Candle In The Wind

Chapter Ten

Ten Year Old Jacks

It felt great to see my little brother smile. He was playing cards with a kid, God, he was well enough to play cards. I couldn’t shake off the smile on my face while I admired his smile. Him and this kid—Jacks—had been at it since I stepped foot in the room, and that was over thirty minutes ago.

Jacks almost looked like a younger image of my brother—the same dirty blond hair and green eyes, too tall for his age almost, and thin.

I knew my brother was a very competitive person and he loved games so he could go on for hours if he was allowed to do so, but I had to give it to Jacks for being equally excited—I was impressed.

I, for one, had always hated games. They always took up too much of my time and my version of being competitive was dangerous, it was nothing like Ardley’s version.

I remember the last time we wanted the same thing—rather the same person. When I was a senior in high school and Ardley was a sophomore. Ardley and Celeste were going through something very childish if I remember correctly. But there was a new girl in town Gabriella, Gabby for short, she was Italian and very beautiful.

Ardley and I never had the same type, but Gabby, she was everyone’s type. Ardley and I stopped talking after he had a very demanding conversation with me. He told me off because apparently Gabby was off-limits when it came to me. He called me selfish and told me I always got everything, but he didn’t realize he was the selfish one for trying to use Gabby to get back at Celeste. I, of course, didn’t listen, and Gabby and I dated for almost a year. The first three months Ardley was pissed but once he got back with Celeste he didn’t seem to care anymore.

It took us a while to get close again after that happened, mainly because of how obsessed I was with Gabriela, the idea of making her mine—it consumed me. After that I decided that I should never become obsessed with having anything or anyone if it was going to drive a wedge between Ardley and I—and over time, without realizing it, I became less competitive, or maybe I just shut off that part of me because I could never control it.

I slowly shook my head and glanced at Ardley, “remember Gabriella?”

Ardley’s eyes snapped in my direction and a playful smirk played on his lips, “who doesn’t remember THE Gabriella Morretti?”

He chuckled, “why? Is she back? If so, she’s all yours Cal, my hands are full with a wife and a baby on the way.” He grinned from ear to ear and laid a card on the bed table. Jacks looked conflicted before he chose a card from his pile.

“No,”

I chuckled as I shook my head, “she’s not back.”

“Do you want her to be?”

I swallowed as I thought of Juliette. It was wrong but it couldn’t be helped, and averting my attention to something or someone else was no use. I could only think of Juliette Rhodes, and I had absolutely no clue why.

“No,”

I said, still in a haze, hallucinating something possibly close to Juliette’s smile. “I just thought about how competitive we used to be.”

“Ah.”

Ardley nodded and looked down at little Jacks.

“Do you have any siblings, Jacks?” he asked.

Jack sighed, “yes, like a whole bunch.”

“Any brothers?” I asked.

“Five brothers, three sisters.”

Ardley and I looked at each other and both raised our brows.

“That’s certainly a whole bunch,” I said.

“And that’s pretty incredible too,”

Ardley added, “believe it or not, you’ll always need them, so don’t ever let a girl come between you and your brothers, alright?”

Jacks grimaced. “Eww, girls have cooties.”

“You’ll want those cooties soon, trust me.”

I chuckled.

“Cal.”

Ardley sent me a firm look.

I cleared my throat. “What I mean is, my brother is right, don’t ever let anything or anyone come in between you and your brothers, and protect your sisters.”

Jacks looked at us confusingly but then slowly started nodding and pretending like he understood us.

“Good, bring it here.”

I lifted my hand up and walked towards him and dropped my hand into the nest of his hair, ruffling it.

He groaned because it seemed like I distracted him from playing, and right when my brother laid a card on the table he laughed loudly as he held the side of his stomach.

“What? No fair!”

Jacks exploded.

“Fair and square.”

Ardley winked.

Jacks turned to look at me with an angry face. I lifted both hands up in surrender. “He was going to win anyway,”

I said, trying to defend myself.

He squinted his little green eyes at me then stood up. “I demand a rematch.”

“Jacks!”

A soft voice called out down in the hall. “Jacks!”

He quickly turned to look at Ardley. “Tomorrow then?”

Ardley shrugged. “I’ll be here.”

Jacks stormed out of the hospital room. “Coming, mom!”

I turned to look at Ardley and smiled, “did you have fun?”

“So much fun, but I’d have a much better time if my wife was here.”

I swallowed.

“I’m obviously getting better and better, so soon I’ll just hang out in her room like you’re doing right now.”

“I’m not hanging out.”

I cleared my throat. “I’m checking up on you.”

“Right,”

his brows furrowed, “have you met with Juliette yet?”

I froze, and a perfect image of Juliette played in my head. She smiled and there was an impossible amount of light glowing behind her head, and low jazz music played. Brown eyes, freckles, full lips, and she was smiling. Oh God, at me. Me.

“Cal?”

What the hell is happening to me? I see Juliette, even when she’s not in front of me, especially when she’s not in front of me.

