Page 58

RUMI

I think I was hit by a bus.

Actually, there’s no way. That would hurt less than this.

I try to open my eyes, but it feels like they’re sewn shut. I move my hands around, feeling for something to tell me where I am, but the movement makes me tired, and darkness takes over before I even realize I was awake in the first place.

“I shouldn’t have left that day.” The soft voice lures me from sleep. I try to open my eyes, but it’s still too hard, so I keep them shut as I listen. “You were right. Going to see Jett was stupid, and now look what happened.”

Ava.

She’s crying. I hate when she cries, and I want to reach for her. I try, but it’s like my body won’t listen. Then, I feel her hand wrap around mine. I try to hold hers back, but I can’t. “I’m so sorry, Rumi.”

I want to open my eyes and tell her that it’s not her fault.

But I don’t even know what she’s apologizing for.

Where am I?

Where’s Evee?

But before I can remember what got me here, sleep takes over once again.

“Rumi?” I hear the voice, low, gruff, and instantly familiar. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but I need you to be okay.” Jack’s words are strained, emotion heavy in his tone, and I feel his hand wrap around mine, his lips pressing against my skin.

I’m okay , I want to tell him, but just trying to open my eyes feels like the toughest feat right now. I want to squeeze his hand, let him know I’m here, but it’s like my body isn’t connected to my mind.

“Ava and I have been taking turns with Evee at my house,” Jack continues. I wish I could see him—his dark, wavy hair, his green eyes, his tan skin, his smile that always goes to one side of his face. “And whoever isn’t with her is here.”

How long have I been out?

“My mom and Emerson have been helping out too, visiting you or Evee as much as they can.”

His voice cracks, and I wish I could make the pain I hear in his voice go away. “I miss you, pretty girl.” He presses his forehead to where he holds my hand in both of his. “Come back to me,” he whispers. “Please.”

The events that lead me here come rushing back—Trevor, the fire, getting me and Evee out.

I remember it all, even the moment that Jack found us.

I heard the sirens, knew he would come, knew he would save us, and that’s when I finally closed my eyes, only for them to be impossible for me to open now.

It takes all my strength, but I finally see the bright lights of the hospital room, my eyes slowly adjusting after being closed for who knows how long. Then, I use whatever’s left to squeeze Jack’s hand, his head shooting up to look at me, his green eyes glossy.

More memories begin to flood my brain.

But not from the fire.

Sirens.

Lights.

Voices.

Then just one.

“She needs to be okay.”

Jade green eyes looking down on me.

Ones I’ve never seen before.

“She needs to be okay.”

A gasp escapes my lips, remembering the few moments I woke up after my accident last year, just before I was loaded into the ambulance.

“Rumi baby,” he says in disbelief before sitting up to wrap his arms around me, gently pulling me close to him.

“It was you,” I manage to say though the pain in my throat, my voice cracked and soft.

“What?” Jack leans back to look at me, eyes roaming all over my face. “What was me?”

“You saved me,” I rasp.

“From the fire? Yeah, the station got a call, and I—” he stops when he sees me shaking my head.

“From the accident.” I watch as confusion turns to understanding. “I remember. You told the paramedics I needed to be okay.”

Jack swallows, squeezing my hand as he continues to hold it in his.

“I was on my way back to Milwaukee when I came across your car. It was the first time I used any of my training in months.” He shakes his head.

“I saw you, in your nightgown, pregnant and alone, and I made sure you hung on until the ambulance came.”

His voice is thick with emotion, and I feel my eyes water.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “I honestly don’t know.” He lets out a humorless laugh.

My mind drifts back to the night I took care of him when he was sick, when he talked about my eyes. “Is that what you were talking about when you said you found me?”

Confusion spreads across his face. “When?”

“When you were high on a 102 fever,” I tease, and his lips twitch. I know he’s resisting the urge to tell me he wasn’t that sick, but only one of us remembers him pouring his heart out that night. “You told me that when you found me, you knew you were going to be okay. That you saw it in my eyes.”

“I told you all of that?” he asks, and I don’t have to glance at his neck to know that he’s embarrassed.

“It was cute,” I reassure him, managing to squeeze his hands tighter, and we both laugh.

Shaking his head, his smile softens as his jade eyes meet mine.

“I was in such a dark place, Rumi, but it’s true.

I saw your eyes, saw your strength, saw you , and I held on to it.

For months following the accident, after turning around and heading back to my grandpa’s cabin like a coward, I thought of you.

I thought of you making it through and finding whatever happiness you were on your way to find that night. ”

“I found it,” I say, and Jack’s gaze lifts to mine. “I found you .”