Page 61 of Resilient Rhythms
Voices ring out. Rose drops to her knees beside me. She reaches for my wrist and I flinch. “I’m sorry, Mckenna. I am so fucking sorry,” she wails and I realize she’s apologizing for more than my injuries.
Security is called. More people appear. I’m loaded into an ambulance.
I watch the scene unfold as if I’m a third-party bystander.
I can talk, can’t I?
But when I open my mouth, words don’t come out.
I can stand, right?
But when I try to gather my strength, my legs fail.
“You’re going to be okay,” Drew assures me as he follows me into the back of the ambulance. “Mass General,” he confirms the name of the hospital and then, a siren cuts through the air.
Through the back window of the ambulance, I note Bran pressed into the ground, a police officer cuffing his hands.
I spot Aiden nearby with his arm around Rose’s shoulders.
I close my eyes as relief fills my head, my body, my heart.
I survived. I stood up for myself. I did it.
A smile twists my lips right before I let my limbs relax. My mind lets go and I sink into oblivion.
FIFTEEN
MAV
“I’m not wadinginto a fucking pond to get a golf ball,” I inform my brother.
“It’s more than one golf ball,” Jameson replies.
I snort as I slide into the golf cart beside him. “I feel good about today.”
“You lost more balls than you hit,” he points out.
I shrug. “I played golf.”
Jameson snickers as he turns the golf cart toward the clubhouse. “Want to get a beer?”
“A Coke,” I correct him. “And a steak.”
“And a steak,” he mutters, snorting. “If Pop could see us now…”
I glance at my brother. “You think he’s turning over in his grave that we turned out to be such fancy boys? Playing golf and eating steak?”
Jameson grunts but shakes his head. “Nah. I think he’d be proud of us.”
“You do?”
“Yeah.” Jameson slides his palm over the top of the steering wheel and cuts me a look. “We turned out relatively stable all things considered.”
I snicker. “All things considered.” I sigh. This is it. This is the opening, the moment, I’ve been waiting for. “Jameson, there’s something I have to tell you.”
My brother’s expression sobers as his eyes flicker to mine, wary. “Oh shit. What is it?”
I grin, his reaction giving some much-needed levity. “I should have told you years ago,” I admit. “But I didn’t know how.”
