Uncle D was saying he didn’t want the chemo. I wasn’t ready to lose him. He was all I had. I was arguing with him and his stubborn ass.

“Poor family. Tell the boy not to be a stranger.” He shook his head. “Take your time, but get me a goddamn coffee and a smoke.”

We were in a hospital. He knew he wasn’t getting a smoke. Yet here he was still asking for it. “I’ll be back with coffee,” I told him pointedly. “You want the remote?” I asked, handing it to him.

“Yeah, I’ll watch me some trash TV. Better than the real shit.”

Smiling, I walked out of his room. That man had been the one to show up and take me from the system after my mother was found dead. The state would have thrown me from one foster home to another if he hadn’t come and taken me in. I’d worked hard for him, and he’d taught me to be a man.

Knox was walking down the hallway toward the elevator when I stepped into the hall leading to his sister’s room. I was welcomed there. His family was always offering me food and asking about my uncle. They were the good kind of people I wasn’t used to being around. Seeing his sister hooked up to machines and unresponsive had been heartbreaking. She was so young and beautiful. I knew the color of her eyes, even though she’d never opened them. I had seen photos. In photos she was always laughing or smiling. There was something warm and real about her that made you want to be near that. It was obvious her family thought the same thing. Knox was close to her. I understood worrying about losing someone you loved. I was dealing with the same thing.

* * *

“HEY, MAN, HOW’S it going?” I asked Knox once I was close enough. He smiled. A real smile. One I hadn’t seen since the end-of-the-year party we’d had at Kappa Sigma.

“She’s awake,” he said. “And she’s okay. Talking, remembers everything.” As he said that, a frown replaced his smile. “Asking about Crawford, and I haven’t been able to get his ass on the phone. He’s enjoying the college life a little too much.”

I’d gotten bad news today, but hearing Knox’s news helped. Uncle D would be happy to hear she was awake. He’d been worrying about her since I told him the girl was a frat brother’s sister. He was a grumpy old man, but he had a huge heart.

“That’s great news. I was about to get you some coffee and check in with you. I’m glad to hear she’s awake. I know the rest of the family is relieved.”

“Yeah. I don’t know how much longer my momma could have gone. Vale is her baby—hell, she’s all our baby. It was killing Momma, though. She’s dropped about fifteen pounds and she was a tiny woman to start with.”

“Anything I can do for y’all? Can I get Vale something?” I needed to help. It was weird because Knox and I were friends, but we weren’t that tight. Until this past month at the hospital. Spending time with his family helped me deal with Uncle D’s cancer. Seeing Vale lying there always got to me. I felt like we had a connection, as weird as that sounded. I thought maybe it was because her accident happened about the same time Uncle D collapsed in a coughing fit and a pool of blood at the barn the day I got home from school. Uncle D knew about the tumors on his lungs. He just hadn’t told me yet.

“Thanks. We’re good right now. Michea is getting her ice cream and she’s resting. Tell your uncle I’ll be by later to get whipped in Texas Hold ’Em.”

Knox had visited us at least three times a week over the past month. He would bring food his mother had made and always played Uncle D in a game of poker. Uncle D liked Knox. It had made his sister’s story more real to him. Knowing the boy whose family was keeping vigil by the girl’s bed. Waiting. I was looking forward to telling him she was awake.

“I’ll tell him. He just beat my ass. I decided I needed a breather before I came back and he gloated the next few hours.”

“Hey, Slate.” A curvy blond nurse I think was named Hope winked and blew me a kiss as she walked by. I’d fucked her in the linen closet three days ago. The stress was getting to me, and she’d been pressing her tits out and licking her lips. I’d decided to go focus on a hot fuck. It had helped for a little while.

I nodded, not sure if I was right with the name. “Hey.”

Knox chuckled. “Seriously? You nailed that one, didn’t you?”

I shrugged. She wasn’t the first nurse here I’d nailed.

I wasn’t proud of it. I was just used to it. Been easy to get laid since I was fifteen years old. Especially older women. Maria Grace had been eighteen with seriously huge tits the day I lost my virginity to her under the football bleachers. I’d been a freshman and she’d been a senior. Good times.

Maria was on her second kid and still unmarried last I heard. Shame she didn’t go on to college. But she was pretty successful dancing on a pole. I’d seen her show two years ago at Murphy’s Titty Bar.

“How much longer y’all gonna be here?” he asked me.

I shrugged. “Uncle D isn’t agreeing to chemo. So, not sure. Maybe a few days, maybe a week.”

Knox looked truly worried for me and Uncle D. “If I can do anything, let me know.”

“Will do. Thanks. And same goes. Y’all need someone to go run and get something, just tell me. I always need a break from the old man.”

We said our good-byes and I watched him go before staring down the hall toward his sister’s room. I was really glad she’d woken up. That she was going to be okay. I was also curious about her. I felt like I knew her now, and I’d never even met her. I knew her face so clearly. I’d watched her sleeping. I had read to her. Talked about Uncle D. Given the family a break many evenings while they went home to bathe or sleep. She had become important to me. But I didn’t even know the sound of her voice.

I really wanted to.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

VALE

IT WAS THE third day since I had woken up when Crawford walked into the room. He was carrying a dozen red roses, and in the center, one daisy. I had been watching TV, but my mind wasn’t on the show or the things my mother randomly chattered on about.

“Crawford,” my mother said, sounding delighted.

I stared at him and he did the same with me. We didn’t speak. I wasn’t going to say anything until he did. I’d woken up from a coma three days ago. Where had he been? At football practice? Bington was only an hour’s drive away.

“Hey,” he said as I sat still and unblinking.

I remained silent.

Mom stood up and made an excuse to leave the room and give us some time. I didn’t respond to her. The words take him with you were on the tip of my tongue.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up. Everyone thought you’d want me to go on to practice. If I didn’t show up for practice, I’d lose my scholarship. I had to make a decision, Vale.”

Again. He had three days to find time to get here to see me. “I understand why you went and why you weren’t here when I woke up.”

He could read between the lines. He was a smart guy. Always had been. I didn’t need to spell it out for him.

He put the flowers in the silver vase by the bedside table and reached for my hand. “I stayed here at first. I didn’t leave. But my parents and your family insisted it was unhealthy and that you wouldn’t want me to do that.”