Chapter 44
Everything happens at once.
The moment Aiden’s voice breaks through the quiet of the room, Finn and I both move instinctively, our chairs scraping against the floor as we stand at the same time.
For a moment, my mind can’t quite catch up with what just happened, but the sound of Aiden’s voice sends a sharp rush through my chest.
Finn is already moving toward the door.
“He’s awake,” I hear him call into the hallway as he disappears from the room. “He’s awake.”
But my attention never leaves the bed.
I wrap my arms carefully around his shoulders, relief and disbelief crashing together so strongly in my chest that I feel like I might break apart under the weight of it.
“You’re awake,” I whisper, the words trembling somewhere between laughter and tears.
When I pull back just enough to see him, his eyes are open now, heavy with exhaustion but focused entirely on me as if the rest of the room has faded away.
Aiden lifts his hand slowly, his arm moving with obvious effort before his fingers settle against my cheek.
His palm settles there, warm despite everything his body has just endured, and I lean into it, letting my face rest against his hand while my eyes close for the briefest moment, grounding myself in the simple comfort of his touch.
“I thought he’d never leave.”
The comment catches me so completely off guard that a laugh escapes me, soft and shaky but real.
Of course that would be the first thing he says.
Within moments, the room fills with movement.
Nurses step in quickly, their voices calm but purposeful as they move around the bed, checking monitors and adjusting equipment while calling out numbers to one another.
I step back to give them space, moving toward the wall where Finn is already standing, though my eyes remain fixed on Aiden, who is still watching me with a look that makes my chest tighten all over again.
Even while the nurses work around him, his attention never drifts.
“Welcome back, Mr. Holloway.”
Doctor Boskovich says as he enters the room, already reaching for the chart, and one of the nurses hands it to him while he studies the monitors with practiced focus.
“Well,” he says after a moment, glancing down at Aiden again. “You certainly gave us quite a scare.”
He performs a few quick checks, shining a small light briefly into Aiden’s eyes before asking a few questions.
“How are you feeling?”
“Sore,” Aiden answers, his voice still hoarse.
But even then, his gaze drifts right back to me.
The doctor notices.
His eyes move between us, a small knowing smile forming as he takes in the quiet intensity of the moment.
“Well,” he says, clearly amused. “Looks like someone’s very glad you’re awake.”
“Good,” Aiden answers immediately.
His voice may still be weak, but the certainty behind the word leaves no room for doubt.
“I stayed alive just for her.”
The moment the nurses confirm that Aiden is stable and fully conscious, I step into the hallway with my phone already in my hand and call Nathan first, knowing he’ll want to hear the news so he can let Uncle Mike know right away.
“He’s awake,” I tell him the moment he answers.
The breath he lets out on the other end of the line carries so much relief that I find myself smiling.
“Well,” he says after a second, “that’s the best news I’ve heard all day.”
After that, I call April, who answers so quickly it’s obvious she’s been watching her phone, and the excitement in her voice is loud enough that I have to hold the phone slightly away from my ear while she celebrates the news with a string of relieved exclamations.
I send George a quick message as well, letting him know the news, and within seconds, my screen lights up with his reply telling me he’s incredibly relieved and asking me to keep him updated.
Finn makes a few calls of his own while all of this is happening, stepping out into the hallway to inform the fire department and Aiden’s captain that he’s awake.
When Doctor Boskovich returns a few minutes later, he explains that they want to run a few additional tests just to be safe, including a chest X-ray to make sure Aiden didn’t inhale any water while he was in the ocean.
A few minutes later, the nurses roll his bed out of the room, and as he passes, I lean close enough to promise him quietly that I’ll be right here when he gets back.
And I am.
When they return nearly forty minutes later, I’m sitting in his assigned room, my hands folded together in my lap and my eyes immediately finding his as he comes back into view.
Not long after that, the visitors begin to arrive, and since only two visitors are allowed in the room at a time, Finn and I step back out into the waiting room so the others can have their turn with him.
All the members of the marine response team who had been out on the water with Aiden begin arriving, their faces still carrying the strain of a day spent worrying about their crew member and friend.
They go in two at a time, each pair disappearing down the hallway toward his room while the rest wait quietly in the chairs, speaking in low voices.
Captain Brewer arrives soon after and pauses long enough to thank Finn before taking a seat to wait.
While the firefighters rotate through their visits, Finn and I remain in the waiting room, watching the shift slowly cross their expressions each time someone comes back out of the hallway, the grim worry softening into quiet relief.
