Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Olive
Two days later, we were getting out of the
car in front of Devlin’s club, Mad Play. The logo for the club was two Ms intertwined
with each other in a geometric shape. I had no idea what it meant since it
wasn’t the initials of the club, but it was cool as hell.
Jason and I had met with his friend over
dinner before he headed to his club ahead of us. Even though we had barely
spent an hour together, he was very charming throughout the entire diner—maybe
a little too charming, the kind that would sweet talk you out of your panties
if given the chance.
Imagining him wreaking havoc in New York
with a single Jason had led to a multitude of scenarios going through my mind.
Those two would break hearts left and right, and they probably already had. On
a side note, I had loved how Jason had introduced me as his wife. I wasn’t sure
if he would let him know this was all a play for the public eye. Since my best
friend knew, I’d assumed he would share that with Devlin, just like Alvin was
in on the whole thing.
Speaking of Alvin, he was supposed to meet
us at the club with his girlfriend, but as far as we knew he hadn’t made it
yet.
The biggest surprise of the night,
however, was getting a text message from Lucy that said Char and her friend
Lily were coming with her. Not having any idea how that would go down, I
decided not to dwell on it for the time being.
Since there would be drinking involved,
Jason had a driver drop us off. When I saw all the paparazzi huddled in front
of the club, I held on to Jason’s hand tighter and exited the car right after
him.
Wrapping his hand more securely around
mine, he put his other hand at the small of my back and guided me toward the
entrance. The bulky guard at the front didn’t even check our names as we were
ushered in before the paparazzi could swarm us.
“Does it ever get easier?” I asked,
slightly breathless from jogging the short distance. The music was loud enough
that Jason had to lean down to hear what I was saying. I repeated my question
when he was close enough.
“The paparazzi, the constant
following…does it ever get easier?”
He shook his head in a distracted manner
and curled his arm around my waist, pulling me close to his body as a beautiful
blonde approached us with a smiling face. Of course, she only had eyes for
Jason and ignored me completely. I was getting used to it.
Really.
I definitely didn’t wanna gouge her eyes
out or anything.
That would be gruesome.
“Hello Mr. Thorn. My name is Drew. We
were waiting for you. If you can follow me, I’ll take you to Devlin.”
Jason didn’t reply, gave her a stiff
nod, and pretty much shattered the girls dreams, judging by the look on her
face.
Smug, I stood a bit straighter and gave
the girl a brilliant smile when she finally gave me a dismissing glance.
Fuck her.
After walking through a hallway filled
with mirrors and lights, we found ourselves at the mouth of the club where you
could see the sea of bodies dancing under the flashing lights. A remix of the
latest song by The Weeknd was blasting through the speakers and from what I
could see, it looked like everyone was having the time of their lives.
As we started following the girl,
skirting around the gyrating bodies, Jason positioned me in front of him and
kept his hands on me at all times.
Trusting him to guide me in the right
direction, I took out my phone from the small clutch in my hands and sent a
quick text to Lucy asking if they had arrived.
By the time we made it to Devlin’s side
and the blonde gave Jason one last longing look, Lucy had texted back, saying
they were already inside. After sending one last text that asked her to meet us
at the bar area where we were, I gave all of my attention to Jason.
“Your friends are here?” he asked as
soon as I tucked my phone back into my purse.
“Yes. I told her where we are.” I looked
around me and noticed that no one was bothering Jason. No one was coming at us,
begging to take a picture with him or have him sign any of their body parts.
“Marcus?” he asked, his voice tighter
than I would’ve liked.
“No,” I said shortly and turned my eyes
to Devlin. “Are you sure it’s safe for Jason to be down here?”
Devlin let out a sexy laugh. If Jason
hadn’t been my Jason, the guy I wanted to have babies with, I would have been
content with just watching his friend. “Aww, how sweet of your little wife to
be worried about you, Jason,” he yelled to be heard.
Jason’s thumb brushed the underside of
my breast.
“So, what do you think of my new place?”
Devlin asked, opening his arms.
Sure, let’s ignore little Olive.
Despite feeling annoyed at being
dismissed again, I had to admit, his
place
did look amazing. The general
color scheme of the venue was black, white, and gold. There were white balloons
dipped in gold paint floating around the place and my hands were itching to
steal a few of them.
“It looks amazing,” I said, looking at
the female bartenders that were wearing pretty gold dresses. The guys were
wearing black slacks with white button downs, complementing the girls
perfectly. The whole concept was simple, but sexy.
