Chapter 42
FORTY-TWO
SIX MONTHS LATER
The past six months have been a grueling process of rehabilitation and physical therapy. I’ve worked tirelessly to regain my mobility and strength. It wasn’t easy, but I am determined to get my life back.
To live for her.
“We’re gonna miss you,” Mrs. Payton tells me, pushing away a tear.
The old nurse has been one of my best gossip buddies over the last six months, and I will miss her too. However, I know there will be enough physiotherapy appointments in the future for me to see her more than enough.
“I will miss you too, but honestly, I’m more than ready to go home.” I’m so giddy it has turned into anxiety.
I could puke.
“Oh, I believe you. Almost eight years gone, I hope you’ll still recognize it after all this time,” she muses.
If she only knew.
But still, I wasn’t there for six months, so maybe some things did change. But if they did, I’m sure it’s for the better.
It’s already evening since the doctor who had to approve my discharge from the hospital took so goddamn long.
I texted Sloan and the guys the minute he told me I was free to go so they could start the forty-minute drive, but I packed my stuff way faster than anticipated.
The only thing I’m leaving here is my poker deck, which I gave to my roomie, old man Paul.
He kept me company and demolished me with his poker face time and time again.
Sloan sometimes played a game with us, and she was convinced that Paul was cheating. I just say I found my master.
I already said my goodbyes to him, and now I can’t wait inside any longer. I don’t care if I have to stand outside for another twenty minutes.
I have to get out of here.
I hug Mrs. Payton one last time, pull my bag over my shoulder, and start to hobble down the hallway.
Okay, maybe not a twenty-minute wait.
Seven years in a coma can do a lot to a person. My muscles have atrophied, and my memory is a little fuzzy.
Just not when it comes to her.
I could never forget a second of the time I spent with her.
It is like starting life all over again.
Day by day, I pushed my body to its limits, slowly relearning how to move, walk, and do even the simplest tasks.
Now, I can do almost everything again, maybe just a little slower than before, and I’m so fucking grateful for the progress I’ve made.
Sloan has been a crucial part of my recovery, pushing me when it got so hard I wanted to give up and celebrating every small achievement with me.
She and my brothers have spent all their free time at my bedside.
I fucking love them for it.
My parents came home for the first three months too, and it was so damn good to have them back. They left again to sell their house and arrange their move back to Lubec, having bought themselves a small house, not wanting to be away from us any longer.
My crutch clacks on the linoleum floor of the hospital hallway as I make my way to the exit. My left leg is still stiff. My therapist told me I could regain more mobility with a lot of work. If not, I’m okay with that. If this is what I walk away with, I can count my lucky stars.
And it feels a little like the karma I deserve.
Hunter calls himself and me the hobble bros, and I fucking love it. The fact that I can walk at all is a miracle, considering the circumstances. I could have died, never woken up again, or woken up with severe disabilities.
I count my blessings every day.
And one of those blessings should be outside waiting for me in a few more minutes.
Just as I think it, the door a few feet from me opens, and Nash, North, and Hunter come in, laughing with each other.
Finally happy again.
Seeing Nash back to his cocky, happy, and healthy self still shoots a warm feeling through me. We were all so worried about him, but he recovered quickly, way faster than we could have hoped for.
He was already awake the day after his near-drowning and went home after just another few nights in the hospital. They kept him in to monitor his lungs, which were irritated from all the salt water he inhaled.
Steven and the greenhorn were pulled out of the ocean with The Saylor. They had landed behind the storm, where they waited until it was safe to return to the harbor. Both are doing fine and still working with Nash because he’s a way tougher cookie than the rest of us.
When the doctor gave him the okay, he was back on the ocean, working the boats like nothing happened.
I think I can speak for North, Hunter, and myself when I say we will never set foot on a boat again.
I’m not sure about Sloan, but I think she would always return to a nice weather whale-watching adventure with Nash and Lio, given the way she raved about it to me.
“Look who we have here,” Hunter’s voice echoes through the hallway as he catches sight of me.
“Seems like the Jones Four are under one roof again.” North smiles as they step up to me. He grabs the bag from my shoulder, puts it over his, and pulls me into a fierce hug. “Fucking finally,” he whispers in my ear while he squeezes me tightly.
