The Willingness to Burn (24 page)

Chapter 47

For days, Jace waited. He wished there was something that he could do to distract himself, but he knew that nothing would work. For nearly all forty-six hours of the surgery, he sat and stared in through the glass watching, waiting, praying. The never-ending beeping sound of the heart rate monitor gave him hope. Her heart is still beating, and in it the love she has for him.

After the surgery, Jace sat and waited, his face grew scruffy and his hair disheveled. He wouldn’t leave her side, not for a night, not for a moment. The doctors explained that it would take some time for her to come out of the medically-induced coma. And that after that point, it would be anyone’s guess. He sat and waited. Listening to her heart beat. Staring down at her. Jace sat and reminisced of the life they had had together and fantasized about the one that they would one day share again. 

Maddy hated hospitals, having lost her mom in one. But the recovery room she was in did not resemble a hospital at all. It was a Caribbean heaven with the sound of crashing waves flooding in through the windows. The floor was soft with carpet and the lighting, though bright, was indirect and soft. It smelled of their home. The first place where their love was able to take flight. Her favorite place.

The heart rate monitor changes from its normal tone, and the brain wave monitor starts to spike. Jace’s head perks up to attention. He squeezes her hand and he could have sworn that she squeezes back. Her eyes flutter a bit and open. The big blue irises grow as her pupils adjust to the light.

“Hey,” Jace says, his voice equal parts hope and fear.

Maddy closes her eyes, and her lips curl up in the corners. “Hey yourself.”

*

“So what exactly did he say?” Lilly asks Evan as the two of them walk down the white sand beach, their bare feet sinking with every step.

“He said to meet him out here on the beach.”

“You know sometimes I really hate your brother.”

Evan laughs.

“I don’t think he brought us all the way down here to tell us she’s dead,” Evan reasons.

“You never really know with him.”

“Nah, you don’t. Everything’s a performance. It’s all about the delivery.”

“And you haven’t talked to him since New York, right?” Lilly asks.

“Nope.”

“And he …”

“All he said was be at the airport and look for the car; they’ll take you to the house.”

“So then why are we out on the open beach”

“Honey, I don’t know another way to tell you I don’t know.”

“But she has to be okay, right?”

“Knowing him? I honestly don’t know.” Evan looks at Lilly and they stop walking. “He could have brought us down here to tell us he’s remarried and retired to run a jet ski rental place. Who knows?”

“Stop that!”

“I know, I know. I’m sure she’s fine,” Evan says, and they continue to walk along the beach.

The ocean waves crash down and small children run about. Kicking sand, building castles, and playing Frisbee. Off in the distance the calls of sea gulls can be heard. The smell of warm salt water is begging Evan and Lilly to take a dip.

“So how long has it been?”

“God, I don’t even remember … Eight months now?”

“Wow.”

“Yeah I kn—”

Evan stops dead in his tracks. Lilly pulls at his arm then stops as well. His eyes gaze down the beach at a man walking in khaki shorts and an open, white, button-down shirt, the kind made for beach walking, and a slim blonde girl in a blue and white maxi dress that flutters in the wind.

“That answers that.”

Evan throws his arm in the air and Jace waves back at him. The two couples walk toward each other then embrace and exchange hugs.

“Hey, guys.”

“Oh, my God, you look so good!” Lilly says to Maddy.

“Oh, thanks, you know, it’s the beard,” Jace responds with a smile.

Lilly shoots Jace a look. “Not you, dick. But it’s good to see you too.”

“Thanks, Lilly, you too.”

“How are you feeling?” Evan asks.

“Never better.” Maddy smiles at Evan.

“So, everything’s all right?”

“Better then all right. Turns out all my sunshine needed was some sunshine.”

Evan and Lilly look puzzled.

“He’s exaggerating,” Maddy admits.

“So seriously, though, what happened?” Evan asks.

“Evan, I invested heavily in an up and coming biotech company and it paid off. C’mon, there’s a place right over here that makes the best Mojito you will have in your entire life. I’ll tell you all about it.

The wind blows and picks up Maddy’s skirt.

“You got a tattoo?” Lilly asks.

“Uh, yeah,” Maddy responds, sounding a little uncomfortable.

“Let me see!”

Evan and Jace continue to walk toward the bar while the ladies trail behind. Maddy lifts up her dress to reveal a rose tattoo down by her ankle.

“Oh, I like it,” Lilly says, being polite.

“I think I’m getting something to cover it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, a rose is just too basic for me.”

Lilly laughs and the two ladies join their gentlemen in the shade with their cool drinks on the white sands of heaven.