Page 27 of Love Unavoidable
I reach out to shake his hand, then lean in and give Lexie a kiss on the cheek. I watch them leave, then turn back to the near empty room. Most everyone else has left as well, except Aaron. I take a deep breath and head over to him. He starts talking before I can.
“You aren’t in charge of anything, you know. You have no say over her care or what happens to her. You don’t even know her. So stop acting like you are the one calling the shots.”
I look around the room, then back at him. “I don’t see anyone else around who IS calling the shots. Do you?”
“Everything was fine until you got here,” he says.
I narrow my eyes and cock my head, not sure how he came to that conclusion. There are so many things wrong with his train of thought.
“Look, Aaron, I didn’tgethere, I’vebeenhere. Sadie asked for me. In fact, I am the only one she asked for. And now I am doing the things she asked me to do. That puts me in charge and has me calling the shots. Okay?”
I try to give him a break. “For all our sakes, please don’t make this any harder than it needs to be. Especially on yourself. If Sadie asks me to, I will call you tomorrow to give you an update. In the meantime, I really suggest you get some rest and then go home. I’m sure you have a life to get back to and I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t be eager to do so. Safe travels, man.”
I turn my back on him and walk toward the nurses’ station to request more pain medication for Sadie. He follows me.
“You don’t get it,” Aaron says. “She’s mine. She’s always been mine. From the time we were kids, it’s been Aaron and Sadie. I proposed to her for the first time when we were five years old. And she said yes.” His voice breaks. He closes his eyes and clears his throat before continuing.
“I don’t know how to be Aaron without Sadie. I don’t know how to be me, man. I need her. She completes me.”
I try my damnedest to be objective and polite, but it’s all I can do not to laugh when he says she completes him. I pull my hand down over my face to keep my composure. Because, is he really quotingJerry Maguireright now?
“I wish I could help, man,” I tell him. “I’ve never felt that way myself. I don’t know what to tell you. It sounds difficult. Maybe you can talk to one of your buddies about it? Family member? I don’t know. But I know for certain I am NOT the guy to talk to about it. Okay? Good luck, brother.”
I pat him on the shoulder and once again head toward the nurses’ station. Not stopping when I hear him call my name. Also not stopping when I hear him punch the wall.
And the cry of anguish that follows.
* * *
After I get a nurse to agree to up Sadie’s meds to help her sleep, I convince Nurse Natalie to grab me a hospital toiletry set so I can wash up and brush my teeth. When I get back to her room, the nurse is just leaving after having increased her medication and checking her vitals. Sadie is fast asleep.
I send the fire chief an emergency time off request from my phone. Then grab a blanket from the closet and prepare to sleep on the chair next to her bed. Natalie had offered to have one of the fold outs rolled in for me. But I know from experience they can be just as uncomfortable, if not worse, than a chair. Besides, lying in a separate bed next to hers feels a tad too intimate for two people who have not been together.
I grab a bucket from the bathroom and turn it over to use as a footstool, then pull the blanket up to my chin and close my eyes. One of the benefits of being a firefighter, and the schedule we keep, is being able to fall asleep quickly at most times of day or night.
Except, it seems, tonight.
I can’t figure this out. What would possess me to commit to taking care of a woman I barely know? For however long. And in my house. That’s not the kind of guy I am. I mean, I am a nice guy just not this nice. I like my privacy, my independence, multiple women. Not one woman for days on end. It gives them ideas, and not of the good variety. Ideas of commitment and relationships and playing house. I look over at Sadie, sleeping soundly in the bed. She’s gorgeous, sure, but so are a ton of women. She’s got a cute accent, again not that original.
And again, I have to wonder what is it? Why her?
Then, because apparently, I’m the world’s biggest fucking fool, I reach for her hand and enclose it in mine, resting both on the edge of the bed. I pull the blanket back up to my chin, return my feet to rest on the overturned bucket, and force myself to sleep.