My nose burns as he lets me go, and I can see tears brim in his eyes too. “Thanks, Thundercunt.”
Hunter laughs a belly laugh before he puts a hand on my shoulder. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”
Approaching the exit, I can’t help but try to look through the glass door and see behind it.
“She’s waiting at home. There wasn’t enough room for all of us in the car,” Nash tells me with a grin, and I deflate a little.
Fuck.
I let myself take a deep breath when we make it outside.
It’s fine. She’s waiting at home. She was here every fucking day.
It’s fine that she’s not here to pick me up.
I step up to the passenger door, but Hunter once again puts a hand on my shoulder. “Near-death experiences don’t change the seating order. The youngest get in the back.”
“Hunter, we’re over thirty, at least most of us.” I glance at Nash, who huffs a laugh and gives me the finger. “I was in a fucking coma, just now released from the hospital. And still, you want to enforce the rules North made when he was sixteen and got his driver’s license?”
North and Hunter glance at each other and nod, voicing in unison, “Yes.”
“I tell you, I’m so fucking happy to have you back. At least it’s not two against one anymore,” Nash mutters as we climb into the back of the BMW, and I lay my crutch down at our feet.
The drive seems shorter than it is while they chatter and laugh. I’m just basking in the fact that I’m around all of them, being seen and heard. Although I’m distracted, my thoughts on her.
Is she not happy to have me back?
I can’t fucking wait to lay in my bed with her, hold her close, snuggle all night.
I hope she still feels the same.
Finally, we drive into Lubec, but North drives straight by our house. I turn to watch it go past us through the window. “I mean, I know I was away for a long time, but did we move?”
Nash cackles, and Hunter snickers in the front when North explains, “No, we didn’t. Your room is waiting for you like you left it. But we have somewhere important to go first.”
I’m ready to push open the door as he slowly drives to the shore and just jump out and walk back to the house myself. I waited so fucking damn long for her. I don’t give a fuck what he thinks is important.
Important is getting to her.
“North,” I grit out through clenched teeth when we stop next to the lighthouse.
I want to tell him to drive me back to the house, but a flicker outside next to the lighthouse catches my eye.
When I look out of the window, into the dusk, Van-essa is parked at the beach, a bonfire lit in front of her, some fairy lights strung around her, and Slo is making her way to the BMW, wringing her hands.
“We can’t wait to have you back home, but we’re willing to wait a night longer,” Hunter tells me as he turns in the passenger seat to look at me.
“She missed you and can’t wait to see you, so be good to our girl.” North smiles at me through the rearview mirror.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.” Nash grins at me.
“So nothing’s off-limits,” I reply in a bored tone, making him laugh out loud and put an arm around my shoulder to pull me in.
“Missed you, dickhead.”
“Missed you too, idiot,” I mutter before he lets go of me, and I grab my crutch, getting out of the car.
She’s waiting for me.
I close the car door, and North honks two times before they drive off. I’m left standing a few feet from the woman of my dreams. Hobbling over to her, I feel myself involuntarily grinning from ear to ear.
She’s smiling nervously at me, her body language telling me she’s anxious as fuck.
Adorable.
“Your lips look so lonely. Would they want to meet mine?” I grin at her, and she giggles softly. Finally, I’m standing in front of her, reaching out to cup her cheek with my free hand, leaning in to peck her lips. “Hey, Boo.”
“Hey, Casper,” she whispers back. “I-I prepared a whole speech about how I’m so glad to have you back and that I arranged the first date we dreamed about, but now I’m second-guessing myself.
Maybe you wanted to go home after so long, see the house, and here I am, dragging you out here and keeping you another day away from the bed you missed so much. ”
I laugh, leaning in to kiss her on her oh-so-soft lips once more. A way-too-short kiss again, but I have to reassure her first. She’s trembling under my touch.
“Wherever you are is home, Slo. I wanted to get to you,” I whisper, kissing her nose and making her smile.
“Here I am,” she whispers, bringing her arms around my neck. She holds me to her, pressing her body to mine, and it’s like coming home.
I can feel her warmth.
It still blows my mind.
“Here we are,” I mumble, searching her eyes before I lean down to kiss her once more, longer this time, trying to let her feel all I’m feeling for her.
Immortal love.