Page 26 of Should the Sky Fall

“There’s something else.”

Dawson scoffs. “Something else besides my husband being in the hospital?” Gabe doesn’t buy it. He knows about the hell Cal’s put Dawson through, and shit, he’s really good at reading people. “How are you doing this?”

“It’s a gift,” Gabe says simply. “What is it, really?”

Weighing his options, Dawson decides to spill the beans. He has a feeling Gabe will be like a dog with a bone until he gets his answers. “I want to ask him for a divorce. And I feel like shit for doing it now.”

Gabe seems shocked but recovers quickly. “That’s a lot to process,” he concedes. “But you have to do what’s right for you. He’s alive, yeah?” Dawson nods. “He’ll be fine. He’ll get out of it in a few weeks and he’ll be good as new.”

“Yeah. Maybe,” Dawson relents, knowing full well it’s not going to happen. People like him always get the shittiest of luck.

The physical work at the shelter helps take Dawson’s mind off things, at least for a while. Is there a better therapy than doggie cuddles? If only he could take one of them home. Or all of them, preferably.

He doesn’t check his phone until his shift ends at two, and panics when he sees several unread messages from an unsaved number. He only needs to read the first one to realize it’s Ellis, and calms down.

Ellis:Leaving the hospital now. He looks like hell but everything seems fine. They’ll start waking him up tomorrow.

Dawson’s fingers hover over the screen. His emotions are a mess and he has no idea what to reply. Maybe he doesn’t have to? Ellis isn’t asking anything.

No, that feels weird.

Dawson:Thanks for the heads-up. Headed to work?

He wants to smack himself a second after he hitssend.Ellis sent the message hours ago, obviously he’s gone already.

Ellis:Already here. It’s mayhem.

Dawson:Sorry.

Ellis:I should’ve been an astronaut.

A small, genuine laugh bursts out of him. He’s starting to appreciate the dry sense of humor.

Dawson:lol

He pockets the phone and starts towards his car. Now that he has nothing to do, guilt makes a vicious comeback. Should he visit again after all? Out of courtesy, if nothing else.

What courtesy? He’s unconscious and he wouldn’t want you there anyway.

Tomorrow. He’ll go tomorrow. Just for a little while in the morning, when Cal is hopefully still sedated. He’s not ready to face him yet.

Maybe he should’ve asked Kieran to come with him again. It feels really uncomfortable to be at the hospital by himself. He almost turns on his heel and runs, but controls himself.

He approaches the front desk with a stiff smile. “Hi. I’m here to see Cal Reeves?”

The middle aged man behind the desk nods. “Are you family?”

“He’s my husband.” His body rebels at the word. It always does. He always ignores it.

“I’ll get one of the nurses to show you in.”

“Thank you.”

A nurse picks him up a few minutes later and leads him to Cal’s room. It doesn’t seem like anything’s changed since he was here two days ago. The tubes are still sticking out of Cal’s battered body, and his face plays out in three different colors. The machines are the worst, the sound terrifying even though everything is clearly okay, the beeping nice and regular.

Dawson lowers himself into the uncomfortable-looking plastic chair by the bed. Just a few minutes, then he’ll go. He doesn’t want to stare at Cal like last time, in silence. He’d already shaken the shock off. Mostly. Maybe he should try talking to him? He heard it helps.

“Ellis was here yesterday,” he starts. “He’s different from what I imagined. Then again, he thought I was someone else too.” He understands what made Ellis think of him that way, but it stings all the same. Probably because Cal never tried to convince his brother that Dawson is better than the picture Ellis had of him. Has Cal always thought Dawson married him for the money? Does he care?