“Don’t you give up, little man. Keep fighting like I’m fighting for you right now,” I chant as I continue CPR while tears stream down my face.
Chapter Fourteen
Jett
“Thank God that didn’t take as long as I thought it would,” I mutter as I enter my truck. While the adrenaline is still coursing through me, all I want is a shower, a few beers, then to kick back and rest until Sunday comes home.
I can’t help the smile that crosses my face when I think of her. We might only be in the first month of our relationship, which is probably stretching it a bit by some folks’ estimation, but I don’t care, however I can see forever when I’m with her.
“Now to help her see that as well,” I say out loud just as my phone rings. Seeing it’s my sister, I answer quickly. “Hey, Cissy, what’s up? Dusty get there okay?”
“J-j-j-ett, oh my God, Jett,” she cries out, her voice trembling.
“Slow down, Cissy. What’s going on?” I ask, dread rushing through me.
I hear my brother-in-law in the background before he takes the phone. “Jett, it’s Larry. There was an accident and Dusty’s at the hospital. You need to head there ASAP,” he states while Cissy sobs in the background.
“How bad, Lar?” I question, making the turn out of the parking lot that will take me to the hospital. Possum Run may not be a huge town, which is part of its appeal, but we’ve got one of the best trauma hospitals in the area, so I’m not really concerned. Especially since Sunday’s working; she’ll take good care of my boy.
I hear a deep sigh on the other end of the phone and brace myself since this sounds like more than just a simple fender bender, especially with the way Cissy is nearly hysterical in the background, hollering out instructions to her kids so they can ‘get up there right away’.
“Bad, Jett. The guy who was driving died at the scene, apparently on impact,” he quietly states.
Timmers. My mind sees his grin, how he is with his teammates, as well as with my son and I refuse to believe what I’m hearing.
“You’re saying Michael Timmers is dead?” I whisper. “What the fuck happened? They were hitting up the Burger Shack before he brought Dusty over to you. Tell me what you know,” I demand, fear making my tone sharper than normal.
“I don’t have all the pieces, just what is already going around the gossip mill, but I heard the accident on the scanner and went to the scene to see what I could find out,” he says. Since he’s on our local police force, it makes sense he would show up. “Saw the car, recognized it as one of your boys’ rides then asked the responding officers if there were any passengers. He knows Dusty from the baseball league, Jett, and told me while they worked to get him out of the car, I needed to notify you.”
“That still doesn’t tell me what the fuck happened!” I exclaim, my distress morphing into anger.
“Getting to that, Jett, trying to keep everyone calm right now. Your sister’s losing her shit, the kids aren’t much better, and not gonna lie, I’m fucking holding on by a thread myself,” he growls out.
“Sorry, sorry. He’s my boy, Larry,” I moan out, holding back my tears. Gotta be strong for my little man and my woman, no matter what happens.
“Yeah, he’s ours too,” he whispers. “Family, Jett. My boys got Blake blood running through them too. Anyhow, it seems some woman ran the red light and plowed into Timmers and pushed him into the power pole. The pole came into the passenger compartment which is where Dusty’s injuries came from.”
“That bad?” I whisper, no longer able to think.
“Just get there, Jett. We’re on our way as well. You won’t face this by yourself.”
I’m in the hallway headed to curtain three where I was told they had Dusty when I see the hospital bed come flying out from behind the curtain, my woman straddling my son while doing CPR as another nurse holds something over his mouth, rhythmically squeezing it as Sunday continues her compressions.
When I hear her say, “Don’t you stop fighting, little man. Keep fighting like I’m fighting for you right now,” I hit my knees, especially when I catch a glimpse of the tears steadily flowing down her face.
“Dusty!” I bellow, tears now falling freely.
I’m led to a waiting room while he’s in surgery. At least, that’s what the nurse who helped me up said. Other than that, I don’t know anything and right now, I’m still all alone.
Memories flood my mind as I allow the fear to course through me.
The ultrasound picture of a tiny little blob.
Holding him right after he was born.
Learning to care for an infant when Stacey decided to leave.
His first step, wobbling over to where I was sitting in my recliner, a wide toothless smile covering his little face.
The first time he lost a tooth, and then didn’t want to put it under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy.
Walking him to his class on the first day of school.
Finding out he had ADHD, then learning everything I could so we could successfully manage it together.
Teaching him how to swim, fish, and play football.
Videoing him with my parents as often as possible.
Watching him grow into a responsible young man.
“I wish you guys were here right now,” I whisper, looking up. “I sure could use you both.” I miss my folks all the time, but right now, in this moment, it’s so real and all I want is to have my parents’ arms wrapped around me. Instead I say, “Since you’ve got a line to Him, put in a few good words for my boy.”
The door opens and I glance up to see Sunday coming toward me. She’s a mess, her eyes are swollen nearly shut even as she continues to cry, and I can see dried blood covering her scrubs. As she falls into my waiting arms, I’m not sure which of us is comforting the other as our tears mingle.
Finally, she pulls back, swiping at her face. “We got him back, Jett. I heard you yell his name when we were heading to the operating room. But he’s hurt, honey, so we may be waiting for a while to hear any news.”
“I love you,” I tell her. “Some may think it’s way too soon, but I was already falling, and seeing you doing everything you knew to do to help my son, solidified it.”
She cups my face in her hands, her smile radiant through her tears as she replies, “I love you too, Jett. Both of you. When I realized who we were working on, I started praying for the medical team, you, him, even me. Because I wanted to make sure I was doing everything I could to help him.”
“From what I saw, you did,” I murmur, capturing her lips in a gentle kiss. “Now, we wait.”
Chapter Fifteen
Sunday
“Thanks, Moira,” I mumble through exhaustion, taking a pair of clean scrubs from her so I can change. “I’ll get them washed and back to you on my next shift.”
“Girl don’t even worry about it, they don’t fit me anymore thanks to my addiction to Ben & Jerry’s,” she teases.