach out to her.
She takes hold of my hand, being careful of the IV needle inserted in it, and closes the gap between us. “Soooo? How’s Whiskey doing with his new family? Ava told me they have two kids. I bet he loves that.”
“They didn’t adopt him.” I fight to keep the corners of my mouth from twitching up.
“Oh, no. Are they crazy? He’s absolutely adorable. How could they not want him?”
“I didn’t say they didn’t want him.”
“What happened? Why did they change their minds?”
“They didn’t change their minds. I did.”
She gasps, the sound so soft only the slight jerk of her chest gives it away. “You’re keeping him?”
I nod, then wince as a brief pain rips through my shoulder.
Sympathy and something else shines in her eyes. She releases my hand and cups my cheek.
I turn my head slightly and kiss her palm. “I couldn’t imaginenothaving him in my life.”
“You’re his forever home?”
“That’s right. I’m his forever home.”
She strokes my cheek with her thumb. “Even if something bad might happen to him?”
“Even then.”
Something in the way she smiles tells me she understands the full impact of my words. She leans down and brushes her lips against mine. They linger for a moment. “I love you.”
The words are so soft, I’m not sure I heard them correctly.
My heart beats loud and fast in my chest. If I were still hooked up to a heart rate machine, the nurse would be running in here to check that I’m okay.
Tell her how you feel, my heart implores.Tell her that you love her, too.
My brain has a different view of things. It’s one thing to love an animal and lose them. That’s hard enough. But to lose a person you love, that would be devastating.
Been there. Done that.
And yet here I am, very much alive—bullet hole in my shoulder notwithstanding.
“You can’t be chickenshit when it comes to love just because you’re afraid of losing the person. It means living each day as though it might be her last, making sure each one counts and isn’t wasted.”Jayden’s words rattle around in my head. Like they have for the past forty-eight hours.
“I love you, too.” My voice is low, but there’s no doubt what I said. The words ring loud and clear from deep in my soul. Words that have been there for the past few weeks, waiting for my idiot brain to get with the program.
Chloe and I have both lost people we’ve loved, and yet here we are, still standing.
All right, technically, I’m not standing. I’m lying in a hospital bed thanks to her asshole cousin. But the sentiment remains the same.
Chloe stares at me for a heartbeat, her eyes shiny with hope. Her gaze shifts to the clear bag hanging from the IV pole next to my bed.
I know what she’s thinking, but she couldn’t be any further from the truth. “When it comes to how I feel about you, I’m more than lucid. The drugs pumping in my veins have nothing to do with that.”
“No regrets tomorrow?”