“What she said,” Jason said with a sexy
chin lift.
Looking satisfied with the answer,
Devlin nodded. “What can I get you guys?” he asked, leaning toward us.
“I have to be on set tomorrow so I’ll
only have one and I’ll take that later,” Jason answered his friend before
glancing down at me.
“I’ll have a Long Island,” I murmured,
looking up at him.
God, was it a good time to lick that
dimple? Or those lips, I would have been content with licking those lips…
Smiling at me as if he could hear my
thoughts, he fitted his hand around my neck and brushed a small kiss at the
edge of my mouth.
“Happy?” he asked, showing me a bit of
his dimple.
Holding on to his forearm, I leaned up
and kissed his dimple as my answer. When I leaned back, his dimple was out full
force. Taking my drink from Devlin, I rested my back against Jason’s chest and
listened to them talk as I waited for the girls to find us.
Despite the thumping music, I heard Lucy
yelling my name before I actually saw them. Jason took my drink from my hand
before I splashed it all over my pretty dress.
“You look amazing,” I said to Lucy,
twirling her around to check out her dress. She was wearing a black lace dress
with a plunging neckline. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that short. “I’m guessing
Jameson is coming?” I asked, lifting an eyebrow.
She rolled her eyes, but her lips tipped
up with a smile. “Maybe.”
“Maybe is good. I’ll take those odds.”
She gave me a brief hug and then I saw Char and Lily coming through the crowd
behind us.
When Char spotted me, she gave me a
small smile. For the life of me I couldn’t see anything wrong with it. Letting
go of Lucy, I hugged Char and said hi to Lily. I’d only seen her a few times
around campus, but she looked kind.
After the girls said hi to Jason and
Devlin, they ordered their drinks. When Jason’s arm sneaked around me while I
was talking to Lily, I turned my head to look at him, but his attention was on
Devlin telling him a story about their mutual friend.
“Can we talk for a few minutes when we
find a quiet spot?” Char asked, leaning toward me.
I smiled. “Of course.”
So what if they were together? I wasn’t
Marcus’ keeper, and if Char actually had feelings for him, even if they’d
started when we were dating… Well, I hoped they were happy, or at least would
be. So, I would listen to her and be okay with whatever she wanted to tell me.
“Come on. Let’s dance,” Lucy said,
pulling Lily to the dance floor with her. Motioning for me to follow, she
turned her back and started dancing with a more than ready to let loose Lily.
“Do you want me to show you the private
rooms, Jason?” Devlin asked, saving me from humiliation. As much as I loved the
atmosphere of a club, I wasn’t the best dancer out there. Sure, I could shake
my ass, do a dip, jump around, and that sort of stuff, but I wasn’t drunk
enough to jump on the dance floor quite yet.
“You can stay with your friends if you
want,” Jason said, pushing my wavy hair away from my face.
I fitted my hand into his. “No, I want
to come with you.”
After letting Char know that we were
going up to check out the private rooms, we left the girls downstairs and
followed Devlin up to the third floor where the VIP rooms were located.
“There is a security guard waiting right
outside every occupied room, and you’ll have your own bartender to prepare you
whatever you want from the bar,” Devlin said, letting us into a dimly lit room.
To my surprise it wasn’t cut off from
the rest of the club at all. At the right side of the room, there was a small
balcony with a railing where you had a bird’s eye view of the entire club.
Since the private rooms were located only on the left side of the building,
there was no way anyone could see who was in the private rooms or what they were
doing in there. I doubted anyone looking up from the dance floor could make out
anything in the dark either.
A huge leather sectional covered an
entire wall and in front of it, there was an equally big leather ottoman. The
chandelier that hung from the ceiling was the only light source in the room. In
the far left corner of the room there was a small bar, fully loaded, presumably
for those A-listers who didn’t want to waste time waiting for their drinks to
arrive.
A security guard came inside and pulled
Devlin to the corner of the room, speaking in hushed tones.
“You want to bring your friends up
here?” Jason asked, coming to my side as I took in the room. “It’s nice, but
you will be pretty isolated from the crowd, though.”
“Guys,” Devlin said, grabbing our
attention. “Is it okay if I join you later? The guys are having a problem at
the door. I better go handle that. Please, invite your friends up and use the
room in any way you want, Olive. If you call out to Anthony, who is guarding
the door, he’ll make sure to send a bartender up here.”
