Page 43 of His Heart

Sebastian

A waveof nervousness hit me as I stood outside the restaurant. This was it. I was about to meet the family of the man whose heart had saved my life.

The trip down here had only taken a couple of days. Charlie and I had taken turns driving and stopped at a cheap motel in the middle of nowhere for a night. We’d arrived in Phoenix last night, tired and cramped from so many hours on the road.

A bead of sweat trailed down my back as I opened the door. Cool air-conditioned air wrapped around me when I stepped inside. I hesitated near the front, wondering if the Harpers were here yet. I was a few minutes early. Charlie had stayed behind at the hotel.

I recognized Mrs. Harper the second I saw her. Shoulder-length blond hair. Blue eyes. I’d seen her picture—looked her up on Facebook. She met my eyes and even from across the restaurant, I could see her gasp in a small breath.

A man who looked to be about fifty or so sat across from her. He was lean, in a button-down shirt, his hair mostly gray. He reached across the table and rested his hand on hers.

The other person at the table was a young woman, maybe about my age. She was either Liam’s sister, or his girlfriend. Had to be sister. She looked like their mom—pretty, with blond hair, blue eyes, and a similar mouth.

They all stood as I approached their table. I was several inches taller than Mr. Harper, and a lot thicker, but I was used to being the big guy. I didn’t crowd their space, but stepped close enough to reach out and shake his hand.

“Sebastian McKinney,” I said. Mr. Harper took my hand and shook, introducing himself. I shook Mrs. Harper’s hand, and she introduced me to Olivia. Definitely the sister.

Olivia shook my hand and stared at me, wide-eyed. “Wow, you’re huge. Does my brother’s heart really work in your body, or do you need two of them?”

Mrs. Harper gaped at her daughter. “Olivia.”

“It’s a fair question,” Olivia said. “Look at him.”

“Maybe we should all just have a seat,” Mr. Harper said.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I’m used to it.”

I sat at the end of the table, with Mr. Harper on my right, Mrs. Harper and Olivia on my left.

“We’re so grateful you were willing to come all this way,” Mrs. Harper said.

“I’m happy to,” I said. “It’s the least I can do.”

A moment of awkward quiet settled over the table. Just as I was about to say something, the waitress came. We gave her our lunch orders—Olivia raised her eyebrows at me when I ordered a salad with grilled chicken—and she left ice waters for each of us.

“So, what was wrong with you?” Olivia asked. “Why did you need a heart?”

It looked like Mrs. Harper was going to apologize for Olivia, but I held up a hand. “It’s fine, really. You can ask me anything. And I figured you’d want to know what happened to me.”

They watched intently as I told my story. I didn’t want to make it sound melodramatic, but I was honest. I left a few things out—particularly Cami. They didn’t need to know about her. Mr. Harper had a lot of questions about my illness, and I did my best to answer. And they all wanted to know how I was doing now. Partway through, the waitress brought our lunches, and I continued talking while we ate.

It made me feel good to be able to tell them I was healthy now. Their son’s heart hadn’t gone to waste.

“What an amazing journey you’ve had,” Mrs. Harper said.

“I don’t really know how to say this and have it come out right,” I said. “I struggle with knowing that my second chance at life brought someone else a lot of pain. But I want you to know how grateful I am.”

Mrs. Harper reached across the table and put her hand over mine. “We’re grateful too. We miss Liam terribly. Nothing will ever take his place. But it helps so much to know that something good came out of that tragedy.”

I nodded, feeling a little choked up. Damn, this was tough. I’d only just met these people, and I felt like I’d known them my whole life. Like they were somehow my family, too.

Tears rolled down Olivia’s cheeks and she wiped them away. “Oh my god. This is the craziest thing. I’m so pissed Brooke isn’t here. She really needs to meet you.”

“Maybe she’s just running late,” Mrs. Harper said.

“Doubt it,” Olivia said, rolling her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Mrs. Harper said. “Brooke was Liam’s fiancée. We invited her to join us, and she said she’d be here. We actually haven’t seen her for quite some time.”

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