Page 31 of Before I Deserved You
“I don’t know. Now go, and for the love of God, stop fighting and try to get along. My eye’s been twitching all afternoon.” When Jude and Anna reluctantly leave the kitchen, Jake throws me an exasperated look. “Remind me to never have children.”
“But that would be a real shame since you’re doing such a wonderful job with them. Plus, can you imagine how adorable our babies would be?” Jake rolls hiseyes and opens the oven door to check on the status of the perfectly browned loaf.
“Do you need help with anything?”
He jerks his chin toward the cutlery drawer before he goes on to drain the pasta.
“If you don’t mind setting the table and maybe pour us some OJ, that’d be great.” We spend the next few minutes in comfortable silence as I tend to my appointed tasks, and Jake fills the bowls.
When Jude and Anna return, bickering at each other yet again, I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to have a family with Jake. To watch him cook dinner for our own children and listen to him scold them when they don’t behave. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll be an amazing dad someday.
Jake drops the plate of garlic bread onto the table with a resounding clatter that startles his brother and sister into silence.
“That’s enough. I invited Tessa to have dinner with us because I couldn’t take her out. We’re supposed to be at a nice, quiet restaurant right now, but instead, she’s here, putting up with you and trying to make the best of the situation. So, please show her you’re not a couple of animals and eat without driving everyone crazy with your incessant bickering.” Anna looks like she feels bad about her behavior, even going as far as to apologize. Jude simply shrugs and begins shoveling food into his mouth.
“Ow, damn, that’s hot.”
“How many times will you do that before you learn?” Jake asks, shaking his head at his little brother. Not two minutes later, he takes a heaping bite and lets out an expletive of his own. Everyone roars with laughter as we watch him suck in a series of quick puffs to relieve the burn. I’m pleasantly surprised to realize that Jake’s meal is actually delicious, and I am halfway through my second serving when Anna exclaims she needs another drink. Grabbing her empty glass, she climbs over Jude to get out of the bench seat and promptly loses her balance, tumbling to the ground in a flurry of flailing limbs.
The jarring sound of glass on tile echoes through the room, followed by Anna’s distressed cry. Jake is out of his seat in seconds, kneeling beside his sister to survey the damage.
“It’s bleeding. It’s bleeding, Jake,” Anna chants with a tremble in her voice as she stares at the large cut on her wrist with wide, fearful eyes.
“Shit. Jude, grab me a towel—a clean one. Hurry,” Jake barks while he carefully scoops his sister up to move her away from the jagged shards. Jude is back in record time, thrusting a dish towel at Jake, and I watch in horror as he wraps it tightly around her wound. It doesn’t take long for the blood to seep through, and Jake throws me a frantic look. “I’m going to carry her to the truck. We have to take her to the hospital. I need you to sit in the back with her and apply pressure on her wrist. Can you do that?”
“Yes, I can do that. Do you need to get anything?”
“Just grab my wallet on the way out. Jude, get my phone and try to get hold of Dad.”
“Jake,” Anna whispers, looking up at her brother with red-rimmed eyes.
“Ssshhh, it’s okay, honey. I’ve got you. Everything is going to be alright. I won’t let anything bad happen to you.” Cradling the little girl against his chest like she’s his most precious possession, he gingerly rises to his feet and makes his way out to the car.
The drive to the hospital feels like an eternity as Jude keeps dialing his dad’s number over and over with no luck.
“Try again,” Jake snaps, glancing into the rearview mirror to check on his sister every so often. I put as much pressure on the injury as I can without causing her too much pain, but the towel is stained red, regardless.
“He’s not answering,” Jude cries. Jake slams the palm of his hand into the steering wheel.
“Fuck. That useless son of a bitch. Goddamnit.”
“Are they going to give you trouble at the hospital if he’s not there?”
“I don’t know,” he replies, raking his fingers through his hair. “I never had to take them before, but they’ll have to treat her, right? They can’t turn her away.”
“I don’t think so. Let’s just get her there and deal with any issues as they come.”
As luck would have it, we find a parking spot close to the emergency entrance, and Jake is already rounding the vehicle, lifting Anna from her seat and then running for the sliding doors. He goes up to the front desk, where a nurse takes them into the trauma bay immediately, leaving Jude and me to wait in the lobby.
Half an hour later, Jude is finally able to get in touch with his dad, who promises to be there as soon as possible. When Jake checks in with us to give us an update on Anna’s condition, he looks like he’s been through the wringer but seems a lot less agitated. Turns out, the cut on Anna’s wrist wasn’t as severe as we initially thought, and they were able to stop the bleeding and close the laceration with little effort.
“They want to keep her in for a couple of hours to make sure she’s feeling alright. She’s lost quite a bit of blood, but they assured me she’ll be okay.”
Sagging into the seat next to me, he drops his face into his hands and roughly rubs his eyes.
“Fuck me. I’ve never been so scared in my life. If something had happened to her on my watch,” he stops himself before he can finish the thought; the possibility of a more serious outcome is too much to entertain. I rub at the spot between his shoulder blades and try to comfort him as best I can.
“You did everything right. She’s okay because of your quick thinking and that’s all that matters.”