“Everything okay?” Jason asked.
He gave him a nod and patted him on his
shoulder. “Nothing to worry about. A few uninvited people making a ruckus
outside. I’ll come back when things are more settled down, okay?”
Devlin left and I braced myself on my
elbows on the railing as I gazed down at the dance floor. The DJ changed the
music and the dark notes of Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” filled the space. It was
a more erotic remix of it, the bass lower and more powerful.
When I couldn’t hear Jason, I looked
over my shoulder to see him closing the door and turning the lights off. Then
he came toward me and positioned himself behind me. His arms went around my
waist and he straightened me up from the railing.
“Don’t hang over the railing like that,”
he murmured next to my ear. I turned my head and showed him my neck. When he
ghosted small kisses on my skin, I could feel his lips tip up to a smile.
“Thank you for inviting my friends,” I
said, feeling the music working its way into my bloodstream.
Jason must’ve felt the change in my mood
because his hands started traveling lower and when he got a hold of my hips, he
pulled me back and let me feel his lengthening erection.
“You look beautiful. I like your dress.”
He bit into my earlobe and I couldn’t hold back the moan that escaped my lips.
“It’s one of the dresses your stylist
left with me for the London premiere.” I was wearing a black and brown
Alexander Wang V-neck dress. More than sexy, I felt beautiful in it. The hem of
the dress was also shaped in V, and there was an open slit in the back, too.
Feeling Jason’s shirt brush my bare skin through that small opening heightened
my pleasure.
“Hmmm,” Jason murmured. I guess he
didn’t care about the dress that much. “We should get your friends up here. I
don’t think I’m a fan of sharing you, but we did invite them after all.” My
toes curled in my shoes from the pleasure his words were causing.
I linked our hands together and pulled
them back up to my waist, or more like just under my breasts.
“I’ll go get them,” I said, closing my
eyes and moving my hips along with the rhythm of the music.
I didn’t want to go anywhere.
“Does my baby want to play again?” Jason
asked as he bent his head down to my neck and gently sucked on my skin.
I groaned and let him push my lower body
against the railing. “Don’t say that when we can’t do anything about it.”
Letting go of his hands, I lifted mine up and wound them around his neck.
Pulling his head down to my lips, I kissed him slowly. Then with a growl he slipped
his tongue inside my mouth and took things further.
The music pounding in my head, I already
felt drunk. The funny thing was, I had only taken a few sips from my drink.
“Who says we can’t do anything about
it?”
He gripped my chin, a little more aggressively
than I was expecting, which only caused more wetness to seep into my panties.
He kissed me until I was seeing stars behind my closed eyelids. When one of his
hands skimmed my dress and cupped one of my breasts, I moaned into his mouth
and threaded my fingers into his hair.
When we separated to take several gasps
of breath, I was smiling.
“What are you smiling at?” he asked, his
voice raspy from all the kissing.
“Nothing.” He gave me a disbelieving
look. “Nothing,” I repeated. “It’s just, I think I like kissing you a little
too much, and somehow you seem to like it almost as much as I do.”
“And that surprises you?”
“Yeah.” He wouldn’t understand, but
yes…finally kissing someone you’d longed to kiss for so many years and actually
having him kiss you back with just as much passion…it was indescribable. The
only thing I could say was that it did something to your heart, something that
knocked you on your ass with the unexpected force of it.
“My heart is beating just for you,
Jason,” I whispered against his lips as I made sure to look into his eyes. Did
he understand how much I loved him? How long I had loved him? Because I could
almost feel it pouring out of me.
The door opened and the connection
between us broke.
Lucy’s head appeared in the doorway. “Is
it okay if we come in?”
I took a step away from the hot body
that was plastered to my back and went to open the door wider so the girls
could get in. Lucy had the biggest grin on her face, but managed to keep her
mouth closed.
Two tequila shots and one and a half
Long Island Iced Teas later, Char pulled me away from our little group to the
small bar at the corner.
“I know Lucy told you that she saw us,
but it’s not what you think, Olive,” she said, putting down her pink cocktail
on the glass surface.
“Honestly, I’m not thinking anything.
I’m trying not to. If you guys have started something, I’ll be happy for you.”
Her eyes hardened for a moment, but
before I could even guess what it was that I saw in her eyes, it disappeared.
“You don’t understand, Liv.”
