Page 42 of Write Me For You
June
Jesse and June’s Happily Ever After
I walked into the hospital room where Jesse was watching last week’s Longhorns’ game on the TV from his bed.
Although he could no longer play this season, he was determined to be back for the next.
Knowing Jesse Taylor, he would be. His hair was gone, and I smiled at the familiar faded, Longhorns hat on his head.
He looked just how he had when I met him.
For weeks now, Jesse had been enduring the intense treatment. It felt strange not to do it
alongside him. And it terrified me too. But he was taking every day as it came, and I’d never felt more useful to someone than I did sitting beside him and just being there with him.
When I came in, he turned, smiling, and immediately held out his hand. I walked straight over to him and kissed him on his lips. Every time we kissed, my heart sang with relief.
It was working again. Thank the Lord, it was working.
During the first month of Jesse’s treatment, I hadn’t been able to function. I couldn’t eat or sleep, worrying that it wouldn’t work this time—like in the book I was nearly done writing, the one where Jesse and I had not responded to the clinical trial and we were losing our lives at seventeen.
But the treatment was working, and although the road he’d traveled had been another filled with rough terrain, he was doing well.
Every time I saw the level of his strength and courage, it just made me love him that much more.
Jesse Taylor was determined to walk this life beside me, was fighting to stay with me.
There was no greater expression of love in the world than that.
We’d talked in depth about what we wanted in life. We had agreed that it was to grow old, have a family, and watch them grow from our porch swing. And that’s what we were holding on to. That was our dream that we were determined to make come true.
A knock sounded, and Chris popped his head through. Emma followed behind. “Chemo Club assemble!” Chris shouted, and Jesse got to his feet, laughing. We all hugged as we said our hellos.
“How long are you here for?” Jesse asked, and Emma and Chris sat down on the chairs around the bed. Jesse sat on the bed and pulled me down beside him. He put his arm around me, and I sank into his embrace. When I wasn’t at school, I was here, with my love.
“All weekend,” Chris said.
“I’m going to the game tomorrow,” Jesse said, smiling. “You coming?”
Chris held out his arms. “Why do you think we’re here, bro? I’m not missing the hero’s welcome you’re gonna get as you step onto the field.” The Longhorns were making it to the playoffs, and a huge part of that was due to the start Jesse had given them this season.
“At last!” Jesse declared. “I’m finally getting the recognition I deserve!” The playful cockiness was back in his voice. He had been so tired, emotionally and physically, and had more still to endure, but just knowing the cancer was being defeated was enough to get him through the bad days.
We all laughed, and Emma turned to me. “And you, June? Have you said yes to the bookstore?”
My eyes widened, and I snapped my gaze up to Jesse.
Emma smirked, knowing damn well I hadn’t told Jesse of the invite.
“Junebug?” Jesse said, confusion in his voice. “What bookstore?”
I scowled at my friend, who just shrugged nonchalantly. I sat up and faced Jesse. “Our alternate love story, the one that’s been doing well online ? —”
“More than doing well, Junebug,” Jesse interrupted.
“It’s a sensation.” He supported my writing 100 percent.
When he relapsed, I’d paused in writing for a while.
In the story, Jesse and June had just been told the treatment didn’t work and that there was nothing more that could be done.
I had stopped writing the next chapters because I didn’t want to even entertain Jesse not making it through.
I couldn’t write of him dying in my book when we didn’t know the outcome of his treatment in this life.
But Jesse being Jesse had made me promise to keep going, telling me that the story made him even more determined to heal. And he echoed what the story version of June had said—he wanted the wrinkles, the gray hair, the laughter lines.
He told me the story made him want to live.
But I hadn’t entertained any of it yet. It seemed too crass a thing to do when Jesse was in this hospital, fighting to live.
“Junebug?” Jesse pushed. “The invite?”
I sighed in defeat. “The bookstore wants me to do a meet and greet with the readers of our book.” Jesse’s eyes lit with excitement. “There’s a literary agent who wants to meet with me there too. To talk about my future in publishing.”
“Are you joking? That’s epic, baby.” I smiled at his excitement, but he tilted his head to the side, studying me. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wanted you to focus on getting better.”
Jesse put his hand on my cheek. “Watching the love of my life get the acclaim she deserves will help me get better. June…” He shook his head.
