Page 39 of Stay with Me
“Margaret Amanda Holt. You might be across the country from us currently but I can and will find a way to wash your mouth out,” Uncle Brian said, making them all laugh. It was a needed decompress.
“I watched every one of you give your all to this country, in and out of uniform. Saw the impact that you made in each life you touched. I want to do that, too. Got my degree to help me do that. Public health protection was the closest I could get to being a part of search and rescue.” He turned to Uncle Mackey. “Watching the diligence that your retired dogs still had influenced me.” Drew stepped up to Uncle Danny. “I can remember every minute of the rescue that I went to withyou. Watching the dog and handler teams find those who were trapped? Saving those lives. That’s what I want to do.”
“I think we can figure out how you can do that,” Uncle Danny said, his voice gruff. When Drew looked closely, the tears were back in his uncle’s eyes. The only thing that he could do was throw himself into his uncle’s arms.
“Don’t think you’ve gotten out of telling us why you devastated Brody,” Uncle Mike said. “I’m not one-hundred-percent sure that you could make things up with him, but I do know that you were the happiest I’ve ever seen you when you were at our house with him.”
Uncle Mike’s words sank into Drew. “I’m a fucking idiot,” he said after a minute. His statement was met with sounds of agreement. “I threw away the best thing I’ve ever had in my life.”
“You might still have a chance, but you’re going to have to grovel,” Aunt Trish told him. “We’ll help you.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Spending the last week trying to figure out his next steps hadn’t been the relaxing vacation Brody’d planned on. Oh, he’d spent time bumming around. Worked out with Darien a few times. Proved to himself that he could hang with the man, but ouch. He needed to do more than work and sleep. He realized that he had no hobbies to entertain himself with. Maybe he’d take up crocheting or macramé? Cooking would be too depressing for just him. He definitely needed to exercise more. Oooh, he could find an adult volleyball or soccer league.
Brody glanced at the time in the corner of the computer screen. 0148. Lovely, he’d been sitting here lost in his thoughts for ten minutes and hadn’t gotten any charting done. A steady stream of patients had kept him busy for the first six hours of his shift. If the next six could go the same, that would be great. He had tonight and tomorrow’s overnight then he was transitioning to days. Reggie said that Marcia needed to swap to nights for at least six months and since she knew that Brody was flexible she’d made the swap.
“Brody, I just put a new one in nine for you. Report they’ve been dealing with chest pain for eight days. Comes and goes. Did an EKG in triage and it looked normal. It’s on Randy’s desk to review,” Leanne called out from the charge desk.
Standing up, Brody pushed his cart toward the supply closet and grabbed a rainbow set of tubes to get a standard set of labs drawn. He pushed into the curtained area, introducing himself without looking up. “Hi. I’m Brody and I’ll be your nurse tonight. I hear that you’ve been having chest pains for a week. I’m going to get some labs drawn. One of the PAs will be in shortly.”
Drew’s voice said, “I hope you’ll be my nurse for longer than a night.” Brody’s attention snapped up from the tubes. Drew was standing next to the bed with a bouquet of lilies and roses in his hand. “I don’t remember my papa, who I’m named after. I was a newborn when he died but my grandma Kate told me stories about him. How he looked in uniform. How he liked to whistle at her when he’d come home. That he would bring her lilies and roses when he fucked up.” Drew stopped and chewed on his lip for a minute. “I know I fucked up. I know that I don’t deserve a second chance but if you’ll give me one, I promise to never put your heart in danger.”
All Brody could do was stand there and blink. Leanne had to have known who Drew was. Brody hadn’t told anyone about what had happened but he’d heard from Talia, Shelly, and Devon that he looked like shit when he showed up for shift tonight. They’d demanded an explanation and weren’t really satisfied with his answer of ‘nothing.’
He watched Drew start to nod and the flowers were falling down. “I understand. I hope that one day you’ll forgive me. Biggest fuck up of my life,” Drew whispered as he stepped away from the gurney. He reached to put the flowers on Brody’s cart but before his hand got close, Brody grabbed it.
“You almost destroyed me,” Brody said around the lump in his throat. “I can’t go through being abandoned again,” he admitted.
Drew’s free hand reached up and cupped Brody’s jaw, his thumb rubbing against his cheek. “If you give me this chance, I promise that I will dedicate everything in me to working together with you to build the best life we can have together.”
A sob choked out of Brody as he threw himself at Drew. “I’m going to hold you to that. Stay with me.”
§ § § §
Drew had no idea how many rounds of Bubble Crush he’d played sitting here waiting for Brody’s shift to end. There was no way he was leaving the hospital without Brody today. He’d begged and pleaded with Leanne to get her to allow him to see Brody. She’d threatened him with castration if he didn’t bringtheirBrody back. Having a group of emergency nurses and technicians pissed at him wasn’t the best thing, especially if he got sick.
The last week with his family gave him the strength to try and fix things with Brody. He’d sat with his brother for a long time. Tristan apologized again and again. He’d never meant to push Drew into the military. His parents, his uncles, they all asked what they’d done to make him feel inferior. His cousins and sister couldn’t comprehend why he hadn’t confided in them. Talking with everyone helped Drew realize that it wasn’t anything they had done. He’d imposed the rigid standards on himself and then didn’t give himself credit for hitting them. He’d internalized a lot that wasn’t really anything and made it huge. Of course, Tristan would’ve accomplished things first. He was six years older than Drew.
He’d driven back to Kentucky with Uncle Mackey and Uncle Scott. Smokey was eating up the attention they gave him. The dog seemed to have already bonded strongly with Uncle Scott, if the way he’d glued himself to his side was any indication. When they’d gotten to Kentucky, Rick was in the field but Drew had dinner with Coop, who passed on a message from Rick which basically translated to ‘I told you that your family had your back, dumbass.’
A knock at his window snapped Drew from the doze he’d drifted into. Looking next to the Jeep, Brody was standing there with the bouquet in his hands. Drew opened the door and climbed out to wrap Brody in his arms.
“Morning,” Drew whispered as he leaned in to claim a kiss. Best way to start the day in his mind. “Can I take you to breakfast?” he asked.
Brody pursed his lips as he thought about his answer. “I’m actually hungry. I haven’t eaten well recently. I can follow you to—”
“I’ll drive. Can bring you to work tonight?” Drew offered, hopeful. A big smile broke across Brody’s face. Drew took that as consent and lead him around the Jeep. A quick drive and they were seated at the Black Bear with menus and coffee.
Christ. This was harder than facing his family. Brody might have, possibly, maybe, have given him a chance but he still felt that one wrong move and he was at the curb. Every member of his family had cautioned him that he needed to be completely honest and up front with Brody about everything.
The waiter appeared next to their table. “Morning, gentlemen. Do you need a few more minutes?”
Drew looked at Brody, who shook his head. “I think we’re ready,” Drew answered and motioned for Brody to start.
“I think I’ll try the chicken sausage scramble with wheat toast and a glass of orange juice.” Brody seemed a bit defensive about his order for some reason.
“And you?” the waiter said turning to Drew.
