Intercepting Love (Second Chances #5)(57)



The next document that came up was a medical bill with Scott’s name on it. Flipping through all of the papers, I saw that they were all medical forms, a ton of them. “Why would she show you his medical bills?” Cooper asked, reading them over my shoulder.

I looked through more papers. “I’m not sure, but there’s a lot. There has to be something that tells us why. All of these bills are for CT Scans, MRI’s, and other types of tests. I don’t get it.”

“Did you know he was going to the doctor a lot?”

My throat tightened and I shook my head. “No, I didn’t. He must’ve gone to them when I was in class.”

By the time I got through all of the medical bills, I came across a DVD in a see-through orange case with my name on it … in Scott’s handwriting. Swallowing hard, I held it in my shaky hands as a tear rolled down my cheek. What could possibly be on it?

“Do you want to see what’s on it?” Cooper asked softly. “I can step out of the room if you want to watch it alone.”

Wiping the tears away, I sucked in a nervous breath and took the DVD out of the case. “No, I need you in here.”

I put the disc in my DVD player and turned on the television. My heart raced and thumped so hard I thought I was going to be sick; especially when I pressed the play button. At first the screen was blue, but then it changed to Scott’s bedroom at his house. It was the same room I found him in.

Immediately, the tears poured down my cheeks and even more so when Scott sat down in front of the camera with the sweetest smile on his face. He had on his favorite Metallica T-shirt, along with the navy blue baseball cap I got him when I went to a medical convention in Chicago. The date on the video read that it was February of 2011. No wonder he looked so different; it was when things with us were perfect and we were happy. It wasn’t until a couple of months after that when everything started going downhill.

“Scott,” I whispered, tracing the lines of his face with my fingers. Cooper was still on the bed behind me while I sat on the floor, staring at what used to be the love of my life. It was like the whole world moved in slow motion until I heard the first words come out of Scott’s mouth.

“Kate,” he murmured sadly. “I don’t even know where to begin. Hell, I don’t even know why I’m making this video, but the therapist I spoke to said it might be a good idea to do this since I’m not exactly the type of person to express my feelings. It’s strange that I can say them to a camera, though. I … I don’t think that makes any sense, but whatever I guess.”

“I didn’t even know he was seeing a therapist,” I cried, peering over my shoulder at Cooper. He didn’t say a word as I sat there and sobbed; he just listened. What kind of therapist was he seeing? I wondered.

Chuckling, Scott looked down at his desk and shook his head, his smile slowly disappearing to a flat line. “I know you’re going to have so many questions, and I’m hoping I’ll be able to answer some of them, but first, I just wanted you to know that I love you. I love you, Kate, and even when I die I will always love you.” He paused for a second, taking a deep breath and then another. When he finally looked up at the camera, a tear escaped the corner of his eye and landed right on his desk.

“You see, Kate … there’s something I need to tell you.”

Biting his lip, he stared right at the camera. It was as if he was looking directly at me with those warm hazel eyes that I loved so much. I held my breath and waited on him to tell me, but he didn’t. Instead, he huffed and shot up out of his chair.

“Fuck, I can’t do this.”

Immediately, the camera went blank and that was it, but then it started right back up and the date claimed that it was two days later. This time he was shirtless, and his blond hair was tousled like he’d just woken up.

“Good morning, Kate. I did some thinking the past couple of days while you’ve been busy studying for your exams, and I realized that there’s so much in your life I’m going to miss. Do you hear that sound in the background?” he asked, putting a finger to his lips. I listened closely and it sounded like running water … and me singing.

“Oh my God,” I whispered hoarsely. “I’m there. He’s filming while I’m there.”

“Yes, that’s you singing, Kate. Every morning when you’d get up at the crack of dawn to get ready for school, I’d lie in bed and listen to you. You always thought I was asleep, but I wasn’t. I promise to get to the important stuff soon, but I figured I would show you first why my life has been better with you in it.”

In the background, the shower water stopped running and I could hear myself sliding the shower curtain over. Scott raced back over to the bed and climbed under the covers while I snuck out of the bathroom and grabbed the set of royal blue scrubs I had hanging on the closet door. Once I had them on, I crept out of the bathroom with my towel on top of my head, and tiptoed over to the bed to kiss Scott gently on the cheek.

Cooper joined me on the floor and put his arm around me, and as soon as he touched me I broke down again. “I used to kiss him on the cheek every single morning like that before going down to eat breakfast. I always thought he was asleep. All that time he pretended and I had no clue.”

As soon as I left the room, Scott got right back up and went back to the camera, his eyes full of love and adoration. “I love it when you kiss me like that every morning. Okay, now it’s my time to get ready for work.”

L. P. Dover's Books