Chapter 15 #2
“Is it your dad?” Mr. Carter was healthy, as far as Zach knew. The minor heart attack from a few years back was supposed to be an odd one-off, a statistical anomaly.
But doctors could be wrong.
Miles straightened and walked to the bed, grabbing Zach’s hand and threading their fingers together as soon as he sat down. His silence spoke volumes. Zach let him gather his thoughts without interrupting, anxious to find out what had happened yet terrified of knowing.
Finally, Miles made a sound low in his throat. “Max fell off the ladder going up to the barn roof and hit his head. It’s not good.” His voice was robotic, as if reciting a script. “They had to rush him to a bigger hospital. Ours isn’t equipped for brain injuries, apparently.”
Zach drew in a sharp breath. Only two years older than they were, Max was close enough in age to share a lot of their interests, often letting them tag along whenever he went fishing or hiking. Max was as much Zach’s brother as Jerry and Abe.
“Is he…is he gonna be okay?” Zach asked cautiously.
“He’s alive.” A hitch in Miles’s voice betrayed just how close he was to breaking down. “He has a broken leg, and he’s unconscious. Might be some kind of brain trauma, but they can’t tell for sure yet. Mara’s at the hospital with my parents.”
Zach pulled Miles onto the bed and wrapped his arms and legs around him, molding himself to Miles’s shape until there wasn’t an inch of space between them. Tension vibrated through Miles’s muscles, and Zach desperately wished he could make it better.
Seeing Miles in pain was unbearable. His soul ached for Max, for Miles, for every member of their family. Lost in a chasm of despair, mired in uncertainty. Echoes of their suffering reverberated through Zach, gutting him.
Minutes passed in silence, each one spent considering worst-case scenarios. Zach was by no means an expert on brain injuries, but he’d watched enough medical dramas to understand how serious they could be.
His thoughts jumped to his own parents, his brothers. How would he feel if it were Jerry or Abe at the hospital, possibly on the verge of never waking up?
Zach had spent years pushing them away, building walls, but he still loved them, still wanted to know if something happened to them.
And soon, that would no longer be an option.
If he came out, they’d probably disown him, and if he didn’t, they’d still be pissed at him for turning his back on the farm and staying in Portland.
The end result was the same. He wouldn’t be a part of his family anymore.
Miles cleared his throat, interrupting Zach’s gloomy ruminations. “I’m sorry, Zee, but I have to leave. I promised Mara I’d get there as soon as possible.”
“Don’t be sorry.” Zach rested his forehead on Miles’s shoulder. “You need to be with your family.”
A heart-wrenching sob ripped out of Miles. “I feel so guilty for being here, like it’s my fault, like if I’d been there, he’d be fine.”
Zach squeezed him harder and bit his tongue. He didn’t want to give his best friend meaningless platitudes or defend his decision to come to Portland.
Miles sniffled and choked out, “I feel even guiltier because I don’t want to leave. I know I have to, but I hate leaving when I might never see you again.”
“Hey.” Zach waited until Miles looked at him, then brushed away a tear with his thumb. “You will see me again. I promise. No matter where we end up, we’ll always keep in touch.”
The streetlamp down the block provided the smallest bit of ambient lighting, enough for Zach to make out the frown on Miles’s face. He didn’t believe him.
Zach leaned forward, pausing to gauge his reaction, ready to retreat at the first sign of trouble, but there was no need for precautions.
Miles met him halfway. Their lips brushed together, over and over, touches as light as a whisper, and their breath mingled in the fragile quiet in between.
Sweet, chaste, exactly what both of them needed.
Zach cupped Miles’s cheek and covered his jaw, nose, and eyelids in soft, reassuring pecks.
When it seemed like Miles had finally calmed down, Zach planted a final, lingering kiss on his lips and hopped out of bed.
He had work to do.
As soon as he turned on the light, Miles lifted an arm to shield his eyes. “What are you doing?”
“It’s two in the morning. We got maybe four hours of sleep, and if I stay in bed in the dark, I’m gonna pass out. And we need to pack, buy tickets, and get to the airport for the first flight.”
Miles let out a sigh of resignation and reluctantly moved himself into an upright position. “I guess I should start looking for a ticket. It’ll be so expensive to fly last minute.”
“Maybe not.” Zach grabbed his laptop, a plan already forming in his head. “There’s a site that aggregates cheap flights. They had some kind of PR issue last year, so we talked about it in class. Turned out most of my classmates had used it.”
Miles came to look over his shoulder as he typed, hissing when the first page of results loaded. “Six hundred bucks!”
Zach chuckled at his impatience. “Why don’t you go pack up, and by the time you’re done, I’ll have something better.”
Miles didn’t seem to trust in the process, shaking his head and muttering under his breath as he pulled out his suitcase and threw his clothes inside without any attempt at organization. After dragging it to the door, he went to the kitchen and opened the fridge.