Page 81 of Come Back to Me

Walking down the hall of the ICU, an eruption of noise is coming from Jack’s room. Immediate panic consumes me. Loud noises coming from an ICU patient’s room usually mean they’re crashing.

Picking up my pace, I hurry to his room but am stopped short when I realize the noise isn’t that of frantic nurses and doctors trying to save a patient. It’s actually… laughing.

What in the hell could his family find so funny at a timelike this, I think, getting a bit pissed. But time stops when I hear it.

That laugh… the one I first heard at O’Riley’s almost six months ago. Jack’s laugh? It… it can’t be.

Without thinking, I whip open the privacy curtain to his room and everyone looks at me, including a very awake, very much breathing on his own Jack.

I pause for a second when it hits me. They didn’t tell me. I’ve been here every day, and they didn’t tell me that Jack was able to come off life support today.

I immediately feel hurt and embarrassed and back up and out of the room. “I’m sorry, I… didn’t mean to intrude on a family moment,” I say and turn to go.

“Shit!” Jack says. “No, Annie, stop… please. Stay. I’m sorry, it’s my fault. I told them not to tell you. I wanted you to be surprised,” Jack pleads.

I stop and slowly turn back to face him.

“I told you that was the wrong move, asshole,” Shayna says, punching him lightly in the arm before coming over and hugging me.

“Are you sure? I can give you privacy,” I say, tension rising in me with the eyes of his parents as well as those of Ben and Shayna on me.

“Are you kidding, Annie? He’s been asking us every ten minutes what time it is, waiting for you to get off work. It’s been like taking a road trip with a grade schooler. ‘Are we there yet?’” Ben says, mimicking an impatient child.

“Okay, I wasn’t that bad,” Jack laughs again before his expression turns serious. “Guys, can you give me a few minutes alone with Annie?” he asks his family.

They nod and hug me as they file out of the ICU room.

“Hey,” I say softly from near the door.

“Hey, Annie.” He smiles.

I nearly melt into a puddle right there. I was so afraid I’d never see that smile again.

Piercing me with those gray eyes, he whispers. “Ben told me he gave you the journal. Did you read it?”

“I did. Did you… did you mean everything you wrote in there? Do you still?” I ask hesitantly, afraid of what his answer will be.

“I did and I do, sugar. Of course I do,” he answers with no hesitation.

“Jack, I’m so sorry you were so hurt and blamed yourself with… everything. I hate you went through that alone. I should have helped you. I should have been there for you.” A tear slides down my cheek.

“Annie, you couldn’t have helped me, and you tried to be there for me. I wasn’t letting you, baby. Now please, please come here, closer, or else I’m going to climb out of this bed to come over there and set off all kinds of alarms.”

I can’t help but smile at that and make my way over to his bedside.

When I get there, he reaches for my hand, and even that small touch is so comforting, I gasp at how much I’ve missed it.

“So, I need to ask you something and I need you to be honest,” he says softly, looking into my eyes with those beautiful grays I’d feared wouldn’t shine with life again.

“The doctors had been reducing my sedation overnight, hoping to take my tube out today. This morning, I thought—” He pauses, choking up and his eyes getting moist. He clears his throat before continuing, “I thought I heard you say that you love me and that you asked me to come back to me. Please tell me I didn’t imagine it, baby. Please.”

I can’t help it—I cry as I answer him. “You didn’t imagine it, Jack. None of it. I love you and I don’t want us to be apart another minute.”

“Thank the fucking stars, sugar. Thank God.”

He reaches up and cups the side of my face before leaning in and kissing me softly on my lips. Then he pulls back and wipes a tear from my cheek. “Don’t cry, please don’t cry, Annie.”

“They aren’t sad tears.” I smile, sniffling. “These are those happy tears I taught you about, remember?”

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