Page 87 of Our Final Encore

“Hey… what’s going on?”

I hear her let out a breath on the other end of the line. “Opal is in the hospital. She wasn’t feeling well so we brought her in.”

My stomach drops, and suddenly I can hear my heart racing, the blood rushing through the veins in my head. “What?! Is she okay?” She was totally fine, aside from being upset because of my stupid ass decisions.What the fuck could have happened in the last six hours?

“She’s okay. She started feeling dizzy, so we decided to call the doctor. They told her to come in. It’s her blood pressure.”

“Her blood pressure?”

“It happens to pregnant women sometimes. It happened to me too. But she’ll be okay, the doctors will make sure she’s alright.” It sounds more like she’s convincing herself of that than me.

“Is the baby okay?” Sweat forms on my brow, and I feel like I’m going to be sick. I honestly don’t know what I’d do if something happened to either one of them, the thought of it throws me into a full blown panic.

“The baby is fine. They’re both fine right now, we’re just waiting for the doctor to tell us more.”

“Can I-can I come see her?”

“Of course.”

I end the call and grab my keys off the counter, mumbling to my dad that I’ll be back later. He’s half asleep so I’m sure he didn’t hear me anyway. I start up my van and drive towards the hospital. The drive is a blur because my brain is so focused on nothing but getting there quickly.

I rush through the lobby and find the elevator, fumbling with the buttons while I read which floor I’m supposed to go to. The receptionist tells me which room to go to, and thankfully she doesn’t hassle me too much after I tell her I’m the father of the baby.

When I find her room, I see her mom and grandma both sitting beside her hospital bed, whispering to each other with worried looks on their faces. She looks so small and pale. Not like her usual self. Seeing her lying there sends my body back into full blown panic mode.

Was her mom just trying to make me feel better? Nausea rolls through my stomach.What if she hadn’t called the doctor?

“Hi Alex,” her grandma says to me, eying me up and down. I realize then that I’ve hardly said two words to either of these women since I got Opal pregnant, and now I feel like a massive piece of shit all over again. They’re going to be my family, even if Opal never decides to be with me again, they’re still my child’s grandmother and great-grandmother.

“Hi,” I say awkwardly, grabbing the back of my neck. “Thank you for calling me.”

Her mom nods and glances back at her daughter. “We were just about to go to the cafeteria and get some coffee. She’ll probably wake up soon.”

I give them both a slight smile and take the seat her mom was in. Even dressed in a hospital gown, with an IV stuck in her arm, she’s beautiful. I gently intertwine my fingers with the hand that isn’t connected to the IV and watch her sleep until her eyes begin to twitch.

She blinks a few times, her eyes adjusting to the bright fluorescents before she looks over at me. “You’re here?”

I nod before bending over to place a soft kiss on the hand I’m holding. “I’m here.” I can’t tell if she looks relieved or disappointed. “How are you feeling?”

She shrugs. “Better. Still a little off though, my head isn’t hurting as much now.”

I study her face, searching for signs that she’s telling the truth. The idea of her being in any pain makes me sick, I can’t fucking bear it.

“I probably overreacted a little bit this morning,” she sighs. “But I didn’t know you still kept in touch with her. For some reason it…really triggered me, I guess.”

I shake my head. “I don’t, I haven’t talked to her since I left the tour early. The only one I really keep in touch with is Dax.”

Her brow furrows, her mouth in a straight line. “What do you mean early?”

“I left the tour right after we broke up.”

“What?” Her gaze falls to the hospital bed. “Why would you do that? Where did you go?”

“I couldn’t keep doing it, and I wanted nothing to do with her after what happened. I went and found other gigs on my own. Played at some festivals.”

“But…why didn’t you just come home?”

“Why would I?”

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