Again with the name…
When Lily let out a big laugh that
reached across the room to us, I looked over my shoulder to see her laughing
with Jason and Lucy. I smiled when Jason caught my eye, took a sip of his
drink, and gave me a wink.
Char touched my arm so I turned back to
her again.
“Marcus and I…” Stopping mid-sentence,
she picked up her drink and took a big swallow. “We might have slept
together…while you were still with him.”
My stomach dropped and my eyebrows
reached almost up to my hairline. I swallowed and gently put my drink down.
“Please say you didn’t do that.”
She gave me a small, sad smile. “I don’t
know how it happened, Olive. I swear to you, it wasn’t more than a few times,
but I know that doesn’t make it any better. I’m sorry I haven’t told you before
today.”
A few times?
“You slept with Marcus while I was still
with him? When you knew I loved him? No way Charlotte. You wouldn’t do that
to.”
“You guys were growing apart.” She took
a deep breath. “Remember the time you went back home to San Francisco for a
week, after one of your fights?” I didn’t say anything, didn’t even nod. She
sighed. “It happened then. We were both half-drunk the first time it
happened—not so drunk that we didn’t know what we were doing, but you know…it
made it easier to overlook the fact that you were together, I guess.”
How nice of them.
“I’m assuming not so drunk the other
times it happened,” I said in a stony tone.
She shook her head and looked down. “I’m
sorry, Olive. I never thought this would happen to me.”
“To you? What happened to
you
,
Charlotte?”
“You’re my best friend, Olive. Do you
think I was thrilled to realize I had feelings for my best friend’s boyfriend?
Can you understand how much it hurt to see him with you after what happened
between us?”
“Wow. Should I say sorry for the
inconvenience?”
I took a step back.
She grabbed my arm and stopped me before
I could get away from her.
“Please don’t be angry with me, Olive.
You didn’t love Marcus. We both knew it. You never loved him like you love
Jason.”
“How can you decide that for me,
Charlotte? Of course I loved Marcus. Maybe I should remind you that he was the
one who dumped me, not the other way around.” I pulled my arm back and she
dropped her hand. “Why did you think it was a good idea to tell me this now?
Why bother? So much time has passed and you can actually have Marcus all to
yourself. Why not just keep it to yourself?”
“I think Marcus is holding himself back
because he thinks you’ll go back to him. Whatever you decide I wanted you to
have all the facts. We got together—”
I lifted my hand up and cut her off. “I
don’t think I want to hear anything more Charlotte.” I shook my head in
disbelief. “Are you about to tell me that I should talk to Marcus and tell him
that we are never getting back together? Is that why you told me this? To make
sure I would never go back to him if Jason dumped me?”
“Girls? What’s going on?” Lucy came up
behind us. I hadn’t realized that our voices were carrying over to them.
“Olive,” Charlotte said, ignoring Lucy.
“It’s not like that. I didn’t think you—”
“That’s the problem, I don’t think you
are thinking at all,” I said and turned my back to her. “Can we go down to the
bathroom or something?” I asked Lucy. I was just realizing that my hands were
shaking. She looked into my eyes and nodded without asking anything.
My eyes were starting to water.
I glanced at Jason, but he was in a
conversation with Lily, his brows furrowed, so I slipped out before he could
see the state I was in. I didn’t want him to think that this was about Marcus.
Lucy grabbed my hand as soon as we were
out of the room and steered me downstairs.
We found a bathroom one floor down that
was just for the private rooms, so as soon as we got in, Lucy guided me to sit
down on the bench in front of the mirrors. If my mind hadn’t been reeling with
what Char had just told me, I would’ve enjoyed the décor in the bathroom, but
unfortunately, I could barely see Lucy kneeling in front of me.
“What’s wrong, Olive? What did Char
say?”
A few tears escaped my eyes and slid down
my cheeks before I could wipe them away. “She slept with Marcus while we were
still together.”
Lucy straightened up then sat down next
to me. “Say that again?”
I nodded and wiped away more tears. Why
was I even crying? Was I really sad because Marcus had lied to me, had cheated
on me with my friend? I thought about it, but it didn’t take hold. It wasn’t
what Marcus had done that was breaking my heart. It was Charlotte.
I got up and started to pace in front of
Lucy. “Why am I even crying? This is so stupid.”
“Can you start from the top and tell me
exactly what she said to you?”
I nodded and told her everything Char
had said.
“I’m sorry, Olive. I don’t know what to
say. All I can think is where the hell was I when they were sneaking into each
other’s rooms?”
