Page 9 of Fought and Freed

Skylar’s voice sounded in the background. “Put her on speaker so I can talk, too.”

The tone of the background changed. “You’re on speaker, baby girl.”

Maddy clutched her phone tighter, wishing she could see their faces. “Hi, Skylar.”

“How are you doing, Princess?”

“Better now.” Maddy pulled her knees up to her chin and placed her bare feet on the bed. “The withdrawals were a bitch.”

“I remember,” Skylar said. “But you’re doing better now?”

“Yes, I’m not throwing up anymore, and my muscles aren’t as achy. The worst part is over.” She sighed. “I can’t tell you how much I miss you both.”

“Hey, Maddy, do you want to go to the art…” Grant froze in her doorway. “Oops, I didn’t realize you were on the phone.”

“Who’s that?” Skylar hissed.

“That’s my friend, Grant.” She smiled at his instant possessiveness. “He’s helping me through all of this.”

She looked at the man hovering in her doorway. “Grant, I’ll catch up with you later.”

He gave her a thumbs-up and left.

“So, Grant, huh?” Jace questioned.

“He’s more likely to hit on you than me.” Maddy chuckled. “My first night here, I had a bad dream and woke up screaming. He came running to make sure I wasn’t dying. He’s a nice guy.”

“It’s good that you have someone there for you,” Jace said over Skylar’s grumbling. “Are you working on your art again? Is that part of therapy?”

“They have a great art room here. It’s not part of therapy, but it helps me to process.” I brushed my fingers over my knees, the urge to paint only eclipsed by my desire to talk to Jace and Skylar for as long as possible. “It helped me get over finding out how much I’ve missed. Why didn’t you tell me about Thanksgiving?”

“We knew you wanted to have a big holiday celebration.” Regret filled Jace’s voice. “When you woke up, we didn’t have the heart to tell you that you slept through it.”

“Are you saying you didn’t even go to Thanksgiving with your family?” Maddy gasped.

“How could we, baby girl? You were in the hospital, unconscious. There was no way we were leaving you,” Jace said firmly.

Maddy dug her fingernails into her leg. “But your parents?”

“They understood,” Skylar said. “And Mom reminded us there will be many more Thanksgivings and Christmas Days to come.”

At the words, some of the unhappiness that had clung to Maddy vanished. They were right, and next year, they’d make the celebration twice as meaningful.

She talked to them for an hour, catching up on what was happening with their families.

When they hung up, it was almost dinnertime, so she waited until after to call Cody.

The conversation was the same as the one with Jace and Skylar, his love pushing back the loneliness of being away from them.

After she got off with Cody, she called her brother, but it shuffled to voicemail.

She left him a message, telling him she was doing well and would try to call again.

While she couldn’t talk to everyone she wanted to, she fell asleep that night reassured her life still waited for her on the other side.

* * *

Sunny Days went all out for the holidays, and everywhere Maddy looked were Christmas decorations.

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