Wished Away: A Broken Fairy Tale (7 page)

She looked up at me and my heart skipped a beat. “Make love to me Dave. Do everything you’ve dreamed about to me right here. Right now.” Jess reached down and slowly untied my bathing suit, kissing up along my neck completely making me unravel. I reached down and slid my fingers under the hem of her ruffled red bathing suit bottom, making her shiver in excitement. “Oh God Jess, I want you. You are so beautiful.”

“Promise me.” Her face was suddenly vulnerable and right then and there she could’ve asked for the world and I’d give it to her. Jess never showed vulnerability. That was one of the things that always kept things exciting between us, we were both fighters. We were both strong.

I brushed my nose against hers before kissing her neck, as I slid the small piece of cloth covering what I wanted so badly and a guttural moan escaped me. “Anything,” I said breathless, opening her to me, making sure she was ready for me.

“Don’t ever leave me,” she said panting as I slid into her.

She was so tight, so wet, I nearly lost myself right then. But instead, I stilled for a moment, taking in every bit of heaven it was to be inside her this way. I wanted nothing more at that moment than to make that night one we would never forget. I leaned into her, pressing her lips to mine, pouring my soul into our kiss. The way her lips sent shocks through my entire body, almost had me coming apart again, it was so full of need.

I pulled back and looked her in her eyes. “I promise Jess. I’ll never want to be anywhere but with you.” And that was the truth, in all these years, I’ve never wanted to be anywhere but with her.

My dream becomes interrupted with the realization that someone is moving my body, and that people are around me, but I want to be back in my memory, back with Jess in that red bikini. But my euphoric dreams are interrupted by a sharp, sudden pain, and then darkness.

Jess

I
just got off the phone with Charlotte who is still with Kat in Cherry Hill, letting her know that she’ll get to have three sleepovers in a row, and will be staying at Cam’s tonight. Right now, everyone is just keeping everything light and fun for her, but I know that she’s going to have to come here tomorrow and see her Dad. We can’t keep this from her much longer. I miss Charlotte and want to see my little girl, but I won’t leave Dave’s side until he gains consciousness. He came out of surgery a few hours ago, but they said the next twenty four hours were critical. Luckily Cam brought me some extra clothes this morning, and I was able to shower in Dave’s room, but other than that shower, I’ve not left his bedside. I want him to know I’m right here, fighting for him.

Dave’s parents have gone home to get some rest after I promised to call them if there’s been any change, and I have to say I’m glad to have this quiet time alone with Dave. I appreciate that his parents and my gang stayed by my side during the surgery, but now that it’s just Dave and me, I feel like I don’t have to be strong. He knows me better than anyone. He knows that my outgoing, crazy personality is only one part of me. As confident as others may find me, I don’t know who I am without Dave. He gives me confidence and has always made me feel like I can do anything and succeed, that I could
do
anything
and he’d still love me.

Just that thought causes the tears that I have been so good at holding back, to tip over my eyelids onto his cold, limp hands.

“He may hear you if you talk to him.” Dr. Scott walks over to the end of Dave’s bed and takes out his chart to look over everything. I try to smile up at him and nod politely, but say nothing. Everyone kept raving how lucky we were that he was on call when Dave came in, that he’s one of the best surgeons in the country, but all I could think about was why
is
he working at Brick Memorial then?

He hands me a cup of coffee that I hadn’t even noticed he brought in, and sits down next to me. I smile a real smile this time because when the caffeinated smell meets my nose, I realize how badly I need this right now. I’ve hardly had any sleep or eaten anything since I got here. “Thanks,” is all I can say.

He nods and looks back over at Dave. “You know when my wife woke up for that brief moment after her accident.” His eyes are sad and lost, not like the emotionally disconnected doctor he portrays when others are around, “She said she heard me. She said that my words meant everything to her.” He looks over at Dave. “I wasn’t trying to interrupt you, I just thought it might help you feel better to know he might hear you.”

I take a sip of the coffee, letting the warmth of it slide down my throat into my empty stomach, then look up at him,
really
look at him this time. “Thanks. For the coffee and advice.” I rub Dave’s hand wishing he would slide his fingers through mine like he always does. “I’m sorry about your wife, Dr. Scott. That’s a loss no one should have to go through.”

He smiles sadly at me and gets up walking to the door. “I’ll check back in before my shift is over tonight, let the nurses know if you need anything at all, ok Mrs. Bosi? We’re doing everything we can to make sure he makes it through this. The world needs more heroes like Dave Bosi, and I’m not about to let anything happen to him on my watch.” He gives me a wink and walks down the hall and out of sight.

Dave really is a hero. He’s saved countless people over the years, including me. I keep going over and over in my head what I could’ve done differently yesterday that would have kept him out of harm’s way--but there’s nothing, because Dave is dedicated to his job and he was trying to save a little girl. I look up at his strong face that looks so gray and gaunt, and brush my hand across the stubble of his chin, closing my eyes to memorize the rough way it prickles against my fingertips.