“Yes?”

“Juliette, have you seen her?”

Again, the hallucination started playing in my head, but I stopped it this time. I quickly forced my eyes shut then quickly said, “I have, yes.”

I cleared my throat. “She, uh, actually wants to see you.”

“Bring her with you next time.”

I nodded. “Will do.”

I checked the watch on my wrist. “I have to head out now, it’s been an hour.”

Ardley nodded.

Right as I reached the door Ardley stopped me.

“But before you go,”

he continued, “what’s with the new look?”

“New look?”

I repeated his ridiculous question.

“You shaved your beard.”

Subconsciously, my hand reached up to feel my stubble, but my face was soft and bare.

“It was never really a beard,”

I grumbled under my breath and walked out of the room, even when I was halfway down the hall, I still heard Ardley laughing. I sighed and shook my head.

Why did he even have to point it out?

“I swear it wasn’t a car accident, she passed out in her car, the light was green and a car was still parked at the light and I honked and honked and the car didn’t budge. I got out of my car to take a look and she was passed out. I brought her here because I was worried for her and the baby,”

a familiar voice rambled just down the hall.

“Okay, okay,”

Doctor Kent tried to calm down…Seba?

I quickly walked down the hall until I was standing next to who I thought was Sebastien. And it was.

“What happened?” I asked.

He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. “I found a pregnant lady passed out in her car at a green light.”

“What was she driving?”

Seba squinted. “A red truck?”

That was all I needed to hear to open the door and storm into the room. I found Juliette laying on the hospital bed holding an ice pack against her head.

Her braids were down and unlike the usual bright-colored flowery dresses she always wore, she had on a simple blue dress, and looked like she was in pain and tired. And there was a bandage on her bicep.

Doctor Kent stormed into the room right behind me, but it felt like there was a delay. “Cal, you can’t be in here,”

he said as he placed a hand over my shoulder, “Cal.”

“It’s fine, leave him,”

Juliette said as her eyes met mine.

“You sure?”

My brows furrowed. “You heard her fine, Kent.”

The door clicked behind us and we were finally alone.

I didn’t dare to move any closer. I wasn’t sure what I’d do if I stood next to her in this state. My mouth was dry and I was anxious to hear her explanation for this.

“Wow, Callum,”

she smiled, “I almost didn’t recognize you without the stubble.”

“What happened?” I asked.

She took a deep breath, then removed the ice pack over her head, placed it on the bed table next to her, and laid back on the bed.

“I don’t know,”

she finally said as she looked at the ceiling, “one minute I was driving and the next thing I knew I was getting carried into the hospital.”

My brows dipped. “Yeah, but that doesn’t just happen, something had to be wrong.”

She nodded. “Let’s just wait to hear what Kent has to say.”

And without another word, she closed her eyes and got comfortable in bed. I sighed and walked forward—I was hesitant, but I grabbed the cover and pulled it up over her. She was either really good at acting or she really did fall asleep that fast, either way she didn’t open her eyes, she couldn’t be bothered.

Right when I made a move to sit down, my phone rang loudly, and I hissed trying to silence it as quickly as I could. I ended up picking up the call because for some reason the silence button wasn’t working.

“What is it, Crystal?”

I said in a harsher tone than needed. I turned my back to Juliette.

“The meeting with the Cole—”

“Do whatever you can do to delay it or to have it without me, figure it out.”

I whispered then hung up the phone. I dropped my phone into my pocket then walked back next to Juliette and took a seat next to her.

A few minutes went by, and I was doing absolutely nothing, just sitting there wracking my brain inside out, worrying about Juliette while watching her sleep.

And after thinking for so long, I ended up with nothing. I didn’t have a single clue of why Juliette passed out—I could only think of worst-case scenarios. Will this be a pattern? Is there something else going on? I found myself worried sick while Juliette slept like a damn baby. Her long eyelashes kissed her skin, and her lips were slightly parted as she exhaled every breath she took.

When Doctor Kent walked into the room I bolted to my feet and placed a finger over my lips, warning him to not say anything.

I spoke when I was next to him, in a low tone only he could hear, “come back later,”

I said, “give her an hour, I don’t know what’s going on but she’s sleeping like it’s her last day.”

And on cue Juliette softly snored.

“She’s even snoring.”

I added as I looked back at her.

Kent sighed and gave me a long look, “one hour.”

I nodded and sat in my seat as he closed the door behind him.

During that time, I decided to go through my emails to make use of my time because panicking wasn’t going to change anything, and Juliette clearly figured that out long before me.

I had an important two p.m. meeting with the Colemans today, though it was just to finalize everything before we start construction. I’d been in contact with them since we started the process of signing a couple contracts. Showing up to the meeting was almost necessary, but I’m sure they’d be able to understand if they knew the real reason why I wasn’t making it to the meeting, but that part wasn’t too important to mention to them in the short email I was crafting. Before I could send them the draft I received a text message from Crystal.

