“You better open that sandwich,” Rick said softly.
He started to eat his slowly and I felt a pang in my stomach.
I guess I was a little hungry.
Nibbling at it, I listened to the sounds of the monitors around my sister.
“She was mad at herself too, you know,” Rick suddenly said.
I almost choked on the bite of sandwich as I sucked in air. After a sip of coffee, I asked, voice hoarse, “What do you mean?”
“You’re not to blame for the argument, Charley. It happened. The two of you are stubborn.”
“I should’ve called,” I said flatly. “I should’ve been here.”
“‘Should haves’ only hurt you, kiddo. Don’t do that to yourself.”
“Why? Aren’t you doing that to yourself?”
We stared at each other a moment until Rick finally sighed and looked back at Andie. “I should’ve married her sooner. She wanted to get married right away. I should’ve done it.”
After a moment of silence, I whispered, “I should have put her first.”
“What?”
I glanced up at Rick. “Nothing.”
His phone rang and he excused himself. I took the opportunity to shimmy forward in my chair and clutch my sister’s hand. “I’m sorry I chose Jake over you, Andie. I’m so sorry.”
I kissed her hand and screwed my eyes shut and for the first time in a long time, I prayed. I prayed that God could hear me… I prayed that if He could, I’d be repentant. My penance—If you save her, I’ll give him up. If Andie wakes up, I’ll let Jake go. I’ll choose her over him.
I hurried into the hospital, my hair damp, eyes heavy with lack of sleep. I always hurried back after a quick shower. I didn’t want to miss anything.
We were on day fourteen.
I felt hope sliding through my fingers, the tips grasping for purchase.
“Charley!” My mom’s eyes were bright, brighter than I’d seen them in fourteen days, as she strode down the corridor from my sister’s room.
“What? What is it? What’s happened?”
“Andie started choking,” Mom said, her words rushed and excited. “She’s breathing on her own. She’s awake, Charley. She’s awake.”
I burst out crying. “Awake?” I sobbed, overwhelmed by the relief flooding me.
“She’s in and out.” Mom tugged on my arm, pulling me toward the room. “The doctor says it might take a day or two for her to come fully around. But she’s out of the coma.”
I froze in the doorway of my sister’s hospital room, suddenly paralyzed with fear.
I watched as Mom, Dad, and Rick hovered over her while the doctor spoke. The ventilator was gone and although her eyes where shut, Andie’s lids fluttered. She moved her head and emitted a small groan.
I pressed back against the door, fighting the urge to flee.
Andie was awake. She was going to make it.
In amongst the relief I felt a wave of nausea, and I ducked outside the door to press my forehead against the cool wall.
My bargain with God.
I had to let Jake go somehow.
Trembling, I took out my phone and called him. This time I didn’t use FaceTime.
I told him Andie was awake. I ignored his relief. I ignored his love. I had to in order to say what I needed to say. I told him not to call me anymore. I told him it was over. And then I hung up and switched my phone off.
I dashed into the nearest bathroom and made the toilet right as I threw up. After a while, I was just dry heaving.
I gave Jake up for Andie and I didn’t even know if she forgave me. What if she hated me? What could I say?
And worse… how could I face her when there was a darkness deep inside me that resented her and the choice I’d just made?
I never did go into the hospital room again.
During the first twenty-four hours, I hovered outside, looking in through the windows, ignoring my parents’ and Rick’s pleas to come inside and speak to Andie while she slept.
The next day when Andie became cognizant, I did the same—hiding and peeking in when I was sure she wasn’t aware. The doctors said she had a recovery period ahead. She was a little dazed, confused, and although she recognized everyone, she couldn’t remember much before the accident.
I hid out at Starbucks a lot and on the third day, Dad hunted me down to bring me to Andie.
“I told her you were here,” he said, disappointment and annoyance in his eyes. He didn’t like the way I was behaving. Hiding from her. He didn’t understand.
“Did she ask for me?” If she asked for me, I’d have to go to her.
Dad frowned. “No.”
“Does she remember the argument?”
Dad scratched his unshaven cheek and looked away uncomfortably. “I think so.”
“Then I’m staying right where I am.”
A week later I returned home to Lanton with my parents without having spoken to my sister. I’d spied on her a lot as she sat talking to friends and family, but she’d had no idea I was there.
Andie was recovering fast—she had some physical and mental therapy to go through, but the doctors were impressed with how well she was doing and Rick insisted he could take care of her.
Mom and Dad had to get back to work, but they told Rick they’d come to Chicago every weekend until Andie was fully recovered. They seemed stronger back in Chicago. They seemed like themselves again.
But when we returned to Lanton, I realized it was all a mask for Andie’s benefit. That fragility that had scared me so much reappeared. Mom started disappearing to the cemetery almost every day—it pissed me off. I thought it was morbid. I was helping Mom out in the florist a lot because she was so distracted all the time. She was constantly calling Rick or Dad for reassurances. I realized that she and Dad were both afraid that someone was going to tell them that Andie’s recovery was a sick joke—that any minute now, she’d close her eyes and never open them again. As for Dad, he didn’t talk to me much in those first few months.
As far as he was concerned, I’d abandoned Andie as soon as she woke up.
I hadn’t abandoned her.
I just didn’t know how to face her, or deal with my conflicting emotions.
I missed my sister. I missed Jake. So much, it hurt. Especially at night, when I’d lay my head on my pillow and I couldn’t think of anything else but how much I wanted my life to go back to the way it used to be.
I argued with myself over and over that what I’d promised God… it wasn’t rational, I couldn’t be held to it. But what if…
What if I accepted Jake back into my life, what if I made my family accept him into their lives, and suddenly, Andie’s eyes closed and they never opened again?
It was a little better when Claudia finished up in Edinburgh and flew to Indiana to live with us. She eased my parents, lit them up in a way I couldn’t right now. She eased me too. I felt like I was forever on the brink of an argument with my folks, and Claudia always reminded me that they didn’t need to deal with my issues right now. So we suffered in stilted silence.
The only time it broke was when I yelled at Mom for visiting the cemetery. I told her it was morbid and it creeped me out—like she was just waiting for something bad to happen to Andie.
Mom told me calmly but with tears in her eyes that she was visiting her mom’s grave. “She’s the only one who would understand what I’m going through right now. I talk to her and I know she can hear and it gives me comfort.”
At that, she’d walked out of the house and my dad said more than two sentences to me for the first time in weeks. He shouted at me for being self-involved and told me to apologize.
I did. I tucked my tail between my legs and apologized.
And then I promptly went online and found out what I needed to do to sit the LSATs in the fall. I’d upset my parents enough this year. It was time to do something for them—something selfless.