“I spent years hating this,” he said finally, touching the scar. “Kids called me names. My dad left, and Mom never dated again. I blamed the crash and the scar. Sometimes I blamed the surgeons too. Like… if I hadn’t survived, none of the bad stuff would’ve happened.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
He nodded.
“But today? When I thought I was going to lose her?” He swallowed. “I would’ve gone through everything again. Every surgery and every insult, just to keep her here.”
He swallowed.
“That’s what love does,” I said. “Makes all the pain worth it.”
He stood up and then hugged me! Tight.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “For back then. For today. For everything.”
I hugged him back.
“You’re welcome,” I said. “You and your mom — you’re fighters.”
I hugged him back.
Emily stayed in the ICU for a while. I checked in with her daily. When she opened her eyes after a nap, I was standing beside her bed.
“Hey, Em,” I said.
She gave me a weak smile. “Either I’m officially dead,” she croaked, “or God has a very twisted sense of humor.”
“You’re alive,” I said. “Very much so.”
“Ethan told me what happened. That you were his surgeon… and now mine.”
I nodded.
“Very much so.”
She reached out and took my hand.
“You didn’t have to save me,” she said.
“Of course I did,” I replied. “You collapsed near my hospital again. What else was I going to do?”
She laughed, then winced. “Don’t make me laugh,” she said. “It hurts to breathe.”
“You’ve always been dramatic.”
“And you’ve always been stubborn.”
“It hurts to breathe.”
We sat there for a moment, the monitors beeping.
“Mark,” she said.
“Yeah?”
“When I’m better… would you want to grab coffee sometime? Somewhere that doesn’t smell like disinfectant?”
I smiled. “I’d like that.”
She squeezed my hand. “Don’t disappear this time.”
“I won’t.”
“I’d like that.”
She went home three weeks later. I got a text from her the next morning: “Stationary bikes are the devil. Plus, the new cardiologist said I must avoid coffee. He’s a monster.”
I sent back: “When you’re cleared, first round’s on me.”
Sometimes, Ethan joins us. We sit in that little coffeehouse downtown. Sometimes we just talk about books, or music, or what Ethan wants to do with his life now.
Sometimes, Ethan joins us.
And if someone told me again that I ruined his life?
