Page 127 of Yours and Mine (Friends with Benefits)

For the first time since Nick’s return, I felt like we truly needed each other to survive.

“The stove. It was acting up before. This wasn’t your fault.”

“I should have been quicker. I could have been, but the flames…” Nick appeared to be lost in his thoughts, as if his mind had traveled to something in the past I wasn’t aware of.

“We need to take Mac to the hospital. We can get an update then.”

Everyone drove down the one road leading out of our town toward the city. And all the way there, I couldn’t help but wonder whether I’d lose another friend.

Molly was pacing the hall as Mackenzie and Nick got checked in. They’d go for chest x-rays to make sure there was no damage to their lungs. Mackenzie was sitting in her gown, right beside Nick’s gurney, sucking on a Popsicle and smiling, playing a hand game with her father. The doctor said she should be fine since she didn’t seem to be coughing or spitting up soot.

“How’s Carter?” I asked Molly, once both Mackenzie and Nick settled in. Captain Clark sat in a corner, pulling his fingers through his hair, the way Carter always did, while trying to comfort Mrs. Clark. Molly pulled me away, out of earshot.

“He’s still in surgery. He didn’t regain consciousness, and the burns… they’re pretty bad.”

I took her hand into mine. “Carter’s a fighter, Molly. He’s got this. I know he does.”

He has to.

“I’m worried, Jo. They won’t tell me much because I’m not technically family, just a friend, so I can’t get any info, but they haven’t updated them either.” She looked back to Mrs. Clark, whose eyes were so puffed up from crying she had difficulty opening them. She was holding a rosary in her hands, rolling the beads between her fingers after each Hail Mary.

“Come to x-ray with us. It will take your mind off Carter.”

She released a breath and nodded. We spent the next hour wheeling Mackenzie around on a gurney and then a wheelchair until she was cleared by the doctors, along with Nick, before we returned to the waiting area. When the doctor came through the door, everyone stood up.

“He’s in intensive care right now. The surgery went well, but with the third-degree burns he sustained, we had to remove a lot of dead tissue. There’s a lot of skin missing, and the chances of infection are high.”

“Is he breathing on his own?” Captain Clark asked.

“Yes, his lungs will recover. He’ll need skin grafts soon. We’ll get started on that as soon as his vital signs improve. His body is still in shock. There was a lot of fluid loss and we’ll be monitoring him for edema, but if he does improve, we’ll go ahead with the grafting as soon as possible.”

“That’s good news, isn’t it?” Mrs. Clark asked. From the look on Molly’s face, though, it didn’t sound like so.

“Transplanting larger areas of skin could cause shock to his body.”

“What if you had a matching donor?” Nick asked.

“Yes, that would help.”

“Take me, then.”

What?

“If I’m a match, take whatever skin you need to help Carter.”

Mackenzie must have overheard us and raised her hand calling out from where she was sitting with Dad and Marge. “Me too. I want to help Uncle Carter too.”

I smiled. Knowing there were so many people here praying for Carter gave me hope, and hope had brought Nick back into my life. If there was anyone who could pull through this, it was Carter.

Chapter 30

Four months later

It didn’t hitme that we were homeless until we returned to Hope Bay. The first two nights, I stayed at Dad and Marge’s house. On the third night, Nick was released from the hospital. He was a match for Carter after all, so the doctors transplanted skin from Nick’s thigh and buttock to his friend. It only made sense for me to take care of him, so I moved to the barn house with Mackenzie to take care of her father while he recovered. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and somewhere along the line we became a family again. I couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment, but I knew the first time I stepped over that threshold with Mackenzie that we were home.

“How’s my favorite woman?” Nick snaked his arms around my waist from behind, kissing the side of my neck.

“Perfect now.” I turned around and met his lips, certain that no matter how much I kissed him, I couldn’t get enough. They were tender, and over the past few months I’d grown to need them every day.

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