Page 56 of Fighting the Tide
“We have to get back there,” I choke out as I turn and stumble for the door.“We’ll take my car.”
“I’ll drive the first bit,” Cassie offers and bends to grab my jacket.I’m thankful for it because I don’t know that we wouldn’t end up in the same situation if I got behind the wheel right now.
It doesn’t lessen the throbbing in my chest though, and with how intense it feels, I’m so scared of what I’ll find when I finally arrive in Cape Cod.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Theyhadtoairlifther to Cape Cod Hospital, which is about a forty-minute car ride from Chatham.That’s how I know it’s bad.It’s a five-hour drive from New York on average, but Cassie and I make it in four.The urgency in my chest has left me winded, and I fear I’ll collapse the second we get through those doors.
I need more time.I’m not ready to let her go completely yet.
“She’s out of surgery,” Cassie tells me as she hangs up the phone and we’re pulling into the parking lot.“She’s still in a coma, but they’re letting family in to see her.”
“I need to see her,” I finally say after hours of silence, my voice scratchy and dry.“I don’t give a fuck who tries to stop me.”
“Okay.”Cassie reaches over to grab my hand, but I’m already getting out of the car and striding for the entrance.We may have come here together, and I’m thankful to her for it, but we aren’t a couple.We don’t hold hands.
The bright lights rip through my corneas as I walk through the emergency doors to the front desk.The two nurses behind the counter look exhausted, and I don’t blame them.It’s well after midnight.
“I’m here to see Brooke Eastham.She was airlifted from Chatham earlier tonight.”Cassie comes to stand beside me, her breathing heavy with anxiety.
“I will bring you to where the family is waiting.”The nurse gives me a sad look as she stands from behind the desk.“Are you family?”
“Yes,” I snap as she leads us down a corridor.“Do you know anything about her condition?”
“No.”She shakes her head and gives us a look over her shoulder, her eyes filled with pity.“I believe the doctor has just been by to see her parents with some news.They could probably fill you in.”
This will be my first time meeting the Easthams.It feels odd since I’ve pretty much loved their daughter for over four years now, but they’ve been like this elusive entity that was never around.I bet Brooke felt the same way.
Feels.She feels the same way.I scrub my hand down my face as I follow behind the nurse down many winding corridors, and just when I’m about to ask if she’s taking us in circles, we’re led into a small waiting room where a man and a woman are sitting, looking very put out.By the beach waves of the man and the bright hazel eyes of the woman, I instantly know they’re Brooke’s parents.
“Oh, Cassie dear, so great of you to make it.”Mrs.Eastham rises from her chair to kiss the air around Cassie’s head without sparing me a look while Mr.Eastham stays sitting with his head in his hands.Both of them look like they haven’t slept in days and Mrs.Eastham’s eyes are red from crying.
“How is she?”Cassie asks as she sits in a chair.I stand by the entrance, not sure how to introduce myself and feeling so out of place, but I refuse to leave until I see her for myself.
“She’s being kept under.I would advise not to go in to see her.She’s basically unrecognizable—”
“My name is Nolan Sears.”I step forward and cut her off, not willing to waste another minute without seeing Brooke, regardless of her appearance.
“I know who you are,” Mrs.Eastham spits out, her eyes refusing to meet mine.“You’re the oldhousekeeper’sson.”It’s the utter disdain in her tone that has me taking a step back and making Mr.Eastham raise his head to look at me.I’m not sure what’s made her dislike me, but she’s not hiding it at all.“What are you doing here?”
“Brenda…” Mitch Eastham groans.“Can you not make this harder than it already is?”
“He just shows up here—”
“Room 336, Nolan,” Mitch cuts her off as his sad eyes meet mine.“I don’t know how much she’s aware of, but you’re more than welcome to go see her.She would like you there.”
“Mitch!”Brenda growls, but I don’t wait around to see what she has to say.I don’t know what’s made her dislike me so much, but at this moment, I don’t give a shit.I run down the hall until I reach 336 and stop, my heart up in my throat as I place my hand on the handle.
I open the door and step into the room, seeing the end of the bed and two slight bumps laying still under the blue blanket.I pause at the entrance of the room, listening to the beeps of machines and the hum of a ventilator.My forehead hits the wall as I suck in a breath, letting my chest expand as a sob gets trapped in my throat.I don’t know if I’m brave enough to walk in farther.
“Don’t be a coward, Nolan.You made her a promise and now you have to keep it,” I agonize to myself out loud.I promised her I would follow if anything happened to her.I told her I would join her back on that ledge and we would face death or life together regardless of what’s happened in our past.
With that in mind, I push off the wall and take a few steps farther into the room.Slowly, inch by inch, she is revealed, her body so small in the large bed frame.I stagger to the end of the bed and grab onto the railing as I scan my eyes over her face.Or what’s visible.The top of her head and her chin are covered in gauze and her beautiful eyes are swollen shut and bruised.Her nose is covered in plaster and her mouth is hidden behind the tube that’s helping her breathe.
“Brooke,” I sob as I walk over and fall into the chair beside her bed and reach for her bandaged-wrapped hand.“Oh my god, Brooke.”
Her chest moves with the ventilator as a machine beside her bed sounds with her heart rate, the beeping adding to my anxiety.I gingerly place her hand in my palm as I stroke her thin fingers, my tears hitting the blanket.
