Only One (Reed Brothers)(15)

I hop in my dad’s old jeep and drive to the hospital. It’s not too far away, but it feels like it takes forever before I see the big signs that announce I’m close to the emergency room. Finally, I’m there, and I park.

I go through the emergency doors and there she is. She’s sitting in a chair with her legs drawn up close to her chin, like she’s trying to curl into a ball. Matthew Reed is sitting next to her, and I almost have to stop and do a double-take when I see him.

“Carrie!” I cry out. She startles and looks up at me, her eyes filling with tears immediately.

“Nick,” she says as I drop down in front of her. She’s in my arms before I can blink. Sobs wrack her body and she seems so small all of a sudden.

She knocks me over and I sink back onto the floor on my butt, and she comes down in my lap. I couldn’t pry her off with a crowbar, though, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I rub her back and stroke down the length of her hair until she settles. She sniffles and wipes her nose on my shirt.

“Sorry,” she whispers, as she wipes the snot into my shirt.

I chuckle and hug her tightly. “What happened?” I ask. “How’s your mom?”

She sniffles again and buries her head in my shirt.

Matt speaks up for her, thank God. “She’s having a reaction to the chemo. It’s pretty normal, but really scary.”

I stick my hand out to Matt to shake. “Thanks for hanging out with her.”

He smiles and shakes my hand. “I didn’t mind.”

Of all the people in the world, she got one of the Reeds to come to the hospital with her. Then I look up and see Paul come around the corner. My heart almost stops. He hands Matt a cup of coffee. “Hey, Nick,” he says.

Holy crap. He just said my name. He remembered me. “Paul,” I say with a nod.

Carrie looks up. “You guys know one another?”

Matt nods. “Nick was nice enough to get us some firewood.” He reaches for his pocket. “We still owe you for that.”

I wave him off. “Keep it. It didn’t cost me anything.”

He pulls his hand back from his wallet. “Thanks, man,” he says. He smiles at me.

“Can I go back and see her yet?” Carrie asks, her voice soft and wet.

Paul shakes his head. “I just saw the nurse in the hallway. She said they called your mom’s oncologist in and he’s with her now. He’ll be out to talk to you in a few minutes.”

“It’s not good, is it?” she asks.

He shakes his head and looks at Matt. “Probably not,” he says.

“I messed up, Nick,” she says. “I screwed up my one last moment,” she whispers, looking up at me. “Why did I do that?”

“Shh.” I pull her against me. “She’s still here. You haven’t passed up the last moment. There’s still time.”

“I really messed it up.”

“Shh,” I say again, because I don’t know how to comfort her.

I hold her until the doctor comes out to talk to her. She scrambles out of my lap and into a chair, so I sit down next to her.

The doctor looks at her over the rims of his glasses. “I told your mother not to do more chemo,” he says. He blows out a heavy breath. “It was a choice between having four good weeks and six bad weeks, but she opted for the bad weeks because she said she had some unfinished business. But at this point, I can’t continue the chemo. It’s time to take her off it.”

Carrie trembles beside me, so I take her hand and squeeze it.

“She’s done with chemo?” Carrie asks.

He nods.

“How much longer?” she asks.

My heart clenches for her, and I already feel like someone has sliced me open and I’m bleeding on the floor, and I’m just watching. I can’t even imagine how she feels.

“About a month.” He looks down at his notes. “You should all go home. She can’t see anyone until tomorrow.”

She jumps to her feet. “Not even me?”

He shakes his head, but Paul and Matt stand up, too. “Give her two minutes,” Matt says.

The doctor shakes his head again.

“Two minutes!” Paul barks. He’s big and physically intimidating. The doctor is slightly rocked, I can tell. “Two minutes,” Paul says more quietly.

The doctor nods. “All right. Two minutes. Follow me.” He motions Carrie forward with his fingers. Matt goes with them.

I stand in the corridor with Paul. “Thank you,” I say.

He shrugs like it’s nothing.

Then I remember Matt. I remember his cancer treatment, and I suddenly know why he’s here. “Is Matt going to be okay with this?” I ask.

Paul nods. “If he didn’t get to come, he wouldn’t be okay with it. He’d worry, and wish he could have done something for her.”

“That’s why you came with him.”

He shrugs again. “It’s what we do.”

I wish I had someone to do that.

“If the tabloids find out we’re at a hospital, they’ll announce tomorrow that one of us overdosed or something.” He chuckles.

It’s so easy to forget they’re famous. “You should go before people with cameras show up.”