“Looks like I was wherever you were. I
would never have thought Char would do something like this.”
“Are you going to talk to Marcus?”
A girl stumbled into the bathroom,
heading straight toward the stalls.
“Why would I?” I asked, getting out of
the way before she could take me down.
Lucy’s phone started to vibrate in her
hand, so she held up a finger to me and answered her phone.
“Jameson, where are you?” Her brows drew
together and she shot up from her seat. “What? Which hospital?”
At her words my body froze.
“Yes. I understand. Thank you.”
Ending the call, she sat back down, then
shakily tried to stand back up.
“Hey, easy there,” I said, helping her
up. “Tell me what he said.”
Instead of answering me, she said, “He
was supposed to be here by now.”
“Lucy,” I snapped my finger in front of
her face a few times. “Focus. What did Jameson say?”
“It wasn’t Jameson. It was a nurse.
Jameson was in an accident, he…he is going into surgery in half an hour.”
I waited to hear more, but she just
stood there, staring at me helplessly.
“Come on, we are leaving,” I said,
pulling her along with me.
We exited the club in a hurry and jumped
into the first cab we saw sitting at the curb. Thankfully, there were no
paparazzi around to capture our departure.
“Jason,” Lucy said in a tearful voice.
“You didn’t tell Jason you were leaving.”
“I know. I don’t have my phone with me
so I’ll have to text him from your phone. Let’s just focus on getting to
Jameson before he goes into surgery, okay? The hospital is close enough, we
should make it there in time.” I gave her hand a squeeze. She hadn’t let go of
it ever since we’d run out of the bathroom.
Her grip tightened on mine and I heard
her breath hitch.
“Can we please go a little faster?” I
begged the cab driver.
Lucy dropped her head on my shoulder.
“You were right, the other day. I love him,” she confessed, then more heatedly,
added, “And I hate him for making me fall in love with him.”
“Baby,” I said gently, trying not to
laugh. “I’m sure he is already aware of that fact. Even your professors know.”
“I always push him away.” Her voice
broke. “I didn’t even tell him that I hate him. He should know how much I hate
him for making me fall in love with him.”
Maneuvering my arm from under her head,
I hugged her to me and held on. “If he doesn’t know—even though I’m pretty sure
he does—you’ll tell him before he goes into surgery okay? He’ll be happy to
finally hear the words from your mouth. We’re almost there, sweetheart.”
As soon as the cab dropped us at the
emergency entrance, we rushed inside and found a nurse that could help us. We
made it to his side just before they took him into the operating room, but
seeing him unconscious and all banged up didn’t help Lucy calm down at all.
Before they could wheel him away from us, I heard Lucy’s heated whisper,
since
you made me fall in love with you, you better get well soon so I can torture
you for what you did to me!
His doctor assured us that even though
his injuries were serious, they weren’t life threatening. Apparently, his
motorcycle had collided with a speeding car. He had a broken leg and multiple
fractures to his shoulder blade and forearm along with various cuts and
bruises.
“Tell me he is going to be okay, Olive,”
Lucy said once we sat down in the waiting room.
“He
is
going to be okay, Lucy.
You heard his doctor, he is in good hands.” She nodded and kept silent.
“You should call his friends,” I said
after some time. “I’m sure he’d like to see them once it is okay for him to
have visitors.”
“Here, I forgot.” She handed me her
phone. “You should call Jason first. I’m sure he is wondering where the hell
you are. I’ll call Jameson’s friends after that.”
I took the phone. “I’ll be right back.
Don’t move from this seat.”
Meeting my eyes for the first time since
we’d gotten the phone call, she gave me a small smile. “Thank you, Olive.”
I huffed. “For what?”
“For holding me up. For running out of
there without a second thought.” Her eyes started to water, but she had a small
grin on her face when she said, “I’m not sure I could’ve left Jason Thorn behind
for you.”
“I’m sure enough for both of us. You
wouldn’t leave his side for a moment. You made that pretty clear.” I said. “And
save those crocodile tears for Jameson; I’m sure he’ll be happy to see how much
you care.”
She gave me a laugh; it was shaky, but I
would take it. “That bastard would like that, wouldn’t he? He would probably
puff out his chest and let everyone know that I cried for him.” Sighing, she
shook her head. “Go ahead and call your husband. I’ll wait right here.”