“The story is of us. Of all we’ve been through—are still going through—to get our happily ever after.
” He nodded determinedly. “We’re going to that meet and greet. ”
Tears built in my eyes. “We?”
Jesse kissed me and pressed his forehead to mine. “We. You think I’d miss my Junebug being told what I already know—that you’re perfect and deserve all the praise that’s coming your way?”
A retching sound came from beside us. We turned to see Chris pretending to puke. “Guys, please,” he said. “I’ve just gone through a breakup. Can we cut it with the lovey-dovey shit?”
I laughed and Emma pushed him on his arm. “He’s just jealous that no one on the planet thinks he’s perfect.” She rolled her eyes, then looked at me again. “So that’s a yes to the bookstore?”
“What,” Chris said to Emma, “are you her manager now or something?”
“Maybe one day,” Emma said, shrugging. We’d joked about it, but in all seriousness, I would trust no one more than my best friend to do this with me.
I turned back to Jesse. “You’ll be strong enough to come?” I worried my lip. “Your immunity is low, and I don’t want you getting sick. I…” Fear rushed through me. “I would never forgive myself if that happened.”
“Then make it so the meet and greet happens when Jesse is done with treatment and is stronger. There’s no rush.
The bookstore wants you when you can make it,” Emma said.
When I’d told Emma about the invite and the interested agent, she had taken over all the correspondence.
She was a business manager in the making.
“There,” Jesse said and wrapped his arms around me. “That’s settled. You’ll do it.” Nerves accosted me, but they eased when he said, “I’m so proud of you, Junebug. So proud.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, a blush creeped up my face. But the truth was, without Jesse, there wouldn’t be a story. It was falling for Jesse at Harmony Ranch that showed me what love really was. His love gave me the ability to transfer us onto the page.
From the day we met, it was Jesse and June against the world. It still was. His achievements had been mine and mine were his.
“Right,” Chris said, and whipped out his cell. “Pizza all around?”
“Pizza all around,” Jesse said, dropping another kiss to my head.
JESSE
Jesse and June’s Happily Ever After
My hand was clutched tightly in June’s as we entered the stadium.
I fixed the baseball hat on my head. The team had been to see me often in the hospital, but this felt strange.
I hadn’t stepped foot in the stadium since I’d relapsed a few months ago.
The last time my feet had touched the soil was when I’d collapsed in front of a one-hundred-thousand-strong crowd.
That was one way to make them remember my name.
“You okay, baby?” June asked as we made our way down the hallway that led to the field.
I nodded and kissed the back of her hand.
“Bro, all you had to do was relapse to get me a backstage tour?” Chris joked, and I couldn’t have appreciated it more. He threw his arm around my neck. “I appreciate your commitment to our friendship.”
“A one-time offer only,” I said, and looked at June. “This is the last time I do this chemo and antibody crap. Only smooth sailing from now on.”
“Amen,” June said from beside me, making me laugh more.
“I recognize that laugh,” Coach said, appearing from the locker rooms. “Jesse,” he greeted, and I released June to give him a hug. “You’re looking good, kid.” He turned to June. “June, good to see you again.”
“Hello, sir,” June said, her impeccable southern manners. They had met in my hospital room when the team had come to visit. Coach clearly adored her.
I introduced Chris and Emma, and Coach tilted his head the direction of the locker room. “Your team is eager to see you.” A flash of nerves hit my stomach. June must have felt my apprehension, as she took my hand in her own.
“They love you,” she said, and kissed my cheek. I knew they did. But it felt strange going back inside that locker room. My life had done another 180 from the beginning of college to now, just like it had in high school.
I took a deep breath and stepped into the locker room. It was loud, and my teammates were everywhere. I took a moment to just take it all in. It felt like home—a feeling that was only intensified by June holding my hand.
Sheridan was the first to notice me. “Taylor!” he shouted, his smile wide. He rushed over and lifted me off the floor. I grunted at the contact, and he jumped back, letting me go.
“Shit!” he said when the room got silent. Horrified faces looked at me like I might break.
“Ease up, bro. If the cancer doesn’t kill me, your eager greeting might.” Awkward laughs trickled filled the locker room, my teammates unsure whether to laugh or not.
I grinned, and Sheridan playfully punched me in the stomach. “Don’t do to that to me, man! We need you back. I thought we were winning against the big C?”