Chapter Twelve
I haven’t heard much from Reece since he left yesterday. Not totally uncommon when he goes out of town. He might text me goodnight before he goes to bed. And without the distraction, my mind keeps going back to Gavin’s message. I’m deciding whether to go back and respond or leave it as is.
Cleaning has always helped me clear my head, so I headed into the kitchen and connected to my Bluetooth speaker on the counter, deciding on “Set Me Free” by The Amity Affliction.
I started washing the few dishes I had left out since last night.
The lyrics of this song are really getting to me.
To the point, I just need to see what he wants.
I decided I'm going to message him back.
Grabbing my phone off the counter, I open the app and just look at his message. Here goes nothing.
As I go to put my phone down, it starts ringing. An incoming call- Ricky Monroe. My stomach drops. There is no good reason for Ricky to be calling me; something is wrong. Answering the call, I hesitate for a moment, “Hey Ricky… is everything okay?” Fear builds as I wait for him to respond.
“Um, hey Juni. I need you to sit down, I need to tell you something…”
”Sit down? Why do I need to sit down? What’s wrong with Reece, and why are you calling me and not him…?
“There was an accident. We were taking down a stone wall… and Reece didn’t move like he normally does. It came down on him, and he was pinned until we had the firefighters come and dig him out. They just left in an ambulance and are headed to Saint Francis…”
I cut him off, “Excuse me? Saint Francis? I’m leaving right now. I'll be there as soon as I can. Thank you, Ricky,” I say as emotions start to take my voice.
“Anytime, that’s what family is for! I also wanted to bring something up to you, he’s been acting kind of off lately… and I’ve seen this before, but I wanted to know if you have noticed anything different?”
“Ricky, I need to get driving. We can talk about this later,” I say as I hang up.
An hour later, I pulled up to the Saint Francis Trauma Hospital.
The whole drive, my stomach has been in knots, and my wrist is throbbing.
All I can think about is when things will stop going so wrong.
Long forgotten is the message I sent to Gavin.
My husband is hurt… and I’m not sure what to do.
I make my way inside and walked up to the reception desk.
“Hello, how can I help you?" She asks while still looking at her screen.
“My…my husband was brought in by ambulance, I was not given much information on his condition… I got here as fast as I could.”
”Name and date of birth, please?”
”Reece Monroe, February 27th 1995.” I say softly.
“Yes, he is being seen as a patient here. You can go through those double doors. Keep going straight until you see room 1906.” Heading in the direction I was told to go, I feel so uneasy at the hospital.
The hallway seems never-ending. Finally finding the 1900 wing, it doesn’t take long for me to find room 1906.
I slow as I reach the door handle, pushing the door open.
The smell hits first. Antiseptic… almost like they washed the air with alcohol.
The smell burns my nose like air that’s been held too long.
Reece is reclining in his hospital bed. Seeing him for the first time since Ricky’s phone call…
I can finally breathe. He doesn’t look like I was expecting…
he seems more like he’s going to be okay.
He's no longer in his work clothes, but in a hospital gown.
A stark white sheet pulled to his waist.
It takes him a lot longer to notice me standing there.
I stand there, erasing the horrible images that have been swimming in my mind since the moment I started driving.
A bandage at his temple, the tension locked into his shoulders, the way his body looks restrained rather than resting.
Even hurt, he looks like he’s holding himself together.
This isn't a relief but something much heavier. Thinking of what Ricky was implying.
I cross the room and stop at the end of his bed. His eyes are already on me. “Baby! My goodness. As soon as I got Ricky’s call, I started driving. I was so scared," I say as a tear rolls down my cheek. I’m met with nothing but silence.
His eyes seemed so distant, making their way to look into mine. The glare aimed at me has me so perplexed. “Unfucking believable, Juniper. I’m the one who almost died today, and you have the fucking audacity to make this about you?” he says with distain.
“What? No, Reece, of course not! This isn’t about me at all… I was just so worried about you… I was so scared I was going to lose you." I say, lip trembling.
”Why are you here? If I wanted you to be, I would have called you myself." He says with a scoff.
“Baby, are you angry at me? What did I do wrong…? I’m so sorry.” More tears start to fall.
”You showed up without me asking, and then making this about you, are you really that stupid?
” He cocks his eyes at me, those beautiful green eyes I loved so much have turned cold.
“Just do me a favor and yourself, and just leave. I’ll be fine; they have confirmed nothing is broken.
The wall has aggravated my old scar tissue.
They are giving me pain meds and releasing me, and I’m going back to the hotel.
” He looks at me emotionlessly. A sob breaks free that I've been holding since he started talking, I start backing up until my hand finds the door handle, pushing it open, leaving as he asked me to.
Tears still cloud my vision as I walk out of the exit.
Rain starts to sink into my sweatshirt instantly.
Thoughts swarmed as I finally made it back to the car.
What the fuck was that? I didn’t mean to make him angry…
I was trying to be a good wife… I can’t do that correctly.
Mindlessly putting the keys in, starting the car, “ How I Fall Apart - By Currents.
Starts bleeding through my speakers. Rain is dotting the windshield.
As I’m driving, the lyrics are really starting to sink in.
Funny how music can be so therapeutic but traumatizing at the same time.
For most of this drive, I’ve stuck to Currents as their lyrics are hitting where I need them to in my emotional state.
Suddenly, my car jolts to the left, followed by a bang…
Then hissing…Panic creeping in, I maneuver the car to the shoulder as far as I can. Shit.
Stepping out, I cross in front of the car and bend down to look at the damage.
“Fuck my absolute life… “ I say out loud, looking at my completely ruptured tire. Of course, this was my last spare. I’ve been plugging it for weeks until I could afford to get a new used tire. Peyton is at work, my husband is angry at me, and in the hospital… I have no one. I’m stuck out here…
unless. There is one person I could reach out to…
My phone starts ringing instantly. Incoming call— Gavin, I freeze when I see his contact name; I haven’t seen it in so long.
Honestly, I forgot I still had it saved at all.
“Gavin… Hey… I’m sorry, this is random. We haven’t talked in years…
I know we just saw each other briefly a few days ago… ” I take a deep breath.
“What’s going on, Любовь .. I mean uh Juni..?“ Gavin almost stutters, correcting himself instantly.
“I’m about forty-five minutes out of town, coming home from Saint Francis… and my tire blew out. I’ve been attempting to fix it for a few weeks as you showed me… but now it’s just gone. My car… is not drivable…. Can you help me… please?”
“Send me a pin… do you know how to do that?” Gavin asks softly.
“Yes, I’m sending it now. Thank you, Gavin… I really am grateful. I have no one else to call…”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can. Just get in your car and stay there. Lock the doors, I’ll pull up behind you and flash my lights.” He says calmly
“Thank you, Gavin… so much.” Anxiety starts creeping in as we end the phone call.