Page 175 of Just This Once

Basically, everyone I cared about was in this hospital, and I drew in a deep breath, grateful for their presence.

I checked my watch again. Still fifteen hours to go.

Thane nudged my arm. “I’m going to get a coffee. You need anything?”

I shook my head. “No. I’m good.”

“When was the last time you ate?”

Slicing him with a hard scowl, I bit out, “Dude, I’m fine.”

He hissed through a sigh, seeking patience, but then he nodded and stood to wander from the waiting room and stretch his legs.

Alec nudged my other arm and leaned his face my way to say, “I’m starting to miss her last transplant. At least I was knocked out for most of that one and didn’t have to sit through all this awful waiting.”

Sending him a dry glance, I asked, “Want me to knock you out right now?”

It might makebothof us feel better. He could drift off into peaceful oblivion and I’d get to punch something.

“Pass,” Alec said, making a face, and he shifted his attention to the other side to talk to his mother.

When Thane returned, he dropped a candy bar into my lap and ordered, “Eat. You’re starting to get hangry.”

I sniffed. “Yeah,that’swhat’s been wrong with me for the last eleven years; I just needed a candy bar.” But when I looked down at the wrapper, it reminded me too much of the granola bar of Hope’s that I’d snarfed down at the hotel, which stirred up other memories that only made me even more anxious for this day to pass.

I held the candy bar out toward Alec without even looking his way or asking if he wanted it.

A second later, he exclaimed, “Ooh. Thanks,” and he snagged it up.

Thane sent me a frown. I only shrugged.

“Maybe you should go home and get a couple of hours of shut-eye, at least,” he said next.

I was going on my third day without sleep. “I’m not tired.”

He sighed and finally let me be.

An hour and a half later, a doctor came back to say that Xander had made it through her surgery, and they were on track to begin with Hope.

Half the room got up to go visit her in recovery when they were allowed, Alec tagging along with them.

Thane stuck by my side until his stomach started to growl so much that I snapped at him to go eat lunch. Most of the others had gone out for food; he should’ve too.

He tried to argue and stay with me until I agreed that he could pick me up something as well. And then he finally took off, leaving me alone in the waiting room for the first time since all this horror had started.

I stood and stretched my legs, pacing the floor for a while until I got tired of that. Then I flopped into a chair and wiped a hand over my face, finally starting to feel dragged down and exhausted.

Slumping deeper into a chair, I got more comfortable and rested one elbow on the armrest before propping my chininto my palm. My eyes were beginning to flutter when Raina appeared.

“It was getting crowded in there,” she explained, coming over to sit by me. “Foster has a…bigfamily.”

“Well, welcome to the waiting game,” I invited, splaying out a hand and sending her a dry smile. “Where every moment is one blast after another.”

She snickered and bumped her arm into mine, only to grow serious a moment later. “I saw your parents again.” She rolled her eyes. “They’ve been coming to the beach every night since Hayes found them.”

“Shit. I forgot about that,” I muttered, running a tired hand over my face.

“It’s okay,” she assured. “I let them know what was going on. And they said that if Hope came their way, they’d look after her for you.”

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