“I’ve always liked you with a little stubble,” I say before leaning down and kiss his cheek, wishing so badly that all those tubes we’re off his face and I could kiss his lips. I think of what Dr. Scott said and brush Dave’s dark hair off his brow revealing a deep scar that runs across his forehead, and bend over to place a kiss on his first reason for coming to Brick Hospital. “Remember when I gave that to you?” I smile at the memory and sit back down next to Dave taking a sip from my still warm coffee and put my feet up on his bed next to his and take Dave’s hand in mine. I begin telling him of one of my favorite memories with him, praying he can hear me and will come back to me.

Winter in Mantoloking was quiet, and if you were a kid, at times it was down-right boring. Joey, Dave, and I were trying to play a trick on Cam and Holden who had just started dating, in turn we all felt they were ruining our best-friendship. Dave and Joey took a strong stance back in junior high that Cam and I were off limits because we were too cool to mess around with.

Looking back at it, the guys were probably just trying to keep themselves from fighting over us since they were all a bunch of horn balls. Well, needless to say, Cam and Holden were the first to go down, and as we predicted, they starting spending less time with the group of us and more time alone at “their spot” on a bench between their houses. While Holden was the alpha male, and Dave was the enforcer, Joey was the clever one. He could always come up with the most creative, intricate gags to pull on people, and that day was going to be one for all times…or so we thought.

It was a bitter cold day and the three of us were huddled together at Joey’s house on our street. His parents were away in California working on a movie and we had free reign to hang out all day and were playing flip cup. Holden and Cam said they would maybe come by later, but that was hours ago. That was all the ammo we needed to get our plan in action.

“She has him so whipped. I bet they’re watching The Notebook right now.” Dave was the first to complain.

“I wonder how long it’ll take him to get in her pants?” Joey joked.

“Jesus, you two are so stupid. They are not doing it yet, and I know you both cried during The Notebook too, so shut up. Let’s just play ourselves or invite other people over. It doesn’t always have to be just the five of us.”

Joey and Dave both looked over at me, and I knew what was coming. Before I could even react, they both charged at me and tackled me to the ground.

“It always has to be us because no one else is as cool as us.” Dave began tickling me while Joey held me down.

“Mercy!” I screamed, I hated to be tickled and they knew it, so they were good boys and let me go.

“You could call your hot cousin if you want Jess,” Joey said with a devilish grin.

“No way Joe, hands off her,” I said slapping him over his head.

“Whatever Jess, before you know it, you and Dave are gonna finally hook up and I’ll be a fifth wheel. I need to bring someone onto the group.”

“We are not!” Dave and I both looked at each other appalled that Joey would’ve said such a thing. But now…now I know that he felt what I did back then, he wanted to be with me as badly as I did him, we just weren’t ready to admit it yet. That would take a little while longer.

Before long, Joey had devised a plan to sneak up on them while they were snuggling outside in this freezing weather since it was one of the few places they could be alone, and we knew they’d go there to make out when it got dark. Dave and Joey were going to climb on Holden’s deck and jump down on them from the fence while I came from the corner and we’d all douse them with freezing water from water guns. It wasn’t one of Joey’s best plans, but it was cold outside and we were drunk and lazy by this time.

I remember giggling uncontrollably like kids when the three of us snuck across the street. Dave and I carried the water guns, and I couldn’t help but drop to the ground and do a combat roll as I crossed the street, making Dave bust up at my playfulness. He always encouraged my silly behavior rather than try to snuff it out. Dave took my hand in his and led me over to Joey who was waiting for us in the front of Holden’s house with three beers. The loud crunching of stones that decorate all of the yards of our houses threatened to give away our stealth mission when we tried to silently approach and made us all burst out laughing again.

“Shot gun these first.” He popped holes in the sides of our cans without asking, making beer splash everywhere.

“Haven’t we had enough guys?” Dave’s question made us both flick our beer at him before lifting the can to our mouth and popping the lid.

“Whoever finishes first gets to kiss Jess,” Joey said making me almost choke on my beer. Another thing I didn’t notice back then, and only knew about much later on, was Dave wanted to win, he even tried to sneak some of the beer out of his can when they began to race. When Joey won, I was oblivious to Dave’s growing anger when I hid behind him laughing as Joey playfully peeked his head around Dave, calling for me to come lay one on him. Dave reached back and pinned me against his body, keeping me away from Joey’s grasp. “Come on Joey, they’re going to hear us, let’s just get this over with. My fingers are going to freeze off out here.”

Joey looked up at Dave with a smirk, patting him on his shoulder. “You’re right man, I’m sorry.”

I remember thinking how out of character it was for Joey to give up, especially when a kiss was involved. But the guys knew how Dave felt about me back then, and most of their jokes were focused on riling him up about me since he still wasn’t ready to admit he loved me. Dave handed Joey his water gun and tapped me on the top of my hat. “I just saved you. You can thank me later.” He winked at me then ran off around the other side of the house.