Page 77 of Forever Mine
“How is she?”
“They’re doing an MRI now.”
“She had a seizure?”
So many worries take up residence in my thoughts. Liz has been through so much, and now this.
The stubble of his cheek scratches my neck when he nods. “That’s what the ER doctor thinks, but he doesn’t know for sure.”
Tears soak into the collar of my shirt.
“Liz is going to be just fine.”
I hope to God I’m not lying, but it’s what he needs to hear.
“It’s not only that.” His shoulders shake when he takes a shuddered breath. “Jay found out. He and Ry got into a fight at the library in front of Liz. And then she… Jay said she became unresponsive and started shaking and…”
I don’t know what to do to make things better, so I guide us to a nearby bench and hold him as he breaks. My heart breaks right along with him.
Pulling away, he swipes agitatedly at the tears. “I hate crying.”
I catch a tear with my thumb. “A good cry can be cathartic.”
“Let’s agree to disagree.”
I run a comforting hand over his upper back, kneading at the tension that has taken root in his shoulders.
“You hungry? I can make a run for food or coffee and bring it back. The stuff they serve in the cafeteria is godawful.”
He sniffs as he dries his eyes. “I remember.” Julien looks around as if searching for something. “I thought I saw Fallon.”
“He left.”
“I guess that’s for the best. Jay doesn’t need another reason to flip out.”
Taking my hand, he brushes fingertips around each knuckle. Julien has beautiful hands. Long fingered and wide palmed.
“Liz’s cousin, that guy, Daniel, who took guardianship over her, is here. He flew in from Seattle this morning to visit her. He seems decent. He got her a private room.” Julien’s knees bounce.He shifts. Crosses his ankles. Uncrosses them. “I just want her to be okay. She needs to be okay.”
When he looks at me, I kiss him. “Liz is a fighter. Titanium, just like me.”
He smiles, but it’s a sad smile. “I should get back in. I need to make sure Jay and Ry don’t kill each other. You don’t have to stick around if you’d rather leave.”
I bump his shoulder. “Family sticks together.”
I mean that with every fiber of my being. Julien, Jayson, Ryder, and Liz are my family, just as much as Jessi, Fallon, and Ash are. Found family in the truest sense.
“Ready?” I ask, reversing our grip so that I can twine my fingers through his.
Julien squeezes my hand, and I squeeze back, hoping it reassures him even a fraction as much as he needs.
We make our way inside, passing through the sliding doors of the hospital and into the sterile, brightly lit lobby. It’s quiet, hardly anyone is around. A middle-aged woman quickly looks up from a book she’s reading as Julien leads me past the information desk to the bay of elevators.
“Liz is on the top floor,” he says and presses the button with the number ten on it when we step into the lift.
“I used to love this song.”
“Oh, hell, no,” Julien says, laughing when I start singing the lyrics to a horrendous muzak version of “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
