Yours Truly (Part of Your World, #2)(32)

“How did I get myself into this situation?” I breathed.

Zander shook his head. “Just ask her. Trust me. She’s one of the coolest people I know.”

I glanced at my phone again. This time Dad had texted. Can’t wait to meet her.

Everyone wanted me to be okay. They were so happy because this was proof that I was okay, that I’d moved on, that I was whole. It was permission for them to let the Amy/Jeremiah thing go, to be excited for them, to accept this new reality. I could feel the elation coming through my phone, the collective sigh of relief that this was a real thing, a real woman—real closure to what had happened.

If I’d had any doubts about how badly my family needed this, this was the answer.

I glanced at Briana across the restaurant. This time she was looking back. She waved, and leaned in and said something to Hector. He looked over at me and waved too. Then she jumped off her barstool and headed in our direction.

I got instantly nervous. Like she’d somehow know about the miscommunication with my family and demand an explanation. I felt myself clamming up the closer she got, like my ability to speak was being sucked into a vacuum.

“Hey,” she said as she got to the table. “You came.” She smiled at me in a way that made her whole face light up.

Luckily I didn’t have to answer, because Zander broke in. “Sit,” he said, scooting over.

She slid into the booth, set her purse next to her, and plucked one of Zander’s french fries off his plate and ate it. “What are you guys talking about over here?” she asked, chewing. “I can hear you laughing across the restaurant.”

Zander pushed his plate toward her and nodded at me. “Talking about the time Jacob carried an injured ATV driver out of the woods a few years ago.”

I blinked at him. That was not what we were talking about. It was a true story, but we hadn’t brought it up in years. What was he doing? Was he wingmanning me?

Briana arched an eyebrow at me. “Oh yeah? What happened?”

I cleared my throat. “He crashed it. Broke both feet. We couldn’t get a signal to call for help.”

“And you piggybacked him?”

I nodded. “It took three hours.”

“And that was funny?” she asked, looking back and forth between us.

Zander didn’t skip a beat. “The guy threw up down his back on the hike out.”

Briana choked on her giggle. Well, so much for the wingmanning.

“That was nice of you, though,” she said, still cracking up. Then she leaned in a little. “Just so you know, I forbade Hector to come over here.” She nodded back to the bar. “That’s today’s drunk extrovert.”

I laughed a little.

Then she seemed to remember something, and she reached down next to her and started rummaging in her purse. “I forgot. Here’s the sticker for your car,” she said.

She slid it facedown across the table toward me. “Thanks for taking one.”

I put a hand on top of it. “Of course.”

“I have to get back over there,” she said, looking at her watch. “Hey, why don’t you tell me that family-story thing at lunch tomorrow? Supply closet? Noon?”

I nodded. “Sure.”

“You guys have fun!” she said, plucking another french fry off Zander’s plate. Then she slid out of the booth and was gone, back to her side of the restaurant.

“See? She’s cool,” Zander said, taking his fries back. “I’m telling you, ask her.”

I watched her walk back to the bar and hop onto the barstool next to Hector.

I picked up the bumper sticker and looked at it a moment. It was white with blue letters. It said HELP BENNY FIND A KIDNEY. YOU COULD BE THE MATCH! There was a website under it.

It felt so futile. Like a shout into the void.

This kid was never going to find someone. It was going to take him years.

I’d never imagined donating a kidney to someone I didn’t know. I’d figured if I ever did it, it’d be for someone in my life, not a stranger. A part of me even thought I should hold off in case Mom needed another transplant—though I knew she had four other kids who would gladly step in. She didn’t need me to save mine.

I stared at the sticker.

I didn’t know Benny. But I did know his sister. If I did this, it wouldn’t just change his life. It would change hers.

I looked across the restaurant at Briana. She was laughing with some of the nurses. But I remembered the look on her face earlier when she talked about her brother. I remembered the day he came into the ER and the panic in her voice when she was treating him. I remembered the way she cried in the supply closet that time I walked in on her…How despondent she was. How helpless she probably felt. It was how I would have felt if Mom hadn’t gotten a donor when she did.

She must have sensed me looking at her, because she peered up at me and smiled. A beautiful, genuine, friendly smile.

And in that instant I decided.

“I’m in,” I said, talking to Zander but looking at her.

There was a moment of silence next to me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t get that.”

I looked at him. “I’m in. I’ll do it. I’ll donate.”

He smacked a hand on the table. “All right! Yes!” Then he paused. “You’re sure?”