Page 200 of Choosing You

Ryan comes back to the table, pretending to be startled when he sees my plate. “You’re eating a green vegetable? Are you feeling okay?”

“Funny, Ryan. Garret made me. And now he’s making me eat chicken.”

“Huh. I’ll give him a few points for that.” Ryan leans over to Chloe. “Jade lives on junk food. Potato chips. Fries. Desserts. That’s about it.”

“And chocolate milk,” I add. “Technically, that’s not junk food.”

Garret comes back with the chicken. It’s just as good as the green beans. I might have to break down and give him a compliment for this. But not now. I’ll save it for later.

After dinner, we go back to the hospital and see Frank, who is finally awake. We stay there until the end of visiting hours. The nurse keeps coming in telling us we need to leave, but I’m not ready to. I don’t want to leave Frank. I haven’t had enough time with him.

I sit next to Frank on the bed and take his hand. “I’ll miss you like crazy, but I’m going to keep calling you every day, just like I’ve been doing. Once a week isn’t enough.”

“Okay, honey. Sounds good.” He glances at the clock on the wall. “You should get going. They’re very strict about visiting hours. Call me tomorrow when you get to Connecticut so I know you made it.”

“I will.” I stand up but I’m unable to go. Frank still looks so frail. What if he doesn’t get better? What if his brain starts bleeding again and they can’t make it stop? What if this is the last time I see him? Just thinking about it has my eyes getting watery. Stupid Garret making me feel shit! Damn, it pisses me off!

I give Frank a hug. My eyes can’t hold the tears anymore and they run down my cheek. “I don’t want to go,” I whisper to him.

“You need to go,” he whispers back. “You’ll be safer there.”

I pull away, trying to quickly wipe the tears. But Frank sees them. He’s never seen me cry. Not even when my mom died.

He motions me to get close again. “That boy’s been good for you, Jade. I’m glad you found each other.”

The nurse is standing at the door staring at us, signaling us to get out.

“I guess we have to leave,” I say, letting go of Frank’s hand.

Garret comes over to Frank. “It was nice meeting you. I hope you feel better soon.” He puts his arm around me as I stand up. “I’ll take good care of her.”

I lean down and hug Frank one more time.

Then I hug Ryan. “I feel like I did that day you dropped me off at Moorhurst. Saying goodbye when I didn’t want to. I felt so alone when you left. I ran for like three hours that day.”

“Jade, you should’ve called me.”

“Oh, yeah. Like you would’ve talked to me with your no-cell-phones-while-driving-on-the-interstate rule.”

“I would’ve pulled over.”

“It doesn’t matter. I survived.” I take a deep breath and let it out. “This goodbye stuff sucks. I’ll just say see ya later.”

Ryan smiles. “Okay. See ya later, Jade. See ya, Garret.”

On the way to the hotel, I try not to cry but a few tears sneak out. Garret reaches over and holds my hand. “Jade, you can come home before May. I’ll get you a ticket for spring break. Or some weekend. Whenever you want to go.”

“No. You’ve already spent enough.”

“The money doesn’t matter. What matters is that you see your family.”

“I’ll think about it.”

We get a few hours sleep before having to get up to catch our early morning flight. When we board the plane, our seats are in the second row. “First class again, Garret? It’s gonna take me years to pay this off.” I turn to look behind us. “We could’ve sat back there. It’s not a full plane.”

“I told you I don’t fit in those seats.” He takes a newspaper from the flight attendant and turns to the sports section. “Just get used to it. When you’re Mrs. Kensington you’ll only fly first class.” He’s trying not to laugh.

“Stop it. You’re just saying that because you know it freaks me out. And you know I can’t protest because of that rule you made.”

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