Page 129 of Someone to Watch Over Me

“Could be anything. People faint all the time. Low blood sugar or overheated. He was sitting close to the fire. That could be it.”

“What if it’s not nothing?”

“Then they’ll deal with it and get him back on the road to recovery.”

“We had sex. They told him to wait two to four weeks. We lasted ten days. And there was a lot of sex. What if that’s what happened?”

Joy’s warm hand lands on my leg, her heat permeating the block of ice I’ve become. “That’s not what happened.”

“How do you know?” I sound hysterical, even to myself.

“Baby, that man was glowing tonight. All of us saw it. He’s with the love of his life, and nothing in this world will separate him from you if he can prevent it.”

“I can’t do this again, Joy. I just can’t.”

“Yes, you can. You’ve proven to yourself and all of us that there’s nothing you can’t survive. Look at what Hallie has gotten herself into. Robin will probably die sooner rather than later, but Hallie has decided to spend as much time as she can with Robin, knowing what’s in store for her after. She’s found the courage to do it anyway, and you can, too.”

“I don’t know if I can. I’m not strong like Hallie is.”

“Oh my God, that’s so not true! You’re as strong as Hallie, as any of us. If only you could see yourself the way we see you. What you did for Jim, for all those years, my goodness, Lexi! I couldn’t have done it.”

“Yes, you could have.”

“No, I honestly don’t think I could. Medical stuff makes me sick. Like, I literally vomit at the sight of anything gross. I couldn’t do it the way you did. I’d be useless in that situation.”

“I would’ve thought the same until I had no choice.”

“And yet, you stepped up to do what needed to be done, and you will again. No matter what it is. I have complete faith in you, Lex. You’re a survivor.”

“I’m so tired of being a survivor. I want to be a thriver again.”

“You will be. You have been. Look at the strides you’ve made in the last year, moving out of your parents’ basement and forming this deep bond with Tom that’s now turned into so much more, and now this new opportunity working for the ALS Association. Your life is on fire, and Jim is so, so proud of the way you’ve slayed widowhood. I know he is.”

A sob erupts from my chest as my composure cracks wide open.

Joy pulls up behind the ambulance.

We can see that Tom is sitting up on the stretcher, probably looking for me.

“Check out your man,” Joy says. “Totally fine and wanting to know where his love is. Go to him, Lex. Go to him and stay with him for as long as you possibly can. Enjoy every second knowing it could be the last one for any of us at any given time. Go live your life, baby.”

I give her a tight hug. “I love you more than ice cream.”

She laughs hard. “I love you more than dogs.”

“Whoa.”

“Right? Go. Be happy with your man. Live your one wild and precious life.”

“I’m going. Thank you for being the best friend anyone could ever have.”

“Back atcha.”

“Not even close, but I don’t have time to argue right now.”

“No, you don’t.”

I get out of the car and run over to where Tom is being greeted by doctors in scrubs as he tells them he’s fine, he fainted, and nothing is wrong.

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