Not wanting to go too far away from
Lucy, I found a quiet corner where I could still keep Lucy in sight and quickly
dialed Jason’s number. It rang several times and then his voicemail picked up.
I left him a short message that explained where I was and what had happened and
asked him to call me back before he came charging in there. It was his friend’s
night and he didn’t have that many friends around him; I didn’t want him to
leave abruptly when there was nothing he could do at the hospital.
Taking my seat next to Lucy again, I
shook my head at her. “He isn’t picking up. I left him a voicemail and I’m sure
he’ll get back to me when he sees it.”
We settled down in our seats and the
waiting game started.
After four hours, Jameson was out of
surgery.
After those same four hours, there was
still no call from Jason.
***
At 5:30 AM, I was using Lucy’s key to
get into the apartment, and I was doing some major praying and begging to
anyone that was listening up there that I wouldn’t come face to face with
Charlotte or Marcus. When I managed to sneak into Lucy’s room without waking
anyone up, I sighed a breath of relief. I didn’t actually know if anyone was
home, but to be on the safe side, I tried my best not to make any noise and
packed up a change of clothes for both Lucy and me. I left the building just as
quietly as I had come in.
At that moment, I was more worried about
not hearing back from Jason. At first, I’d thought maybe he was angry at me for
not letting him know I was leaving with Lucy, but then I thought maybe he
wasn’t angry at all but just couldn’t come to the hospital because everyone
would recognize him. I also thought that was a lame excuse.
But then, why wouldn’t he call me back?
Why wouldn’t he respond to any of my voicemails? Had something happened back at
the club that I wasn’t aware of?
Maybe an earthquake had hit?
When I made it back to the hospital,
Lucy was sitting exactly where I had left her.
“Any word from the doctors?” I asked as
I put down the small bag on the seat in between us.”
“Still in ICU. They’ll let me know when
I can see him. I left voicemails for a few of his friends, I’m sure they’ll get
down here as soon they get it.”
“His family?”
She shook her head and finally looked at
me. She looked better than before, but I could see that she was struggling to
sit up straight. What a cluster fuck of a night for both of us.
“He has an aunt and a grandma, but they
live in Florida. I’m not sure if they’ll be up for the travel. I’ll let him
call them himself. Why didn’t you change your clothes back at the apartment?”
“Wasn’t sure if anyone was home.” I gave
her a half-shrug and tightened my hand on the bag’s handle. “Didn’t want to
risk waking them up with the noise.”
She nodded and turned her head to the
nurses station. I rubbed my eyes and rose up from my seat. “Come on, we stick
out like a sore thumb in these dresses. We’ll be back in a minute.”
I guided a reluctant Lucy toward the
restrooms and quickly changed into more comfortable clothes. While the leggings
and flats were actually my own stuff I had left at the apartment when I was
moving, the baseball tee was hers and it sat a little too snug on my chest.
“How are my leggings not cutting off at
your knees?” Lucy asked once she was done changing.
“They’re not yours,” I explained with a
smile. “Some of mine. I must have left them behind.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“Lucy, you don’t look so good. How about
you rest your eyes for a few minutes while I wait to hear back from the
doctor?” She linked her arm with mine and we walked back to our seats.
“You don’t look so fine either,” she
pointed out.
“Thanks. How kind of you,” I said in a
flat tone and she gave me a small chuckle. I’d take that one, too. “Come on, if
the doctor comes out, I’ll wake you.”
Once we reached our seats, Lucy noticed
a doctor wearing scrubs talking to a middle-aged woman and her hand tightened
on my arm.
“It’s not the same doctor, don’t worry,”
I said, patting her hand. It didn’t escape my notice that the woman was crying
a bucket of tears.
“Thank you for coming with me, Olive,”
she said again as we sat back down.
“Where else would I be?”
She took a good look at me, then rested
her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes. “I bet by the time I wake up Jason
will call. Here, take this.” Reaching for her pocket, she handed me her phone.
“It’s on vibrate so keep it on you.”
“Thanks,” I said, turning the phone over
and over in my hands.
In a few minutes, she was out like a
light. While Lucy slept on my shoulder, the waiting room filled and emptied
several times. None of the voices disturbed her sleep.
Early in the morning, when the doc came
to take her back to Jameson’s room, she almost looked like her normal self.
I chose to wait in the waiting room for
a while longer. A few minutes after she left, her phone started going crazy
with notifications in my hand. Thinking it was either Jason or one of Jameson’s
friends, I swiped at the screen.