Page 144 of Learning Curve

“Shut up,” Wren says and squeezes my hand. “Don’t be a martyr. We love you. And we’ll see you in a few hours.”

“That’s precious cargo you got there. Take care of my girl,” my dad tells the Med-I-Vac staff, and Allison reaches out to squeeze his forearm.

“She’s in good hands,” she says with a confident smile. “All four of us have the kind of medical transport experience that you can only get during war. We’re going to take good care of her, and I promise we will get her safely to New York.”

“You’re all vets?” my dad asks, and all four members of the team nod. “Thank you for your service.”

One of the male Med-I-Vac staff—I’m pretty sure his name is Ian—takes the front of my stretcher and guides my bed out of my hospital room and into the hallway. But we only get a few feet from my door when my stretcher stops in front of the nurses station so Allison can give the charge nurse a final rundown.

I startle when a hand grabs mine and squeezes.

I look up and to my left to find Finn standing there, dressed in the same jeans and T-shirt I saw him in two days ago. “See you in New York,” he says. “I love you.”

He doesn’t wait for a response, and tears flood my eyes as I watch him walk down the hallway and out of sight.

I love Finn more than I’ve ever loved anyone, and if you love someone, if you really love someone, then you need to be strong enough to realize when you need to let them go.

I wish he would fucking let me.

Thursday April 24th

Finn

I’m halfway through today’s assigned reading for my economics class when my phone vibrates in my pocket. I earmark the page, shut my textbook, and pull my phone out to check the screen.

Ace: You need anything? Julia and I are planning to stop by for a bit this evening.

Me: Nah, dude. I’m good. Thanks.

Ace: If you change your mind, you know how to reach me.

I’ve been back in New York for almost week, and I’ve been at St. Luke’s Hospital every single day, nearly every single hour, since I stepped off the plane that Ty managed to get me a last-minute flight on from Daytona.

The only time I’ve been on campus since I’ve been back is to run to my dorm to shower and change clothes. Other than that, I haven’t been to class, haven’t gone to any parties, haven’t done anything but sit in the waiting room on Scottie’s rehab floor.

She’s still refusing to see me, to talk to me, but I won’t let that deter me.

I’m not a mind reader, never have been, but I know Scottie. And crazily enough, we are so much alike it’s not even funny. Her entire world has been flipped on its axis, and she’s distraught and devasted—rightfully so—but she’s also trying to push me away just like I stupidly did to her so many times before because of my own baggage.

Eventually, she’s going to see the light, just like I did.

My love isn’t conditional. It doesn’t go away because she suffered a freak injury that’s left her paralyzed from the waist down, and it doesn’t shrink in value when things get hard. I know that life for her—and us—will come with limitations and challenges I’ll probably never be able to fully understand because I’m not her, but none of that matters to me.

I love her. All of her. And there isn’t a single fucking thing in this world that will change that.

So, I wait. In this dreaded hospital waiting room with the worst kind of chairs imaginable. And I also try to stay on top of my classes in the process.

“I had a feeling I’d find you here.”

I look up to find Ty striding down the hospital hallway toward the waiting room. He doesn’t stop until he plops his ass down in the chair beside mine.

“No luck yet?” he asks, and I shake my head.

“No luck.”

“Is she letting anyone else back to see her?”

“Besides Wren and her dad, not really. She barely even let Kayla and Julia come in to see her when they stopped by yesterday afternoon.”

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