Page 119 of Fly with Me

“He’d understand. You did all you could.”

“I tried. I really did. My parents aren’t rich, but they have more money than me. I couldn’t fight her lawyers.” She sniffed. “Oh, and with the video, before everything was going on with my parents, the family of the kid he pushed out of the way put the story online—what Jake did in saving his life. But trolls being trolls, someone found out that Jake had a DUI ten years before when he was really depressed. They also found some old profile photos of his from a gay dating website, and everything got so horrible I had to shut down all his accounts. He became a meme. It wasn’t really known he was on life support. Cruel people saying cruel things. It was a lot.”

“I can’t imagine.”

“I—It was a really bad time.”

She kissed Olive’s forehead. “I’ll come inside with you, if you want. You shouldn’t have to do this all alone.”

Olive rubbed her cheeks, opening her eyes wide to will away the tears. “Fuck, I just wasn’t prepared to deal with my mom today…” Olive sighed. “You don’t have to come, though. I know this can be a lot for some people. I can just—”

Stella shook her head. “I’m coming.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s what friends are for. Do you usually go alone?” Stella pulled back onto the road; they were only a few more minutes away.

“Derek comes with me sometimes. He’d kill me for telling you this, but he had a major crush on my brother growing up—like when he was this star high school hockey player and we were in junior high. He was also upset that my parents weren’t honoring Jake’s wishes.”

Stella flicked on the blinker and then turned into the facility parking lot. “I’m glad you have someone to go with. It’s not fair for no one to be on your side. You were fighting for what Jake wanted.”

Something about hearing Stella support her. Hearing Stella say Jake’s name. It made the burden Olive was carrying feel slightly lighter.

“I’m glad you’re coming with me today.”

Stella took Olive’s hand in hers. Her fingers were a soft, comforting presence.

After a few more moments of silence, they both got out of the car.

As she led Stella through the familiar double doors, everyone waved to Olive. Signs of Christmas decorated the lobby: a garland and twinkle lights. The extra sparkle and color gave an odd sense of artificial homeyness, almost unsettling.

Olive paused when she reached Jake’s hallway. “He’s back here. You’re sure?”

“Yes. Goodness, Olive. I’m fine. Stop trying to take care of me and let me be here for you.” She hugged her.

Olive buried her nose in Stella’s hair and inhaled. “Okay.”

She pulled away and led her down to her brother’s room. The room was bright with sunlight coming in through the window. Her mother must have been here recently because a small fake poinsettia decorated the tiny table beside the bed along with a host of Christmas cards, probably from Olive’s parents’ parish.

Stella stood close, her hand hovering near Olive’s elbow. There was pity on her face, but it was steeped in kind concern. She wasn’t disgusted or scared.

Olive brushed hair out of her brother’s face. She’d need to cut it soon. She checked his fingernails to see if they needed to be filed again. Her scan faltered as she took in his appearance overall. Small muscles tensing as her hands curled into fists. He had lost weight. Overall, his color was even worse than when she’d visited three days ago. She hadn’t been imagining the ashen tint to his skin before.

“Is that your medal?” Stella’s eyes were on the bulletin board behind the bed.

“Yes. His is behind it.”

“Did you put up all these photos and posters? You printed all the ones from your Instagram account of you and Gus?”

“Yeah. My sister and mom brought in a lot of photos too.”

She touched one of the photos of Jake with Gus. There were so many photos with the entire Murphy family together. There were even a couple of childhood photos of Jake and Olive on the St. Rose’s church stage together. Her mom must have added those as an extra dig. “Is this your mom?” Stella pointed to the photo of her mom bringing a molded pound cake with an absurd number of candles and whipped cream to put in front of Jake. Toddler Fiona had insisted Jake wear a party hat. “Is that the same cake?”

“Yeah. My mom and I tried out a bunch of gluten-free ones to figure out which would be good. That was Jake’s first birthday after he found out about the celiac.”

“You and your mom baked together?”

“Yeah. A lot back then. We weren’t super close or anything, but we did cakes together a lot for the family… especially after Fiona was born.” Cody’s first-birthday party was next week, and her sister had still not gotten back to her about when she could come over to see them. Her mom probably already had a plan for his cake for the party.