Crystal H: Crisis averted; The Colemans called to have the meeting rescheduled due to some personal issues.

Callum: Got it.

I sighed in relief and deleted the draft.

I slipped my phone into my back pocket then got comfortable in my seat.

I don’t remember the part where I closed my eyes and dozed off, but my eyes snapped open once the door clicked. I looked up to find Kent with a clipboard in his hand.

I shook my head as I stood. “One more hour, Kent.”

He shook his head. “This room can be used for people with real injuries, I already gave her an hour that’s—”

“What’s going on?”

I was in the process of biting down my teeth, clenching my jaw, when I heard her soft voice.

I opened my mouth to speak but Kent beat me to it.

“I’ve got your test results,” he said.

Juliette nodded and rubbed her eyes as she yawned. “I’m hungry,”

she whispered.

“You had a heat stroke.”

“How?”

was all I could manage to say at the moment.

“Well, Cal, she spent too much time in the heat, became severely dehydrated, then lost consciousness after being dizzy for so long,”

Kent said, “the headache will go away soon, Juliette, just keep yourself hydrated.”

I glared at Kent who just explained to me how heat-strokes worked like I was a kid or a degenerate.

“What I meant was,”

I turned to look at Juliette who was silent as ever, “where were you? And most importantly, you were in a moving car, wouldn’t the AC have cooled her down in time?” That question was meant for Doctor Kent.

“The chances for that are higher for a heat exhaustion case, but yes, the A/C should have cooled her down. Either way, you’re alright, Juliette, the baby’s doing great as well, just keep yourself hydrated,”

he said as he stepped towards Juliette.

“Here are your discharge papers,”

he handed her the papers that were on his clipboard, “you’re free to go. Get some rest.”

“Thank you,”

Juliette whispered with a close-lipped smile.

Kent left the room.

I walked towards Juliette, “you alright?”

She nodded. “Yeah, like Kent said, the headache will go away—”

“Forget what Kent said.”

I took a seat on the bed.

“How are you feeling?”

She squinted. “Do you want me to be honest?”

“Always.”

“I’m tired, and hungry, and this damn baby is breaking my back.”

I took a deep breath and placed a hand over her leg. Her breath hitched and her eyes dropped to my hand—then she swallowed.

“I’m not sure what I can do about your back, but we can get disgusting cafeteria food for now and I can drive you home if you want. You’d be able to rest in my car.”

I watched her tongue lap over her bottom lip before she bit down, she looked at me…like…almost into me. “What about my truck?”

I swallowed. “I can drive back and bring back your truck.”

Her brows furrowed. “Then what about your car?”

Oh, my brows furrowed, I couldn’t think straight. “Then uh,”

I looked down as I tried to think of something, but I made the mistake of looking up again, our eyes locked and just like that I was gone…speechless…whatever, whoever was Callum Oakes was all gone. I was all hers. I could be whatever she wanted me to be.

“You could stay over.”

“I can do that,”

I said almost too quickly with a strained voice.

She laughed and my chest tightened. “Callum, I was kidding.”

I wasn’t. Not for a single second.

“Let’s just get cafeteria food for now,”

Juliette said as she pulled the cover off then started to get out of the bed, “and since we’re already here, would it be okay to see Ardley?”

Right when she was about to stand, she grabbed her waist and her head, I shot to my feet and wrapped my hands around her waist to stabilize her. I could tell she was still dizzy. Instead of pushing me off she wrapped her hand around my bicep and held on for dear life.

“Doctor Kent got it all wrong, you’re not good to go yet.”

She sighed. “It’s fine Callum, it’ll just take me a moment to adjust.”

I nodded. “Well then, take all the time you need.”

Juliette was able to stand on her own in just a few seconds. I smiled because of how proud of her I was.

She looked at me while she grabbed her purse from the nightstand. “You okay?”

she asked with furrowed brows.

I wiped the smile off my face and scratched the back of my neck. “Yeah, I’m great.”

We made it to the cafeteria and Juliette went with two chocolate puddings, today’s special—chicken pot pie—a fruit salad, and apple juice.

I took her apple juice and replaced it with a water bottle. She didn’t protest or anything, instead she just grabbed another pudding and added it onto my plate, and something told me that wasn’t for me.

When we sat down to eat, she grabbed the pudding from my plate and threw it into her purse. I looked at her in amusement. “Are you a kleptomaniac? I’m starting to see a pattern.”

She laughed then shook her head as she opened one of her puddings. “No, the hospital pudding is just way better, and they won’t tell me the brand.”

She pouted.

I made a face. “You’re the first to think that. Everyone else believes hospital food sucks.”

She shrugged, “being stuck at the hospital with terrible health news can ruin everything for you—“

“No, Juliette,”

I chuckled, “the food just sucks.”

“Well, I like the chocolate pudding.”

I handed her a napkin. “We can have a quick visit with my brother once we’re finished here.”

“Thank you,”

she said after swallowing some pudding.