Page 113 of Johnathan

He didn’t love that Abby asked him to walk away, but he got it. Hell, how many times had he gotten into a fight with Jackson or Jordan? How many times had he needed to just sit down and work it out brother to brother. He had Grace now as a sister, but he never got in an argument with her. Probably because he knew he’d lose no matter what.

Wildflowers in the field next to the building Abby and Sam were still in caught John’s eye. His girls would love them, and he knew Abby wouldn’t be able to resist the gesture if she needed some cheering up after her conversation with Sam. Things would be okay, that was for sure, but he worried about the tension that may linger between Sam and Abby because of him.

He’d managed a pretty solid bouquet for Abby and started gathering smaller flowers for his daughter. The way Katy’s eyes lit up earlier when Abby sat down to do her hair was still such a special thi?—

A scream ripped through the air and John turned towards the shed. He dropped the flowers without a second thought, running back as fast as he could.

The door nearly ripped off the hinges from how hard he pulled, but his mind didn’t register that. All he could see was the terrible scene in front of him. Sam, laying on the ground pale and unresponsive while Abby sobbed, trying to perform chest compressions on him.

“What happened?” John asked as he jolted forward, falling to his knees on the other side of Sam.

“Thirty-three… thirty-four… thirty-five…”

“Abby. Move your hands. I’m going to take over.”

“Forty… one… two…”

“Abby. Let me take over. You need to call for help. You’re not going deep enough, baby. I need to take over.”

Abby snapped out of her daze and pulled her arms back. John immediately jumped on the compressions, silently begging his friend to come back.

“Baby, get your phone out of your pocket and call 9-1-1.”

“This is how he died,” she whispered. It took John a minute to realize what she was talking about.

Their dad.

He’d had a massive heart attack and passed away in front of Sam.

Fuck.

“I know, beautiful. I know. But Sam isn’t going to die. We’re here. We’ve got him. Call 9-1-1 so the paramedics can get here and get him back, okay? They need to get here fast though, Abby. So call now. And tell them we need a MedEvac flight for him, okay? It’s the only way they’ll reach us out here in time.”

Her hands were shaking, but relief flooded him as he watched her take her phone out. He continued compressions while she gave their location and begged for them to come. God, his fucking heart was breaking for her.

Sweat dripped down his face as he continued to pump Sam’s heart through the chest compressions. He was so fucking thankful that he’d just gone through his CPR re-certification at work. Jesus, he hated to think what this would be like for Abby if she had been out here all alone with Sam when it happened.

“I-I think I hear the helicopter.”

He wanted to answer her, but his mind was solely focused on the task at hand. John nodded, and Abby got to her feet and walked out the door.

Come on buddy. You can’t go now. You’ve got to be there when I marry your sister. You’ve got to be there when Katy becomes a big sister. You have to stick around to find your own person. It’s not time to go.

“How long has he been down?” an unfamiliar voice asked.

John looked up at the medic. “Fifteen to twenty minutes.”

“Get the AED on him, now,” another medic ordered as he rushed into the room with Abby trailing in behind.

“I’m going to take over compressions for you while we get him hooked up to the AED, okay? You did a great job.”

John lifted his hands and forced his body to move out of the way. He fell, landing on his ass. Damn, his whole body was drained, but that didn’t stop him from catching Abby as she fell into him. She was trembling, but her eyes were clear as they watched the paramedics work on Sam.

“Shockable rhythm. Clear!”

They watched in silence as Sam’s body jolted. One medic went back to inserting an IV into his arm while the other continued compressions as he monitored the defibrillator screen.

“Push that epi now!”

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