Page 73 of Beyond Oblivion

“Yeah.” I reluctantly let her go. “Have the bank bag ready? I can take it.”

“Already done.”

“Okay, I’ll start on inventory and the supply order.”

“Also done.”

I chuckled. “Did you leave anything for me? What happened to tagging me in?”

She shrugged. “I needed to stay busy before I lost my shit.” She held up her hand. “Don’t hug me again, I’ll cry.”

I crossed my arms and nodded, trying to keep myself from doing what came so naturally.

She went to the front, locked the door and switched off the neon open sign, then returned to the front counter. “I thought we could call Dr. Ley’s office and tell them our decision. I don’t know why, but I want to do it here. I don’t want to wait until we get home.”

“Is it still our decision? I mean… if you’ve been wavering at all, we should wait, we…”

Her face crumbled for just a second or two—lip quivering, eyes glassing over—but then she pulled it back, tucking her emotions away like she always did, and pushed her hair behind her ear. “Yes. I’m ready. You?”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “I mean, yeah… yeah, if that’s what you want, I’m on board.”

She nodded, staring at the cell phone in her hand. After some hesitation, she called his number and pressed the button to enable speakerphone.

“Dr. Ley’s office,” the receptionist answered.

“This is Camille Maddox for Dr. Ley.”

“He’s finishing up with a patient. Would you like to hold? Or I can have him call you back?”

“I’ll hold,” Camille said, looking up at me with tears in her eyes.

Chapter Seventeen

Camille

I lightly tugged the thin blue bonnet on my head, feeling the reassuring weight of the hospital blankets cocooning my lower half. By seven a.m., I’d already endured far too many needles, now with a plastic tube connecting my hand to a bag of clear liquid hanging from the stand Trenton was pushing. His other hand was on the left railing of my bed, walking alongside me, struggling to keep pace with the nurses who easily navigated the same long hallway his legs seemed reluctant to follow.

“You’re sure they understand?” I asked.

“Not that it matters, honey, but yeah. Of course they do. Taylor and Falyn are having a good time at Dad’s with the kids, and Raegan is planning to visit you tonight.”

“I could’ve waited. I should’ve waited.”

“We can. You wanna get out of here? I’ll shut this down right now and you can go home, but only if you’ve changed your mind. Not because you feel bad about not taking care of everyone else.” He straightened the blanket, tugging it toward him a bit to flatten the soft peaks in the fabric.

Trenton had been fussing over me all morning—adjusting my pillows, fetching ice chips, and generally hovering. But the moment I slipped into the soft, worn fabric of the hospital gown, something shifted in him. His smile seemed harder to maintain, weighed down by a worry I’d never seen before, a heaviness that felt foreign in our normally lighthearted exchanges.

He fought for hours to feign confidence and positivity, his voice light and almost cheery as he cracked jokes to lighten the mood. But I could see through the façade. Each step he took beside my gurney, guiding me toward the surgical suite, seemed to add to the tension in his shoulders. The smile he wore became more strained, a brittle thing that barely masked the anxiety flickering in his eyes. I could practically feel his fear, pressing down on both of us as we moved down the corridor.

“You look beautiful, baby doll. You’re going to do great,” he said, leaning closer as he spoke.

“Yeah, she is,” Chuck said. He’d been pushing me from the head of the bed but slowed to a stop just ahead of swinging double doors. “This is where we drop you off, Mr. Maddox. You’ll hang out in the waiting room for a bit and then someone will let you know which room she’ll be in after recovery.”

“Okay,” Trenton said, wiping his sweaty hands on his jeans. He put his hands on the rails of my bed and leaned down to kiss me, licking his lips first. He was definitely nervous. He never did that. “See you soon. I love you more than anything, you know that, right?”

I reached up to touch his cheek. “I do. You show me every day. See you in a few hours.”

He stood and took a few steps back, nodding. He looked to Chuck. “Take care of her.” It was more a command than a request.

---