“Don’t do that to yourself, Heather,” Jeff said as he got up and walked over to me. Sitting down, he pulled me closer to him.
I wanted so badly to be in Josh’s arms right now. I wanted him to tell me how much he loved me and how he wanted no one but me. Why was I so upset with him? I’d heard him tell Lynda he was in love with me.
“I was so mad at him when I left. He went outside to talk to Lynda, and at the time, I thought he was just trying to be sneaky about it. Now that I look back…oh god, Jeff. He was just trying not to hurt me. I’m such fool. ”
Ari stood up and came toward us. Getting down on her knees in front of me, she grabbed my hands. “The moment he wakes up, just tell him. Tell him how much you love him and that you’re sorry for walking away like that. Tell him you’ll never walk away again,” Ari said, giving me that smile of hers.
Greg cleared his throat. “Um, Heather, honey, would you like to go in and see him?” he asked. “Liz is still in the room. ”
Getting up slowly, I nodded. Greg reached out and took my hand. As he led me to Josh’s room in the ICU, my heart started racing, and my head was spinning.
When we stopped right outside the door, Greg turned me to face him. “I want you to know something before you walk into that room. ”
Tears began building again, and I did everything I could to not cry. “Okay,” I whispered.
“Josh was on his way to Mason when he had the car accident. ”
I felt all the air leave my body at one time. What? “What do you mean, ‘Josh was on his way to Mason’?”
“When we were at the Christmas party, I could tell he was so miserable. He told his mother and me that he’d made the mistake of not going after you the moment he knew you’d left. He wanted to make things right with you. He said he was going to Jeff and Ari’s because he figured that would be the first place you’d go. ”
Oh. My. God. It’s my fault he had the car accident. He was coming after me! “Oh no. Oh god, no. This happened because of me,” I said, barely able to get the words out.
Placing both of his hands on my face, Greg brought my eyes to his. “No! This is not your fault, Heather. This is no one’s fault. It was an accident, and he’s going to be okay. He is going to be okay, Heather. I want you to repeat this to me right now, ‘This is not my fault. ’”
Tears were rolling down my face as I looked at Greg. He was the closest thing I had to a father, and I felt like I had just let him and Elizabeth down.
“Heather, repeat it to me right now. You have to say it. ”
I slowly started to open my mouth to speak, but instead, I broke down and began crying.
Greg pulled me into his arms. “Everything is going to be okay. He’s going to be okay. ”
“I’m so sorry, Greg. I’m so sorry I left. If I had just stayed and talked to him—”
Just then, I felt another hand on my back. I looked over my shoulder to see Elizabeth smiling at me.
“Heather, you will never utter those words out of your mouth again. None of this was your fault. Josh could have just as easily run after you to stop you from leaving. Things happen. This is life, sweetheart. He’s going to be okay. You’re both going to move on from this. You’ll get married and give me grandkids, damn it!” El
izabeth said, taking me into her arms.
I let out a giggle as I buried my face in her sweater. I loved how she smelled. It wasn’t like my mother at all, but it was just the same. Just from being in her arms, I calmed down almost immediately.
Elizabeth held me out at arm’s length as she looked me up and down. “Shall we go in, so you can see our boy?” With a smile, she wiped the tears off my face.
“Yes, let’s go. ” I glanced back at Greg before Elizabeth and I headed into Josh’s room.
The moment I saw him in the hospital bed, I sucked in a breath of air. His face was cut and bruised. He was just lying there…broken. Then, it hit me. I hadn’t even asked how the accident happened.
I stopped and turned to face Elizabeth. “Wait. How did the accident happen?” I whispered.
Elizabeth shook her head and glanced down at the floor and then back up at Josh. “A drunk driver ran a red light. Bastard doesn’t have a scratch on him. He’ll be sorry though when my law firm gets done with him,” she said with a wink.
A drunk driver? I looked back over toward Josh. I love him so much. I’ll never, ever leave him again. I’ll never give up on him.
“I love him so much, Elizabeth. I can’t live without him,” I said, turning back to her.
Elizabeth reached down and took my hand as we made our way toward Josh.