head to hear Lyle’s response. All she feels is the numb truth wash over her. She hasn’t felt it since that horrible day, three years ago, when two officers showed up on her porch with news of her husband’s death.
She barely feels Lyle put a supportive hand on her back and give her a glass of water. She takes a slow sip and tells herself this isn’t the end. That the doctor is mistaken. It hits her that it’s the very same lie she told herself when those officers showed up at her door. It’s a mistake. It isn’t my husband. It wasn’t a mistake then, just like it isn’t now. Her precious boy is dying.
“What did he say, Elle? How’s little Leo?” Lyle asks with concern dripping from every word.
SIX
ELLIOT’S HEAD SNAPS up at the name as he takes in the woman and man on the other side of the bar. She can’t manage even a single word in response. She just nods, clearly affected by whatever was said on her phone call.
“Talk to me, Elle. What did he say?”
“It’s no use, Lyle. His blood…they can’t find a donor, and…and…it’s too late. I’m going to lose my boy.” She sobs in the man’s shirt.
“I knew you shouldn’t have come in today,” the man breathes out as he pulls her in for a hug.
“He seemed like he was feeling better, and I need the money,” she whispers.
“Don’t be so prideful, Elle. I’ll give you the damn money, and you know it. Isn’t he on the donor list? You never know when they’ll get a match.” Lyle tries unsuccessfully to calm her down.
“He’s been on the list for a year, and his blood, it’s too rare. Only six percent have AB negative like my son, and if that wasn’t rare enough, he needs a certain antibody that is rarely produced. He’s taken a rapid turn, and the doctor said they don’t think there’s a chance he will make it through the week.” She sobs.
It can’t be. There’s no freaking way. Elliot must be losing his mind. The words ‘six percent’ and ‘AB negative’ roll around in his mind, flashing him back to his first year of med school.
Elliot winces when Jenny pokes at his vein like she’s stabbing an orange.
“Jesus Christ, Jenny. Easy, will ya?”
“Oh, calm down, Elliot. It’s not my fault your veins keep rolling. Sit still. I’ve almost…there. Got it.”
He watches as the blood fills the tube. Then she removes the needle and places a cotton ball secured with tape on his arm.
“Not bad, if I do say so myself.” She preens as she puts a drop of his blood on the slide and places it under the microscope.
“What the hell?”
“What?” He worries as she frowns down at the sample.
“There’s something off about your blood, Elliot.”
“What to do mean, off?”
“Well, just what I said, off. There’s something different about yours compared to the others…”
Lyle shouting at everyone to leave so he can close the bar pulls Elliot from his flashback.
“Come on, buddy. I’m sorry, but you’ve got to go,” Lyle is saying to him.
Leo’s parting words come back to Elliot now, and he laughs with disbelief, repeating them.
“Never leave a man behind. It’s a good day to be alive.”
“What did you say?” the now frail-looking female bartender snaps at him, looking like she’s seen a ghost.
“Huh?”
“What did you just say?” Elle repeats.
“Oh, I was just remembering something someone said to me earlier…It’s a good day to be alive.”
She stares at him with disbelief and so much grief it almost cripples him. He assumes she’s upset due to his lack of feeling at her declaration that her son is dying, and he’s about to set her straight when her words stop him dead in his tracks.
“That’s the last thing my husband said to me before he was…” She swallows hard and takes a deep breath, like it hurts her to even say it out loud. “Before he was killed overseas,” she finally manages to get out. “‘Don’t you worry about me, Elle girl, I can’t leave a man behind, so I’m going to go in and save him. It’s a good day to be alive,’” she repeats as tears flood her eyes. “That’s the last thing Leo ever said before they shipped him home in a body bag.”
“Leo?” Elliot feels his veins turn to ice as his dinner creeps back up his throat. “No way! No freaking way in hell,” he murmurs to himself as the very same words come