As another pair heads down the hallway to see Aiden, my attention shifts toward the hospital entrance, and that’s when I see April and Max, hand in hand, coming in, a big smile on her face.
April hugs me and hands me my backpack, which she has filled with comfortable clothes, a blanket, and just about every small necessity she could think to bring for me.
I take a few minutes to change in one of the bathrooms down the hall, washing my face and pulling on the soft sweater she packed while Finn keeps April and Max company.
When I come back to the waiting room, Max has set up a small table with sandwiches, drinks, and napkins for Finn and me, somehow turning the sterile hospital space into something that feels almost welcoming. The sandwiches are made from the delicious sourdough bread Aiden baked for me yesterday.
Finn takes a bite of his sandwich and groans dramatically.
“Ugh,” he mutters. “Aiden made this sourdough, didn’t he?”
I nod as I take a bite.
“His sourdough is the best. I hate him for that.”
April and I both laugh.
Eventually, Aiden’s friends finish their visits and drift back out into the hallway. April and Max head in to spend a few minutes with him while Finn and I lie back in our chairs, our stomachs full and deeply satisfied.
“Thank you,” I tell Finn after a moment, turning toward him. “For being so kind to me today… despite—”
The sentence trails off, unable to finish it. He glances at me.
“Despite the fact that you don’t like me in the same way I like you, and you’ve chosen my biggest rival to fall in love with?”
I blink at him, startled by his straightforwardness.
“I don’t think I’ve reached that conclusion myself yet,” I admit honestly.
“Lass,” he says with a crooked smile, “it’s fairly clear you’re in love with the bastard, and he’s clearly in love with you. It’s pretty sickening if you ask me.”
I nudge him lightly with my elbow, my cheeks warming despite myself, which only makes him chuckle.
“Look,” he continues after a moment, his voice softening, “that bastard has one job now, and that’s to make you happy. If he doesn’t, he’ll be answering to me.”
A little while later, April and Max step back out of Aiden’s room, and we finally say our goodbyes for the night.
I promise to keep them updated before they head home to get some rest, while Finn lingers a few minutes longer beside me, making me promise that I’ll send him a message if anything changes before he finally leaves with the quiet assurance that he’ll stop by tomorrow.
When the hallway falls silent again, I walk back into Aiden’s room and close the door behind me, the soft click echoing faintly in the quiet space.
For the first time all day, it’s just the two of us.
The moment our eyes meet, that familiar flutter rises again inside my chest, the one that has been living quietly beneath the surface ever since the day I met him. Though it’s only now that I finally understand what that feeling really is.
It’s terrifying and exhilarating all at once.
I pause by the door for a moment before he pats the bed beside him.
“Come here.”
I walk toward him and start to sit down on the edge of the bed, but he lifts his arm slightly, inviting me closer, so I climb carefully onto the bed beside him, curling up against his side with my face resting against his neck while my arm wraps loosely around him.
He exhales slowly.
“The doctor said I have to stay warm,” he murmurs. “So I suppose it’s your job now to make sure that happens at all times.”
A quiet laugh slips out of me.
“You really scared me today.”
His hand moves slowly along my back.
“I know,” he says. “I’m sorry.”
I stay close to him, committing the moment to memory.
After a few seconds, he speaks again. “Captain Brewer told me it was Finn who rescued me.”
I lift my head, my eyes widening.
“You didn’t know?”
He shakes his head.
“I don’t think I was conscious for a while. My memories are… confusing. For a bit, I thought I was talking to my mom.”
“Really?” I ask. “What did she say?”
“I don’t know,” he admits. “I just remember telling her I wasn’t ready to go yet. I wasn’t ready to leave you.”
My eyes fill with tears as I lean up and press a soft kiss against his lips.
He kisses me back, both arms wrapping around me, and for the first time since it all happened, the tight knot in my chest finally loosens.
He’s here.
He’s here with me.
When we pull apart, his thumb brushes away the tears sliding down my cheeks.
“Don’t cry, sweet girl,” he murmurs. “I’m right here.”
I rest my head against his chest again, listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat beneath my ear, when after a moment he speaks again.
“I keep thinking there was a whale beside me when I was out there.”
“There was,” I tell him with a soft laugh. “Finn said she stayed with you right up until the moment they lifted you into the helicopter.”
And like that, with my cheek resting against the steady rise and fall of his chest, the long tension of the day finally releases its hold on me, and I fall into a deep sleep.