Page 60 of Game Changer

“Understood.” He smiles softly.

“You can only play one play at a time. You’re being so strong for Lindsey and Lily. Keep doing that.”

“I miss my kid. When I leave here tomorrow, I don’t give a shit if she’s sick. I’ll come grab her so you can go to work.”

“I already called out for the next two days.”

“You’re the best, you know that?”

Chapter 13

Unawaken

Boone

“What is wrong with you people?” I ask the Bellemonts, who are standing around Lindsey’s bed after a failed attempt to remove her ventilator successfully.

“We have talked to several medical professionals, and they tell us that keeping her alive with the breathing machine is cruel and inhumane. She could be suffering severely, and you’re allowing it!” Madeline cries, and I swear to fuck, it’s so fake it should be watermarked.

I look at the doctor. “Can you please repeat what you said so thatthese peoplemight get it through their thick skulls the third time.”

“Yes, of course, Mr. Boone. Lindsey is having a hard time breathing on her own due to damage to her throat caused by the accident. She is not brain-dead. There are several studies that show patients who have healed completely after an injury like this. She may have to be on a ventilator for another week or evenlonger. There’s also a possibility the injuries to her brain may heal enough for her to wake up before she’s ready to breathe on her own, and we might need to keep her slightly sedated so she doesn’t fight that. She’s showing progress; today was more a test than a setback.”

“Can you assure us that she’s not in pain?” Lindsey’s father asks.

“I can assure you she’s getting pain medication, that her vitals do not appear to show signs of struggle like they did when we removed the vent, so I can assume she is, in fact, right there on the verge of coming back.”

“Can you assure us that if we leave to head back to Georgia to take care of some business, you will call us if there is a change?” her brother, Junior, asks.

Dr. Davis looks at me. “As her healthcare proxy, what do you say?”

“Well, then I say thatthese peopledon’t get to pull the plug on a woman who has been in a coma for two days after a major accident, a woman who’s lucky enough to be alive, and who is no doubt fighting to get back to her daughter and the people who love her. I want a big fucking warning sign, stickers of their faces on her charts with a big X across them saying they don’t get to make choices for her. I want to make sure every person on the staff on this floor—hell, the whole hospital, or a nationwide medical database if there’s such a thing—know they can’t have anything to do with Lindsey’s care.These peopledo not make decisions for my daughter’s mother, for one of my best friends, for my family. Them returning to Georgia to take care of business, that can’t happen fast enough. You have my number, if you have a question, feel free to ask; if something major comes up, I will shoot you a text.”If I feel like it.

“We will be taking her home with us, sooner or later, and we will also be taking Lily.”

“Over my dead body,” I whisper under my breath.

I stand when Max and Mila Steel walk into the ICU waiting room, and we all hug, and we cry for the girl fighting for her life, one we all love.

When we finally break apart, I tell them everything that went on today, this time in person and not over text message, which is how I’ve kept them and my mom updated for the past … three days? That’s all this has been—three days?

Wiping under my eyes with the hem of my shirt, I sit down.

“What can we do to help?” Max asks, sitting beside me.

“You two being here is more than enough.” I yawn.

“You need sleep,” Mila tells me.

“They brought me in a reclining chair last night after Lily finally woke up, and she and Syd called so she could do prayers with her mom. I slept okay.”

“What is something you really want right now?” Mila asks.

“To hug my daughter.”

“Then go hug your daughter. Mila and I are here; we can take turns making sure she won’t wake up alone.”

“Added a couple of other people to the list. Liam and Phoebe Ross both want to visit.”

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