fresh air.
“I knew, when I first learned of your story and saw your photos, that I admired your strength and that you were gorgeous. And yet you continue to blow me away with all the pieces you give me. Loving you, Lilly, is a gift, and one I will treasure and honor for as long as you’ll have me. Loving you is the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”
Delightful anticipation of the depths of that statement warmed me from my soul to my limbs. “You say the most perfect things.”
“Not always. I guarantee you that, but when it comes to you, they will always be truthful. Now, since we don’t have hot chocolate and you don’t have a fireplace, how about I move the television into your room and we climb into bed and watch Christmas movies until we fall asleep.”
“That sounds perfect.”
We were halfway through It’s A Wonderful Life, although I had scarcely paid attention to a single scene yet. Next to me, Hudson was sitting with pillows propped behind him. He had his arm draped over my shoulders. He’d climbed into bed in only his boxers, and the sheets were at his waist. For once I was close to him and not thinking about his body or the feel of his muscles.
My mind kept drifting. As much as he’d told me I didn’t have to decide, time wasn’t exactly on my side.
What if I waited too long?
What if my dad died?
What if… what if I called and he refused to talk to me? Or my mom didn’t?
His phone was on the nightstand to Hudson’s left, a darkened electronic device with a blank screen, and yet that phone held the ability for me to finally get in contact with my parents.
I heaved a breath and closed my eyes.
Hudson shifted, took my hand and the weight of that device now felt more like a bomb, settled cold and heavy into my palm.
“What’s this?”
“The answers to all the questions you’ve had. Call the hospital, Lilly. You won’t sleep until you at least hear from a nurse that he’s okay.”
“You know me too well,” I grumbled, but he was right. “What if they don’t want to talk to me?” No. That wasn’t my largest fear. “What if they still hate me?”
“Then you will be reminded of what you already know—you’re too good for them and they don’t deserve you anyway, regardless of health or circumstance.”
Somewhere deep I’d known that. Known I deserved better than what I’d been given for parents and yet it wasn’t until Hudson showed me what true family was like I truly believed it. Even then, it was just beginning to really make sense.
I resettled myself on the bed, sitting straight up and crisscrossing my legs. Fidgeting with my shirt, I handed his phone back to him. “Can you unlock it?”
“My password is zero seven one five.”
“That’s my birthday,” I muttered offhandedly, tugging at my top, swiping my now wet palms down my thighs.
“I know.” He said it with a weight to it that I looked up at him, practically gaping.
He gave me a knowing look that heated me straight to my toes. “You set my birthday as your password?”
“Last summer. When Dad went and saw you at the diner.”
“You are a fool, you know.”
“For waiting so long to go see you myself, I agree.”
I shook my head. Amazed and equally amused. He’d been so sure of me even when he fought against it. And yet I’d fought him even while he showed me who he was and how much he cared.
What a bunch of wasted time for two people who’d lost so much already.
I kissed him softly and didn’t linger and then ducked to the phone.
“Room four eighteen. Can you remember that?”
Not that I’d forget but I pressed the phone number highlighted on his texts from Shawn. An address was above them, and while I caught a glance of my parents’ new address, I paid the rest no attention.
My hands trembled and adrenaline roared through me while the phone rang once, then twice before an automated system came through the line.
Every moment the shrill voice lasted was a moment my breath held until finally, I’d pressed zero enough times, listened to enough horrific elevator music when a woman on the other end answered.
“Yes, I’m calling in regards to a patient at your hospital. I was wondering if you could tell me his status? Or direct me to his nurses?”
“That information is reserved for family.”
“I’m… I’m his daughter. Joshua Huntington.