Page 26 of Marry Your Best Friend

She’s huffing like she’s out of breath, and I can’t help joking with her. “Really? Are you here to brag some more about your night last night?” I hold a hand up. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you two hit it off but—”

Bethany is just staring at me wide-eyed, and I stop mid-sentence. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

She puts her hand over her heart. “Gabe is here… he’s looking for you.”

But the way she says it has me on high alert. “What’s wrong?”

She puts her hands together, under her chin. “Oh honey, he’s down by the director’s office. Go talk to him.”

I walk over to Bethany and grab her by the shoulders. “Is he okay?”

“Chrissy.”

“No. Tell me, is Gabe okay?”

She nods, and I release her. “Okay. Okay.”

I walk out of the room, and as I get down the hallway, I start to walk faster. Instead of waiting for the elevator, I run down the stairwell and come out next to Director Paxton’s office. Gabe is standing next to the door, his arms over his chest. He’s notsmiling—heck, he looks so sad it’s like a punch in the gut. “What’s wrong? Are you okay? What’s happening?”

He puts his hands on my waist. “It’s Ledger, honey.”

I suck in a gasp. “What happened? Is he okay?”

He shakes his head side to side. “No honey, he’s not. There was an ambush, and his Humvee ran over an IED.”

I put my hand to my mouth. “A bomb?”

He nods softly.

“What hospital are they bringing him to? Where do we need to go?”

He walks toward me. “He didn’t make it, baby.”

I gasp and then shake my head quickly. “No. No, that’s not true. We just talked to him, Gabe. We just talked to him on the phone and—”

I stop and just stare at Gabe. He’s hurting, and it takes me a minute, but then it sinks in. Gabe waits patiently for me to process it all, and when he opens his arms, I dive against his chest. He holds me to him, and I let the tears fall. His arms go around my shoulders, then around my waist and then one at my shoulder and one at my waist. It’s like he doesn’t know how to hold me close enough. I cry into his chest, soaking his shirt with my tears. He’swhispering to me, “I know, baby. I know it hurts. I’m so sorry.”

I lean back and look up into his face. He’s hurting too, and it’s not right that he has to comfort me. I reach up and put my hands on each side of his face. His hair is out of its ponytail and wild around his face. He hasn’t shaved in a day or two, and he’s got a short beard on his chin. “I’m sorry, too, Gabe.”

A tear escapes and starts to roll down his cheek. I pull him down, kissing his tear-stained cheek and then lean my face next to his. My lips are touching his ear as I whisper, “I’m so sorry, Gabe.”

We stand here for I don’t know how long. We’re holding on to each other, breathing in unison, relying on each other to get us through this.

Gabe voice is soft. “I talked to your director and told her what’s happened. She has someone covering your shift. Bethany said she would do it if they couldn’t get someone else. We’re all meeting at King’s house.”

“Okay. Good. That’s good.”

He pulls back to look at me. “You need to grab your bag?”

I nod, looking back at the door I just came from and then back at Gabe. “Will you go with me?”

He grabs my hand. “Yeah, honey. I’ll go with you.”

We walk toward the stairwell, the two flights up and down the hall. We walk into the lounge room ,and luckily there are only a few other nurses in there. I nod at them, and they must have already heard from Bethany because they all give us some space. I walk straight to my locker and open the door. Gabe reaches in and grabs my pink bag, putting it over his shoulder. “You need anything else?”

I shake my head side to side.

He shuts the door, and on our way out, one of my friends calls out, “Call if you need anything, Chrissy.”

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