Happenstance 2 (Happenstance #2)(24)
Author: Jamie McGuire

Julianne held my hand, and I kept her quick pace as we walked inside to the waiting room.

Mothers holding feverish babies and an elderly couple, one of them with a deep cough, took up the few chairs available—not that we needed them.

I wrapped my arms around my middle, and after twenty grueling minutes, Sam appeared. He looked worried.

“They’re stabilizing him,” he said, but he put his hand on the small of Julianne’s back and led her into the hallway.

They spoke softly, having an intense conversation. Julianne looked back at me once and covered her mouth with her hand.

I couldn’t find a comfortable place to put my hands, so I finally resorted to crossing them across my stomach again.

Sam and Julianne returned, taking me in both of their arms.

“He’s going to be okay,” Sam said.

“You’re sure?” I asked.

“They’re working on it.” He handed me a five-dollar bill. “Why don’t you get us some waters from the vending machine down the hall?”

I nodded, taking the bill and leaving the waiting room, turning right. I could see the vending machine. It was close to the end of the hall, near the front entrance. On my way, a woman in scrubs rushed past me, pushing a square-shaped piece of equipment with an arm and a camera-like contraption on the end. It looked like a portable X-ray machine, and I imagined she was heading for Weston’s room.

The vending machine took Sam’s five-dollar bill. I pressed the button for a bottle of water, collected the change that fell into a bin at the bottom, and then repeated the process two more times. The waters felt good against my skin as I carried them back to the waiting room.

Sam and Julianne were standing next to Coach Langdon and stopped talking when I approached. They took their waters but didn’t open them.

Sam hugged me to him, and we waited. When I couldn’t wait any longer, I stood by the door, watching the clouds roll by, and witnessed the sky turning dark. One by one the players and the coaches stopped by and ambled around the waiting room like we did.

Another lifetime later, Peter turned the corner, and everyone gathered around him.

“They have his oxygen levels back to normal. He’s getting a breathing treatment now, but they’re going to keep him overnight. They’ll be moving him to a room upstairs soon.”

Weston’s teammates’ departures were staggered, and then it was just Sam, Julianne, Coach Langdon, and I. Peter came back in, followed by Veronica and a couple of nurses pushing a hospital bed down the hall.

I tried to glance past Peter but couldn’t get a good look.

“Thank God,” Julianne said.

“Thanks for your help today,” Peter said to my parents. “If you hadn’t helped, I don’t know that he would have made it to the hospital.”

Julianne glanced back at me when I gasped.

“But he’s okay now, right?” I asked.

Peter nodded, touching my shoulder. “He needs to rest. We’ll call you tomorrow.”

I nodded, and Peter left us for the hall.

Sam and Julianne breathed out a simultaneous breath of relief.

“I feel like I should have caught it earlier,” Coach Langdon said.

“Don’t blame yourself,” Julianne said.

The coach rubbed the back of his neck. “Ask Peter to keep me updated.”

Sam nodded, and the coach pulled his keys from his pocket and pushed the glass door, walking in quick steps to his car.

“You ready, honey?” Sam said to me, holding out his hand.

“He stayed out there because he wanted to win,” I said. “He probably knew what was happening, and he didn’t tell anyone because he wanted to finish the game.”

Sam offered a sympathetic smile. “It was his last game, Erin.”

“No, I agreed. He said if he lost his game today, then I wouldn’t have to go to prom with him.”

Julianne frowned.

Tears filled my eyes. “He didn’t want to go to Duke. He wanted to go to the Art Institute of Dallas. I gave him my word that if he told Peter, I would go to prom with him. He told Peter, but I couldn’t go. Not after…Weston offered a double or nothing. He asked me to come to game today, and said if he didn’t win, then he wouldn’t bother me about prom.”

Julianne’s lip trembled. “This isn’t your fault, sweetheart.”

“I was going to go anyway. I didn’t care what they did to me, I was going to go, but I’ve been torturing him the last two weeks, making him feel like I hated him. I know exactly how it feels to be hated, and I did it to him. That’s so much worse than what anyone has ever done to me.”

“Erin, honey,” Sam began, but I shook my head and took a step back from him.

“Everyone’s been saying how he was the awful one, and I was the victim. Even him. But you’re all wrong. I’m the terrible one. I know how hurtful it is, and I…I love him. I know what it’s like to feel rejection from someone who’s supposed to love you. I had no excuse to treat him that way, and he nearly died today over the stupid prom. Just so I would go with him.”

Those still seated in the waiting room watched the scene I was making, half of them curious, half of them making judgments.

“You’re exhausted,” Sam said. “Let’s go home, and we’ll bring you back first thing in the morning. As soon as you wake up.”

I shook my head. “I can’t leave him. I should be here.”

“I know you want to—” Sam said.

“No, I should. It’s a should, Sam, not just a want.”

“Okay,” Julianne said, taking my hand. “Sam, you have an early case. I’ll stay here with our daughter.”

Sam nodded. “Of course. Of course,” he said, taking Julianne’s keys when she extended them. He hugged us both and pushed the door open, disappearing into the dark parking lot.

Julianne spoke with one of the women behind the admissions desk, and then she gestured for me to follow her. We walked to the elevator and rode it to the second floor.

The waiting room was dark and empty. Julianne switched on the light, and we took a seat on a bench seat. She pulled me to lie down in her lap, and I did, letting the tears fall from my eyes, across my nose, and onto her jeans. She ran her fingers through my hair but didn’t speak.

“I was scared,” I whispered. “I didn’t know how to forgive him. I didn’t know how to be in love with him. I didn’t know how to make it work. I feel like I’ve been waiting for my life to begin, and Blackwell was the holding pattern. I thought Weston was part of that. I couldn’t see anyone from here fitting into my new life.”