Page 35 of If I See You Again

Malcolm

T o say that my body ached was an understatement.

All I wanted to do was beg David to give me my next dose of pain meds and curl back under the covers.

It was good to power through a little, though.

It was nice to sit up and see him, to know that the world was still ticking around me.

What wasn’t so nice was the worry about how I was going to figure everything out without a car for a while.

The Cadillac had been my dream car, and I’d saved for it.

It sucked that all it took was one accident for it to be squashed.

The next thing I knew, a shiny new phone landed next to me on the bed.

“What’s this?” Obvious question of the day.

“While you were sleeping, I ordered it. I hope it’s okay. I transferred everything over for you already.” David held up his hand, showing where he had a Band-Aid wrapped around one finger. “Your old one attacked me in the process.”

It was enough to lessen the tension, and I laughed, sending a spattering of breadcrumbs across my plate.

“You didn’t need to do that.”

David only shrugged. “No, but I wanted to. You’ll have enough to worry about without trying to figure out how to contact people or borrow a phone all the time.”

He wasn’t wrong. I picked up the new device, looking at it. It was an upgrade from what I’d previously had, but I was thankful that he hadn’t gone overboard and bought something too expensive. That would have upset me more than him buying me a phone.

The new screen displayed all my missed calls and messages.

My gut twisted as I thought about dealing with it all.

I had to talk some more with the police department.

It was determined that the other driver was at fault, but I’d been so incoherent at the scene of the accident, they couldn’t get an accurate statement from me.

My mother had tried to call. She’d tried to call four times, which was alarming.

She must have seen the news, and while it could have been anyone, there was a chance she’d recognized my car.

Then again, anytime they’d reported accidents like that on the news, if an SUV was involved, she didn’t rest until she heard from me.

Mom had a right to be worried. After Marcus, she couldn’t face the reality that she could lose me as well.

“You should call your parents.” It was like David had read my mind. I gave him a smile before pulling up their contact and letting the phone ring through on speaker.

Mom answered on the second ring, a note of panic in her voice. “Malcolm, are you there?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“Oh, thank God. I saw that accident on the news, and then when I didn’t hear from you…” She took a deep breath, and I could hear the edge of tears in her voice.

I took a deep breath because it wasn’t what she wanted to hear at all. “So, the bad news is that it was me.”

A long silence stretched before the telltale sobs filled the room, coming from my phone.

“Good God, Malcolm. Why didn’t you call before now?”

“I couldn’t. I was in the hospital overnight—”

“Hospital? Everything’s okay, right? Nothing wrong with—”

We were playing a game of cutting each other off.

“Everything is fine. They checked. It’s why I had to stay overnight. They wanted to monitor my bloodwork to make sure nothing changed overnight.”

She sighed in relief, a few more sniffles breaking free.

“I can’t lose you, too.”

My eyes slammed closed, tears burning behind my lids as I processed it all. It was why I’d been so scared to call her.

“I know, Mom. I’m always so careful. Other drivers? Not so much.”

David sat next to me on the bed, grabbing my free hand and giving it a squeeze. The move had comfort rushing through me, letting me know he was there for me when everything felt so overwhelming and terrifying.

“Malcolm, you always do your best. I’m thankful for everything you do and that you’re still here. It’s still raw, losing your brother, no matter how long ago it was.”

I nodded as she talked because even if it had been six years ago, it all still felt like yesterday.

There were days I swore I could still hear Marcus’s voice, or I’d anticipate his call to let me know he was coming over to hang out.

It never came, leaving me full of anger and sorrow.

Anger that the world took away my best friend and other half, sorrow that he never got to see me be so successful and live the life he was supposed to.

While I could have let her sit there and continue to go on and on, because it was easy to do that when we were both feeling so vulnerable, I wanted to get back to David. To get back to talking to him about some of the other things that the accident had made me realize.

“Mom, I’m going to let you go for now. I’m with David, and he’s taking great care of me. I’ll call you later if anything changes.”

The line was quiet for a moment before Mom sobbed again. “Thank you for taking care of my baby, David.”

He cleared his throat awkwardly. “You’re welcome, ma’am.”

She scoffed, some of her sadness forgotten from the one little slip-up. “None of that now. Remember, Dana or Mom.”

He chuckled. “Sure thing, Dana.”

We ended the call, and I set the phone on the bedside table before reaching over and taking both of David’s hands. My body was still screaming at me, and I wanted to take more pain meds to get more sleep, but talking to him was more important.

“I think—I think I need to quit my job.”

David choked and sputtered, standing from the bed, but not getting too far because I refused to let go of him.

“Why do you say that?”

I yanked on his hands, trying to make him sit back down. I needed him at my level for him to truly understand where I was coming from. When he finally sat back down, the ten-ton weight lifted off my chest, allowing me to breathe again.

“Because life’s too short for this shit, David.

I can’t waste time worrying that a boss, who didn’t even care that I was in a car accident, is going to fire me because I’m happy with someone.

The second Mr. Thomas reprimanded me for not calling in myself when I was clearly incapable, I knew something needed to change.

I only confirmed it when I spoke to him earlier today. ”

David’s eyes widened as he scooted closer to me. “But what does that mean for you?”

I laughed. “Fuck if I know? Start over? Look for something else?” I closed my eyes as a small wave of panic hit me.

Because all of that was scary. There was a lot of unknown when it came to suddenly jumping ship like that.

I’d given Mr. Thomas and Mr. Braxton eight years of my life, though I hardly ever saw the other man.

He was more of an owner in name only. It was humiliating to be questioned the way I had been when I’d given them no reason to.

When I opened my eyes again, warm, swirling pools of blue met my gaze.

I’d never noticed the small flecks of brown in David’s eyes before, but they were there, dancing in and blending to give him that perfect ocean color I could drown in.

“Maybe I take some time off and figure myself out? That’s sort of fun. If you could call it that.”

David grinned, pulling me into his chest and carefully wrapping his arms around me, mindful of where I was still sore. I inhaled him, taking deep lungfuls of his scent. This was what I wanted forever.